34 year old Jonas Bevacqua, the co-founder and creative director of popular urban clothing company LRG, was found dead in his California home today. 

LRG was favored by ambassadors of hip hop culture like Kanye West, Cee Lo, Young Jeezy and The Roots.

In an interview with Hypebeast earlier this month, Bevacqua discussed his advice for upstarts fashion brands:

“My advice to any upstart brand… is to have a partner with a lot of money, but make sure it’s smart, vested-interest money. There’s a big difference between smart money and regular money. I was lucky enough to have two business-savvy math whiz kids as partners. Know your part – if you’re the creative guy then be the creative guy, if you’re the business guy then be that guy. A lot of times people try to wear all the hats and end up doing nothing at all because they take on too many projects and nothing gets finished. Part of growing is delegating. Keep it fun. If you have to call it work then you probably shouldn’t be doing it. Don’t take it so serious, fashion is an expression. It’s an art, it’s a reflection of how you feel, it’s supposed to be fun. We’re not curing cancer, even though that would be nice. Most importantly always stay inspired or else you can get bored very easily. I’m constantly looking for new hobbies and interests to stay inspired.”