Hurricane G has died, the New York Post and the Los Angeles Times report. The lifelong Brooklynite born Gloria Rodríguez had been living with stage 4 lung cancer, which her daughter revealed to the public earlier this year. Hurricane G was 52 years old.

Hurricane G first caught the attention of the New York hip-hop community in the early 1990s, taking up with Redman, Keith Murray, and members of EPMD as the first woman in their Hit Squad collective. Her early spots on Redman’s “Tonight’s da Night” and “Dare Iz a Darkside,” along with her contribution to Xzibit’s “Just Maintain,” helped establish her as a uniquely skilled and engaging rapper. Drawing on her Puerto Rican lineage, Hurricane G stood out for her skills at rapping in English and Spanish, effortlessly bringing a distinctive Nuyorican edge to her straightforward flow.

In 1994, Hurricane G signed with Capitol Records to release an album of her own, but restructuring at the label scuttled the project’s release. Hurricane G eventually released her debut, All Woman, in 1997 via Jellybean Benitez’s H.O.L.A. imprint. The album’s “Somebody Else” reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart, and, although the record itself didn’t chart, it remained an essential title for East Coast hip-hop heads.

Hurricane G continued to be a steady presence in hip-hop in the ensuing decades, working with her Hit Squad affiliates, as well as holding a prominent spot on a remix of Diddy’s “P.E. 2000.” She never released another solo LP, but joined fellow Brooklyn native Thirstin Howl III for a joint album titled Mami & Papi in 2013.

On Instagram, EPMD’s Erick Sermon, who shared a daughter with Hurricane G, called Hurricane G “a legend in her own right in the [hip-hop] community.” He continued, “She will be missed all around the world. I can’t believe this. Pray for us. Beautiful blessings. She was a beautiful person a wonderful mother as real as they come.”