RIP Aesop, the Black Wolf. Legendary Fresno emcee dead at age 51.

Plus, let's play the guessing game on who's coming next to Valley Children's Stadium.

Aug 24, 2025

As a peak behind the curtain of how Bandgeeek works: I keep an updating list of ideas going week to week.

Sometimes, things get planned out. There’s an interview that happens or I have a take that’s pre-formed and ready to go.

Sometimes, it’s Saturday night or Sunday morning and I’m scrambling through my social media feeds trying to remember exactly where I saw that one thing I thought might make an interesting topic.

When I’m working well, those things get filed aside in advance with a mental note to circle back around.

Which is where I was with Derrick “Aesop” McElroy when I found out he died this week at age 51.

Had things been different, this post would be about how the Fresno emcee (and literal Living Legend) was planning for a pretty wild end to 2025.

He was gearing up to reopen his Art Gallery/Podcast space and had plans to release his entire catalog on a hacked Gameboy (dude was a arcade/video game guy).

There was also a new single and video (with the hip-hop duo Atmosphere) and plans for a end-of-the year tour. That would be after a massive Atmosphere and Friends show at Red Rocks in Colorado in September.

Instead, a memoriam:

Via Living Legends: “Our dear Legendary brother, Derrick ‘Aesop’ McElroy has transitioned into the next life. A son, brother and friend – during his time on this earth he touched so many lives with his lyrics, showmanship, generosity, humor and undeniable talent as a musician, but most of all, his love of family, friends and good times.”
Via Mike Oz: “I first met @blackaesop in 1998. He didn’t remember that. I was just some college kid in San Jose and he was in the Living freakin’ Legends, who at the time were probably the coolest rap group around to a college backpacker kid.
He was selling CDs after a show in the middle of the street in San Jose, saying that he was going on tour to Japan that very night and needed money to get back home. It may have been true. It may have been a sales tactic. It worked. I bought a CD.
Fast forward a few years, I got hired at The Fresno Bee to write about music. I knew two things about Fresno music: Aesop and @planetasiamedallions. Again, college backpacker kid here. It was an honor that I got to devote legit newspaper space as a 22-year-old fresh out of college to tell their stories.”

Via FTK Construction: “@blackaesop was FTK Famalam from day 01. @lrgclothing did a photoshoot with him for our window display at the OG shop on Central Street in the Vice. RIP to the Black Wolf.
You were a true pioneer FORTHEKIDS in the Valley and the culture here owes you far more credit than you were given. You will be immensely missed.
Rest Easy Sop. See you on the other side.
*if anyone has a copy of the ‘LRG/FTK presents SEEDS’ Mixtape we did with Aesop in 2003, please DM.”

I have long had this germ of an idea for a book talking with local musicians about what it means to “make it” in Fresno. Aesop would have been the perfect archetype for the underground artist; someone you not might even known had found a level of success because they were still just a dude you could (and in Aseop’s case, would) run into around the neighborhood.

According to the Living Legends crew, a cause of death has not yet been confirmed, pending a coroner report, but McElroy was found in his bed and “appears to have passed in his sleep.”

What’s next at Valley Children’s Stadium? Dream scenarios.

Shakira’s Valley tour stop was, as much as anything, a litmus test; for the university certainly, but also for the city at large.

Is Fresno is a viable market for that level of entertainment?

For the naysayers, the answer is arguable, as it will always be.

They’ll point out Fresno State’s shortcomings on security and parking and the ability to just have the thing start on time. They’ll question whether the concert would have sold out had tickets not been given away or had prices not seen a dramatic drop in the final hours before the show.

But for those who allow themselves, the fact that Shakira sold out Valley Children’s Stadium just days after she did a two-night run at So-Fi should cause some real excitement.

Like, who’s coming next?

I’ll let you all do the Googling on rumors of who might be launching or extending stadium tours into next year, but some possibilities: Metallica, Ariana Grande, Garth Brooks (all of whom could certainly fill a stadium).

Could Fresno be in play if My Chemical Romance extended its Long Live the Black Parade tour (not that they are … but)?

I’m working on a story for The Fresno Bee with some analysis on all this, but I’d love y’alls thoughts:

Legitimately, who you think will be the next artist to announce at the stadium now that it is getting inquires?
Who’s on the wish list of artists you’d like to se, regardless of the reality of it actually ever happening?

You can leave a comment below or email jtehee@fresnobee.com.

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