The Final Hours of Speaker Knockerz

Late April 2014, a young rapper/producer by the name of Derek McAllister aka Speaker Knockerz was in conversation with his mother, Mesha Wilson. 

The topic revolved around two things. Firstly, they talked about the different things Speaker Knockerz intended to be doing at that point in time in his life https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=yYdWP0ofWGDCrKZ5 (18:55-19:02) The second thing was something familiar to the journey of life for a teenager – love. Speaker Knockerz had a girlfriend at the time and the situation between them both had friction that led to a fallout. His mother, whom he trusted as someone who could help fix whatever roadblocks he encountered in his life, stepped in and assisted in resolving the issue.

https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=yYdWP0ofWGDCrKZ5 (19:04-19:31) https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=yYdWP0ofWGDCrKZ5 (19:41-20:42).

Little did she know, that would be the last face to face interaction she would have with her son. A couple days later on March 4^th 2014, things would take an eerie turn for the worst leading to his untimely passing. What made it even more heart-breaking, was that it was his father’s birthday in which Speaker Knockerz ended up in the situation that claimed his life https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=B39m1FLO57zRk6C4 (21:55-21:58).

His mother would speak to him over the phone earlier in the day. It seems he trusted her with sharing his plans of the future and goals he wanted to accomplish, because this conversation was about businesses he’d like to venture into on his own that wasn’t under his parents name. His mother would advise him on the best route to get his things set up before Speaker Knockerz told her he would speak to her later as he was in preparation to take his brother and his father to dinner for his father’s birthday https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=B39m1FLO57zRk6C4 (22:25-22:54).

Everything was going as planned. Speaker Knockerz did in fact take out his brother and father to dinner to celebrate his father’s birthday. At around 11pm that night, he dropped off his father and told him that he would be back. That, unfortunately never happened. With the following day March 5^th 2014 coming around. His father awoke with still no return of his son or any contact from him. He would call Speaker Knockerz mother asking if heard from him as he was supposed to return to collect something but he never did https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=n6nwYTIl0ph5Jphv (22:56-23:23).

At this point, his mother was already worried because she knew her son. Speaker Knockerz was a man of his word and if he stated he’s coming back, then that’s exactly what he would do https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=n6nwYTIl0ph5Jphv (23:25-23:32) Her fears of something being wrong would grow even stronger as the day progressed. No matter how much she dialled his phone, it would continue going to voicemail with no response. Speaker Knockerz also had a meeting to attend to that he never showed up to. If there was one thing that Speaker Knockerz was very conscious and focused on was his business endeavours, so the fact that he didn’t show up to his business meeting was more than enough to raise the antennas of his mother’s instincts to the point where she knew her son was in danger https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=ub_Ub3NcvD3P2uun (20:57-21:45).

At this point she sprang into action, taking her concerns to the police station where she requested assistance in finding her son as she knew something wasn’t right. However, the 24 hour timeframe had not yet passed where they had no contact with Speaker Knockerz so the police couldn’t yet treat the situation as a case where her son was missing https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=L4hMooBa1Fl6BPbQ (23:47-24:05).

She tried to get some rest and told Speaker Knockerz father that they’ll contact the police again if they didn’t find him before the 24-hour timeframe https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=ktbTItB9RaYouEiJ (24:06-24:10) That turned out to be an impossible task for his mother to do as her mind and instinct was too strong to ignore and just sleep. Around 3am she would jump up from her sleep with the intensified feeling that something was not right. It was then that she tried to called the police again, but she was again told that they wouldn’t be able to dispatch help until the timeframe had elapsed, but as soon as personnel for that department arrives at 8am in the morning they would give her a call to provide some assistance https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=wQT6Ldm7H_DdieVQ (24:12-24:36).

His mother was adamant something happened to her son, so she took it upon herself to leave home in the dead of night driving around to places where she thought he could be or to even check around to see if he might have crashed and unable to get help from where he was. She was doing everything in her power to try and locate her son. Unable to find him, she got back home and went to sleep for a few hours before sunrise https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=dFJ2KfOkjTxtroOH (22:04-22:48).

The morning of March 6^th 2014 came and in an attempt of desperation, she turned to social media for assistance as her son still couldn’t be found or contacted. In the post she made it known that Speaker Knockerz was last seen on March 4^th 2014 at 11pm and he was driving in his Black Camaro 2013.

