Def Jam VP Shakir Stewart Dies: Shakir Stewart Commits Suicide (Photos)

Posted on November 2, 2008

Def Jam Executive Vice President Shakir Suicide has committed suicide. There are not many details out on Shakir Stewart’s death yet, but his wife discovered Shakir’s body earlier today in his New York apartment after Shakir Stewart had shot himself. Read more on Shakir Stewart’s death below.

Shakir Stewart had replaced Jay-Z as VP of Def Jam records in June of this year. And Stewart also held on to his duties as senior VP of A&R at Island Def Jam.

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Shakir Stewart had signed such big artists as Young Jeezy, Rick Ross and newcomer Karina Pasian. Stewart began as an executive at Hitco Music Publishing, and later became the senior VP of creative/GM.

Shakir Stewart was the man behind no# 1 hits in Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart as Destiny Child’s “Survivor”, Outkast’s “The Way You Move”, both Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”, and “Baby Boy” and assembling and organizing Usher’s massive hit “Yeah” on the twelve time platinum albumConfessions.

Hearing of Shakir Stewart’s suicide is a huge shock as his career was moving upward, and no one noticed him having any emotional troubles.

Just this summer, he told Billboard magazine that while in college at Morehouse, Shakir Stewart was “the guy who was the head of passing out fliers at seven clubs a night, seven days a week in 20-degree weather.”
Shakir Stewart said at the time it was his goal to help develop “new, young executives … The hot executive who’s 21, 22 years old and has a serious passion for music and the desire to work 27 hours a day. That’s where I was at that time in my life. And that’s who I’m looking to mentor. I don’t see many people like that. Instead, I see a lot of kids who want to live the lifestyle but don’t want to put in the work and do what it takes.”

Our condolences to Shakir Stewart’s family and friends on his tragic death.