The wannabe Times Square rapper who was killed after firing at a cop had a brief brush with fame before he was gunned down when he squared off against hip-hop mega-star Kanye West in an obscure MTV trivia show – and won.
Raymond “Ready” Martinez pulled out a cheap come-from-behind victory over West in the 2008 episode of the show “Hoodfab” which was filmed outside MTV studios in Times Square.
Martinez failed to answer simple hip-hop trivia questions like identifying a lyric from Slick Rick’s seminal hit “Children’s Story,” or remembering the Tribe Called Quest song “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo.”
But while West was able to answer far more obscurant questions about early-1980s hip-hop legend Diamond D and 1990s rapper Jeru the Damaja, Martinez pulled out a weak victory by being able to identify all the performers who appeared on DJ Khaled’s “We Taking Over.”
For his victory, Martinez was awarded a package of tube socks and a gift certificate to Foot Locker.
Martinez, 25, was killed Thursday after pulling a machine pistol on a cop after fleeing officers who stopped him from aggressively peddling his rap CD to tourists and then shaking them down for cash.