Family confirms: Rapper Petty Levels from Philadelphia died at age 23

Petty Levels, a Philadelphia rapper and social media influencer with more than 1.1 million followers, died last week in Florida, her family and state authorities confirmed Thursday.

She was 23.

Levels, whose real name was Mia Armaj Bennett, rose to prominence in 2018 after sharing short videos on social media in which she rapped about skydiving, surfing and snowboarding. Some posts showed visits to sun-drenched locations such as Hawaii, California, Tulum in Mexico and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

News of Petty Levels’ death circulated on social media on Wednesday. Some comments suggested that the young artist was killed in Philadelphia, but her family said these rumors were false.

“All of these allegations and comments are untrue,” a family member who wished to remain anonymous told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“We don’t even know exactly what happened so could everyone please be patient with us,” the person added. “I’m begging you, please, our family is devastated.”

Chris Wilkerson, a spokesman for Hillsborough County in west central Florida, told the outlet that Levels died in Tampa on July 19. A Tampa police spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Chosen One Records, described by Fox 29 Philadelphia as Levels’ record label, shared a photo of Levels on Instagram and announced the rapper’s death.

“We are saddened to inform you of the passing of our little sister @pettylevelsofficial,” the label wrote on Instagram on Thursday. “We ask for your prayers and comfort during this time and respect for the family’s privacy.”

The Daily News has contacted the company for further comment.

In an interview in November 2019, the then 18-year-old rapper said that she began using her stage name in high school.

“In ninth grade, I first came across ‘Petty Levels’ and the whole Instagram thing came about,” she said.

At first, her followers were mostly from the Philadelphia area, but as she began doing pop-up shows and producing more videos, her fan base expanded to places “everywhere, like all kinds of cities.”