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Westside Gunn is mourning the loss of New York native Claire Melendez, the homeless woman who served as muse to Griselda over the years.
In the early hours of Wednesday, May 24, Griselda's head huncho announced that Melendez, a.k.a. "Claire Mel" had passed away. Melendez got her claim to fame after Gunn, Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher put her face on the cover of their 2019 album WWCD. As of this report, neither the circumstances behind her passing nor the Buffalo native's caused of death has not been confirmed. Nonetheless, Gunn made sure to pay homage to her.
"My Fav Buffalo Kid 💔" Westside Gunn wrote on Facebook. "You’ll Always be loved and immortalized 🤲🏽 I seen something nobody else seen and for that I’m thankful for every encounter, it’s not 1x I’ve ever seen Claire and didn’t give her hundreds and then soon as she could would tell anyone with 2ears I owed her and never gave her nothing 😂😂😢😢"
Gunn also recalled the time he took Claire with him to his debut event at Art Basel in Miami back in 2021. Not only was Claire Mel on the album cover for WWCD, but she also was referenced on Gunn's songs like "Connie’s Son” off his HWH 7 project and "Claire's Back" on HWH 8: Sincerely Adolf. Gunn wasn't the only one who mourn Claire's death. Former Buffalo Bills cheerleader Tammy Shaw also remembered the Buffalo legend.
See more dedications to Claire Mel below. Rest in peace, Claire Melendez.