An up-and-coming Brooklyn rapper was found slain in New Jersey early Tuesday – his torched body left in the back of an SUV that was abandoned in a suburban cul-de-sac. The remains of Kampane, a little-known lyricist and performer whose real name is Rhian Stoute, were so charred authorities needed most of Tuesday to make an identification, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office said.

Kampane, unmarried and without children, had been shot at least once, law enforcement sources told the Cliffview Pilot website. “Everybody loved him,” said Russell Jackson, Kampane’s 33-year-old cousin. “We’re shocked. It’s very confusing…This is out of nowhere.”

The 33-year-old’s corpse was discovered about 8 a.m., crammed inside the back of a black Chevy Tahoe with New York license plates that was parked in a residential neighborhood in Paramus, N.J., authorities said.

Investigators believe Kampane was killed elsewhere and then ditched in Paramus. “We have no information as to the nature and location of where the death occurred,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli. “We do not believe it occurred at the location where the vehicle and body were discovered.”

The Bergen County Medical Examiner was performing an autopsy Tuesday. An official from the Paramus Police Department declined to comment Tuesday night.

Kampane was born in Brooklyn and raised in Flatbush, according to the rapper’s website. His site said he toured with the group “Roc-a-Fella” 11 years ago and was currently promoting his new single: “What You Drinking On.” “He was a cool, comedian-type kind-of-guy. He should have been an actor. He brought everyone’s energy up,” said Jackson. “He was ambitious. He was taking all the steps necessary to break out in the music business.”

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