Tynisha Ysais

Who is Big Lurch?

On September 15th 1976 Antron Singleton, otherwise known later in life as Big Lurch, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, although he grew up in East Dallas. He had an early interest in poetry, but in the eighties this interest turned into a passion for hip hop and rap. He began rapping under the stage name of G Spade, later becoming Big Lurch due to how tall he was, 6 ft 6 to be exact.

He had a fair amount of success in the underground scene throughout the 90’s, signing to a record label and collaborating with artists such as E40, RBL Posse, Lil Keke, Mystical and Too Short. While he may not have been as well known as some of his contemporaries he was definitely collaborating, networking and rubbing shoulders with some of hip hop’s biggest names on the west coast. On top of his solo career, Lurch formed a group with two other musicians, Doonie Baby and Rick Rock, creating the trio known as Cosmic Slop Shop. The trio released one studio album titled Da Family. They soon disbanded in 1999 after failing to garner enough interest and sales.

On September 16th 2000, Antron Singleton was hit by a drunk driver, badly injuring him. He would receive strong painkillers at the hospital, but the pain from the crash would remain for a long time after. This pain led Singleton to start taking PCP in order to cope with his pain. PCP is a highly addictive hallucinogenic drug that numbs the user, though this numbness does not come on its own and the drug is known for its users doing insane and crazy things while on it.

In the early 2000’s Big Lurch was beginning to dabble in the hip hop sub-genre of horrorcore. While recording this horrorcore project, he was living in a Los Angeles apartment with a few friends, including 21 year old Tynisha Ysais and her boyfriend Thomas Moore.

Murders

On April 9th 2002, Thomas and Antron started smoking PCP together, according to the accounts of everybody present, what happened that night is a blur. However, the next morning Tynisha’s friend Alissa Allen entered the apartment and found Tynisha’s body. Her chest had been torn open with a three inch blade broken off in her, tooth marks were found on her body and small parts of her remains seemed to be missing.

After the discovery of Tynisha’s body, Antron Singleton was found in the street near his apartment, completely naked, covered in blood and screaming at the sky. He was subsequently apprehended and taken into police custody, where a medical exam was conducted showing that he had recently consumed flesh that did not belong to him.

Singleton did not necessarily profess his innocence immediately, however he has always asserted that he had no idea what had happened that night, and that it is possible that there is a lot more to the story.

Trial and Conviction

At the time of the murder, Singleton was working on a horrorcore album and in court some of his lyrics were used against him. There was a specific focus on the song ‘I did it to you’, a song which spoke of murder in a cold and shameless way. Lyrics included: “Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson / And all of your friends I’mma finsta school ya”.

His defense argued that he was in a psychotic state due to his use of PCP around the time of the murder. Although, the court ultimately ruled that intoxication and claimed insanity were not satisfactory reasons for having committed the crime. The district attorney argued that drug use cannot be used as grounds for an insanity defense in California and the judge agreed with this.

Alfred Singleton plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but this defense failed and in 2003 he was found guilty of murder and aggravated mayhem. He was subsequently handed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Aftermath

A year after Big Lurch was handed a life sentence, his record label actually released the album ‘It’s all bad’ without his permission, this is the album he had been working on at the time of the murder. Obviously using the crime as a way of promotion and attempting to profit off of it.

Big Lurch was signed to a record label called Black Market Records, this label had a bad reputation for marketing their artists as dangerous criminals and doing everything they could to sell that gangster image. Another one of their artists, X-Raided, was convicted of murder around 10 years prior to Lurch’s conviction, with the label releasing 4 albums while he was behind bars.

Allegedly, when the record label learnt of Singleton’s PCP use for pain, they supplied him with even more drugs in an attempt to authenticate his gangster image and make his music more believable. This allegation was echoed by Tynisha Ysais’ mother, Carolyn Stinson, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the label, with the claims that they fed Antron the drugs that led to her daughter’s murder. While the lawsuit did not gain much traction, this speculation became quite a popular theory.

Black Market Records also released a documentary called ‘Big Lurch rhyme and punishment’ in 2011. In the documentary Tynisha’s mother shares her belief that her boyfriend Thomas Moore orchestrated the murder, as she was ready to leave him after an abusive relationship and following verbal and physical arguments. Antron also believes that the amount of PCP found in his and Tynisha’s system proves that he was set up, the medical examination explains it as a surreal amount of PCP. On top of this, there were details in the case that were looked over, a bloody hand print on the scooter that was used to attack Tynisha. The hand print did not match Antron’s hand but this was never looked into.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Big Lurch now?

Antron Singleton, aka Big Lurch, Is currently serving a life sentence at the California Healthcare Facility in Stockton, California.

What rapper is in jail for life?

The rapper Big Lurch, one third of trio Cosmic Slop Shop, is currently incarcerated for the murder of his roommate. He received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

What is horrorcore music?

Horrorcore is a subgenre of hardcore rap that contains horror themes such as death, violence, satanic worship and slasher films.