Slim Dunkin Shot Dead at Atlanta Music Studio: Who Killed Rapper? [VIDEO]

Slim Dunkin, Waka Flocka Flame affiliate and Brick Squad Monopoly rapper, was shot and killed Friday evening, gunned down at a music studio in Atlanta, as he was preparing to record a new music video and take a photo shoot.

Atlanta Police Maj. Keith Meadows said Dunkin, whose real name is Mario Hamilton, was fatally shot in the chest after getting into a heated argument with an unknown individual, according to The Associated Press.

The rapper was immediately sent to Grady Memorial Hospital, but was pronounced dead.

Atlanta Police Track Leads

Although Meadows told AP that police have not yet identified the shooter, investigators are interviewing those within the studio to identify everyone in the building, and have confirmed that the killer is a man in his 20s who resides in the Atlanta area.

It appears the victim was scheduled to do a photo shoot, Meadows said.

Before the video shoot took place, it appears the victim and suspect got involved in a verbal altercation. We don't know what that altercation was about.

The suspect produced a weapon, discharged that handgun one time, striking the victim in the chest, Meadows concluded.

The AP reported that Meadows said as many as 20 people were inside the music studio, a small office-type building, at the time of the shooting, which took place at roughly 5:30 p.m.

Right now we're just trying to....identify who may have seen what, really just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, Meadows said. Atlanta police have yet to recover the murder weapon, but are tracing the bullet that killed Slim Dunkin through ballistics.

It seems everybody witnessed something very different, Meadows said. We're just trying to go back and make sense of everything.

'Music, music, music!'

Slim Dunkin was an up-and-coming rapper in the Atlanta, Ga. music scene. He had appeared in several songs with rapper Waka Flocka Flame, who was a childhood friend.

MTV reports that the murdered musician and Brick Squad Monopoly rapper had recently released a 20-track mix tape called Menace II Society featuring Gucci Mane, Roscoe Dash and Pastor Troy.

Web site AllHipHop.com described Slim Dunkin, originally from Detroit, as a rapper with a unique lyrical ability and style all his own.

In an interview on the site last February, Slim Dunkin downplayed his talent, saying he was simply a musician trying to provide for his family... [and] to beat the odds.

When asked what fans could expect from him in 2011, the rapper said, Music, music, music!

'It was just two kids arguing.'

Whatever led to the death of rapper Slim Dunkin, friends and investigators seem convinced it was not the result of a rapper's war like the shootings that claimed hiphop legends like Tupac and Biggie Smalls.

It didn't need to turn out with somebody being shot, a friend of Slim Dunkin told Channel 2 Action news outside the hospital. It wasn't a street beef. It was just two kids arguing, and one took it to a different level.

Close friend Covergirl agrees. I can't believe this happened today. I feel like one of our greatest got his life ended, definitely short, way before his time.

I would say he's a star before he became a star, Covergirl added. He started rapping a couple of years ago, and basically his career has just went to the top.

Remembering Brick Squad Monopoly's Slim Dunkin

Slim Dunkin talks about his new mixtape with friend and collaborator Waka Flocka Flame:

Slim Dunkin's Last Performance:

Waka Flocka Featuring SLim Dunkin in Lock Out: