Petty Levels, a Philadelphia rapper and social media influencer with more than 1.1 million followers, died in Florida last week, her family and state officials confirmed Thursday.
She was 23.
Levels, whose real name was Mia Armaj Bennett, began gaining recognition in 2018 after sharing short videos on social media in which she rapped about skydiving, surfing and snowboarding. Some posts featured visits to sun-drenched locations including Hawaii, California, Tulum in Mexico and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
News of Petty Levels’ death began circulating on social media timelines on Wednesday. Some comments suggested the young artist had been killed in Philadelphia, but her family has since said those rumors are false.
“All these allegations and comments are not true,” a family member who asked to remain anonymous told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“We don’t even know exactly what happened so if everybody could just please bear with everybody on this subject,” the person added. “I’m begging you, please our family is devastated.”
Chris Wilkerson, a spokesperson for Hillsborough County, in West Central Florida, told the outlet Levels died in Tampa on July 19. A spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
Chosen One Records, described by Fox 29 Philadelphia as Levels’ record label, shared a photo of Levels on Instagram announcing the rapper’s death.
“We regret to inform you of the passing of our lil sis @pettylevelsofficial,” the label wrote Thursday on Instagram. “We ask for prayers and comfort at this time and respect of privacy for the family.”
The Daily News has reached out to the company for further comment.
In a November 2019 interview, the then-18-year-old rapper said she began using her stage name when she was still in high school.
“In ninth grade, that’s when I first came up with ‘Petty Levels,’ and the whole Instagram came along,” she said.
Initially, her followers were mostly from the Philadelphia area, but once she started doing pop-up shows and producing more videos, her fan base grew to places “all over, like all different kinds of cities.”
