That “jump scare” everyone is feeling on social media is completely understandable, but you can breathe a sigh of relief. Both Nettspend and Nine Vicious are alive and well.
What you are seeing is a classic, internet-spawned death hoax. Here is a breakdown of what actually happened and why Google and Wikipedia got pulled into it.
What Actually Happened?
An anonymous user or group of internet trolls deliberately vandalized Wikipedia pages for underground artists. They inserted fake text claiming that Virginia underground rapper Nettspend and Atlanta rapper Nine Vicious (Trevon Echols) had passed away.
For Nine Vicious, the trolls fabricated a highly specific story: claiming he was killed on June 27, 2026, in a shooting at a Chick-fil-A in Atlanta, Georgia. They pulled inspiration from real-life news templates to make it look as realistic as possible, but no such shooting involving the rapper occurred.
Why is Google Saying They Died?
This is where the netizens in your comments hit the nail on the head.
When a Wikipedia page is vandalized with fake information, search engines like Google often crawl the page immediately. Google’s automated search boxes and AI Overviews scrape that new text and display it at the top of search results before human Wikipedia editors have a chance to spot the vandalism and revert it back to normal.
As the commentators noted:
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“It’s just some [troll] that keeps editing Wikipedia articles for ug [underground] artists to say they died.”
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“If it was real it wouldn’t be updated before a news report.”
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“Google is kinda useless now with the amount of AI it uses, don’t trust it unless it’s actually reported on.”
The Bottom Line
Whenever an underground artist is rumored to have passed away, the golden rule is to look for reputable music outlets (like Complex, XXL, or The Fader) or an official statement from their management or family. If the only source is a sudden, unsourced Wikipedia change reflecting on Google—it is safe to assume it’s fake. Both artists are perfectly fine!