Lloyd “Young L” Omadhebo, the Berkeley producer and founding member of Bay Area group The Pack, has died. Too $hort shared the news on Instagram on November 12, 2026, posting “Rest in peace Nephew” alongside an old photograph and writing that he “never heard a Young L beat that didn’t SLAP.” No cause of death or exact date has been released, and no family statement has appeared as of November 13.
Young L and Stunnaman, whose real name is Keith Jenkins, met in sixth grade over skateboarding and started making music together. They later linked with Lil B, born Brandon McCartney, at Albany High School and with Lil Uno, born DaMonte Johnson. The four formed The Pack, originally called The Wolfpack, in Berkeley in 2005. Early sessions happened at Young L’s house, where the group has said they recorded in a closet in his bedroom. Young L was the oldest member and the primary in-house producer. He began making beats around age 15 and built tracks from scratch rather than relying on samples alone.
Their 2006 track “Vans,” from the mixtape Wolfpack Muzik, Vol. 2, became the breakout. Young L produced the beat in roughly five minutes. Lil B supplied the chorus that celebrated affordable Vans skate shoes as a cooler, cheaper alternative to Nikes. The song mixed slowed hyphy energy with snap and electronic elements and a distinctive robotic-sounding hook. It received heavy West Coast radio play, charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and Rhythmic chart, and landed at No. 5 on Rolling Stone’s best songs of 2006. MTV initially resisted the video over product-placement concerns before airing a censored version.
Too $hort heard the record on the radio, sought the group out, and signed them to his Up All Nite imprint through Jive Records. Young L produced their subsequent EP Skateboards 2 Scrapers, including a “Vans” remix featuring Mistah F.A.B. and Too $hort, and contributed heavily to the 2007 album Based Boys. After that album underperformed commercially, the group was dropped from the major-label deal. Members continued individual and occasional group work in later years.
Young L’s production blended Bay Area hyphy with minimal electronic textures, finger-snap percussion, and a bass-heavy edge. Some later writers have described that sparse, futuristic approach as an early template for the lo-fi, spacey aesthetic that later flourished in SoundCloud-era and cloud-rap styles. The group often resisted being labeled pure hyphy and preferred the term “based.” Outside The Pack he worked with artists including Too $hort, Mistah F.A.B., Lil B, The Jacka, and Mac Miller.
Around 2008 Young L co-founded the streetwear brand Pink Dolphin. In interviews he said he was frustrated with what was available in stores, bought bulk Hanes V-necks in different sizes, and had a simple pink logo screen-printed on them. The name originated in conversations with Lil B; they had briefly considered it for a rock-band idea. Mistah F.A.B. later recalled seeing Young L develop the concepts at his mother’s house in El Cerrito. The brand became a recognizable part of that era’s Bay Area street fashion and is frequently cited in tributes as evidence of his reach beyond beats.
Additional public tributes have come from Mistah F.A.B., who called him “YOUNG LEGEND, the master mind, the Architect, the creator,” as well as from DJ Ill Will, Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive, Ty Dolla $ign, Kreayshawn, Casey Veggies, and others. Many emphasize both the production and the early DIY skate-culture roots. Some secondary outlets have reported Young L’s age as 39, consistent with a 2010 self-written piece in which he noted he had “just turned 23,” but primary confirmation from family or representatives remains absent. The commercial peak for The Pack was relatively brief, yet the group’s influence on later artists is described by Too $hort as impossible to measure.
