Following the news that her close friend and rapper Ryan Bowers had committed suicide, Kehlani announced that she'd be taking a break from social media to cope with the loss of so many loved ones this past year. Prior to this announcement, the singer shared a heartbreaking post on Instagram to pay tribute to her fallen friend, who tragically took his own life earlier this week after recovering from a police shooting that had left him in critical condition at the time.
"We stayed up every night together craaaackinnn the f*ck uppppp and talked about 'making it' when we lived at Chaz house," she wrote, accompanied by some photos of the two of them over the years. "Sneaking and smoking on the roof at the Ncredible office everyday. Really horrible freestyles. I understood you, and when it came down to me going back to my hometown to figure it out myself at one point i felt like you was the only person who understood ME. Our last conversation will haunt me forever. You know why. I can understand why, i just wish it wasn’t like this. My heart is broken. I thought sh*t couldn’t no sicker and it just did. I begggggged you bro. You are at peace and that’s all i can find any sort of peace in myself. I can’t believe i’m writing this. Rest in peace to a real fighter... my real fam... i love you Ryan. F*ck this year... on everything."
After posting the tribute, Kehlani shared a message on her IG story, revealing that she was going to be taking some time to herself to heal. "This year has been a lot," she wrote. "So much death. Not sure how to process it. Not sure how I feel being sent condolences so often or how I feel for surviving when people I love don’t. Need to take some space."
"Gunna give myself a second, love y’all," she continued. "Be blessed. (Just taking space from the socials to be with family and friends in real life. Don’t make this some huge traumatic ordeal, I will be okay. Just need to process). Love."
In addition to Ryan's death, Kehlani has dealt with losing several other friends this year already. On New Year's Day, news broke that up-and-coming rapper, Lexii Alijai, had died of an accidental overdose at just 21-year-old. 25-year-old model and rapper, Chynna Rogers, also passed away as a result of an overdose back in April. Kehlani mourned the loss of both her friends' on social media at the time of their deaths. We hope she can heal from all of these tragic losses.