Posting and updating everyone for help in finding her son, the police finally got into action, got the missing person report, and went on the search for Speaker Knockerz https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=05liU66qfVvWSmsc (24:56-25:10).

At that time her mind was bombarded with thoughts on what could have happened to her son. One haunting thought was that he was kidnapped because she recalled in the past in an area they used to live, she arrived home to find her window broken and the culprit went onto Twitter bragging about being the one who did the deed https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=b8vE2pO9T1upPK7Z (22:57-23:24).

While her mind was exploring the possibilities of what could have happened, she continued praying. Sadly, the police would locate her son’s deceased body in his garage beside his Black Camaro a South Carolina home. Reports state that the coroner Gary Watts said foul play was not suspected and an autopsy found no sign of trauma. The toxicology report was in the works and would reveal if any substances were what led to the passing of the young rising star.

https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/rapper-speaker-knockerz-found-dead-at-19-5930275

The news quickly spread through the media of the young prodigy’s passing

Friend and collaborator Zack Dillan, 

who directed many of the artist’s videos, was among other mourners like Young Dolph, Gucci Mayne, and the late Fredo Santana.

Speaker Knockerz mother was almost in shock and denial unable to even believe her son was just gone https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=RF7tOGw9X5ei6rU6 (25:19-25:32).

His brother who follows in his music footsteps, Christian McAllister aka Lil Knock.

was only 16 years old and in high school when he had to face the reality of his big brother being gone https://youtu.be/alx4oFnkotk?si=2p6PhTFMYyp1dYpr (0:42-0:47).

With news of the South Carolina rapper, Speaker Knockerz passing reverberating through the city, the question began swirling around of how he passed. Speculations began spreading that it was due to a drug overdose and others stated it was a heart attack. His mother however, would later deny any of those theories stating her son didn’t pass away because of any drug use nor did he have a heart attack, but she chose to not disclose the cause of his passing due to not being ready to open up about losing her son https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=Q4840aUCwr3ssahc (26:01-27:48).

There have been some sites however, like popular news outlet The Sun which issued contradicting statements, revealing that the toxicology report did allegedly state that Speaker Knockerz overdosed on codeine syrup which induced a heart attack.

https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/2454640/speaker-knockerz-south-carolina-rapper-death-overdose

Whatever the reason for his passing, one thing is certain, a young talented, and ambition-driven artist and producer was lost. From a young kid even after being separated from his father for 12 years due to him having to serve time behind bars, Speaker Knockerz still persevered and his father stuck by his side doing everything he could to propel him further even while behind bars https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=t-jJqvX2b5v9ZeEf (29:00-29:35).

Speaker Knockerz was inspired to pursue a career in the music industry after seeing how Soulja Boy created a lane for himself https://youtu.be/l9ow9BKxLR8?si=61qDn4LnytV8UpDM (2:45-3:22) His mother would try to tell him to have other plans just in case his plan A didn’t work, but Speaker Knockerz was confident his career in music was going to be successful, and that’s exactly what it became before his untimely passing https://youtu.be/QaubbIfQtfc?si=fi_AeaUwYF_71mcM (37:05-38:10).

He went on to create an extensive catalog of music.

and made beats for mainstream artists like Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, and Meek Mill among others.

Speaker Knockerz was doing all of this without being signed to a major label. He wanted to have control of his music and build his own empire and not wait for someone to see his worth, so he remained independent and launched his own entertainment group named Talibandz Entertainment.

https://www.talibandzentertainment.com/home

The final music video he recorded was for the song “Erica Kane” which was released after his passing on May 22^nd 2014 https://youtu.be/W5uX3zCyKzc?si=6E1LTHa9fKFVrZHA Speaker Knockerz’s impact on the music industry is remembered to this day, influencing some of the industry’s biggest artists like A Boogie With Da Hoodie https://youtu.be/D5H9IZ8n2vM?si=XFml9MMg82kg2BgL (4:53-5:05).

And Kodak Black who remixed his hit song “Lonely” https://youtu.be/kPrmjTSiqBs?si=y0a_ggN21vj2z935 https://youtu.be/cAke2ziKZag?si=ZkNylWL83Nng1fs4.

His legacy will forever live on. Rest in peace Speaker Knockerz https://youtu.be/jMoP6iE8TaM?si=O07aIxyiiSc_1rZJ (27:10-27:24).