Too $hort Mourns Young L, the Producer who Gave The Pack its Signature Sound

Young L appears on the cover of his 2010 solo mixtape "L-E-N." The Bay Area rapper and producer, best known for his work with The Pack on the 2006 hit "Vans," died at 39. 

Young L, the Bay Area rapper and producer whose offbeat production helped turn The Pack's 2006
sneaker anthem "Vans" into a national hit, has died, according to Too $hort, the hip-hop veteran who helped launch the group's career.

Born Lloyd Omadhebo, Young L was the principal beatmaker behind the Berkeley quartet, which brought skateboarding culture and a stripped-down, electronic twist on hyphy to hip-hop at a time when the Bay Area sound was reaching audiences well beyond Northern California.

Too $hort announced his death Thursday in an Instagram tribute, sharing a photograph of the producer and praising the group's influence on other artists.

"I never heard a Young L beat that didn't SLAP," he wrote.

Young L was 39. His exact date and cause of death have not been disclosed. No public statement from his family was available as of Friday morning.

Too $hort remembers Young L, the rapper and producer behind The Pack's breakout hit "Vans," in an Instagram tribute posted Nov. 12, 2026. View the original tribute.

The Pack came together in 2005 when Young L joined forces with Lil B, Stunnaman and Lil Uno, four teenagers connected by their love of skateboarding and rap.

Young L and Lil B met at Albany High School. Young L was experimenting with music-production software, and Lil B needed beats. Their earliest recordings came out of a closet in Young L's home.

"I didn't have anybody to rap over my beats, so we just hooked up," Young L recalled in a 2010 interview with The FADER.

Their breakthrough, "Vans," emerged from the group's 2006 mixtape "Wolfpack Muzik, Vol. 2." Built around a sparse, insistent beat and a chant celebrating the California skate-shoe brand, the song spread through MySpace and Bay Area radio before reaching a national audience.

Writing for GlobalGrind in 2010, Young L recalled that the group recorded the song in his bedroom closet. What began as friends making music for fun had become something much bigger.

Too $hort heard the record, sought out the young group and signed The Pack to his Up All Nite imprint through Jive Records.

But Young L was already thinking beyond one hit.

"We didn't get signed because of 'Vans,'" he told XXL in July 2006. The group had recorded more than 100 songs in the preceding year, he said.

The Pack's official music video for "Vans," the group's 2006 breakthrough hit produced by Young L. (The Pack/Jive Records via YouTube)

Young L produced the group's "Skateboards 2 Scrapers" EP, released later in 2006, and helped establish the sound heard on its 2007 debut album, "Based Boys." His beats mixed the bounce of Bay Area rap with electronic textures, unusual rhythms and minimalist arrangements that left plenty of room for the group's personalities.

His creativity extended beyond The Pack. He released solo projects including the 2010 mixtape "L-E-N" and the 2013 instrumental EP "Convulsion," experimenting with sounds that moved further from the group's original formula.

He also co-founded the streetwear label Pink Dolphin, which became a recognizable name in hip-hop fashion.

Bay Area rapper Mistah F.A.B., who worked with The Pack, remembered watching Young L develop clothing ideas at his mother's home in El Cerrito. In his tribute, he recalled that the producer "Stayed sending me beats and cooking up fire."

Members of The Pack reunited for new music in 2018. Young L told The FADER they had "brought back that Wolfpack sound once again for the fans" as the group released a video for "Why U Wanna Do That."

By then, Lil B had become a prominent figure in internet-era rap, while Young L had established a body of work as a producer, solo artist and entrepreneur.

It was a long way from the bedroom where four teenagers began recording songs without knowing where the music might take them.

In his 2010 GlobalGrind essay, Young L explained what he hoped other artists would learn from The Pack's success:

"We want to influence the industry by showing up-and-coming artists that you can be successful without having to sound like everyone else."