At the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2004.Paul Mounce | Corbis via Getty Images

The family of Chino XL said the legendary rapper/actor died by suicide.

The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office listed the rapper’s official cause of death as asphyxia as a result of ligature hanging, according to a statement from Chino XL’s family on Friday, Sept. 27.

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Chino XL battled depression and was diagnosed with congenital heart failure in 2020, according to his family.

The rapper died at his home on the morning of Sunday, July 28. He was 50 years old.

“It’s been the most painful and personal experience of our lives but in honor of Suicide Awareness Month, we decided to share this truth,” Chino XL’s family said in a statement Friday. “Dad would hope that this news may help someone else stay alive.”

Chino XL, whose real name was Derek Keith Barbosa, was born in 1974 in the Bronx and grew up in East Orange, New Jersey, according to Complex.

Barbosa rose to fame in the 1990s while rapping as a teenager in the borough’s hip-hop scene, NME reported.

He gained recognition with his debut album “Here to Save You All” in 1996 and followed it with “I Told You So” in 2001, which featured collaborations with Cypress Hill’s B-Real, Kool G Rap, and J Dilla, among others.

Barbosa released two more albums — “Poison Pen” in 2006 and “Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary” in 2012 — two collaborative albums and one EP. His biggest hits included “No Complex,” “Sickology 101″ featuring Tech N9ne and “The Anthem” featuring Sway and King Tech.

The rapper also had acting roles in “Reno 911!” “CSI: Miami” and ”Alex & Emma,” among others.

Barbosa was named “the greatest name-checker rap history” by Freemusicempire in 2019 and considered “one of the greatest to ever touch a mic” by Andrew Laidlaw, a producer who worked with him for 20 years.

“Derek is a g.o.a.t. on all the levels in life and art,” Barbosa’s longtime manager Stacey Castro said in the statement.

“A dedicated father and man of substance and conviction, he will remain incomparable. The space he forged in music and in people’s hearts, will never be filled,” Castro said. “He will live on in the hearts and minds of those he called ‘his people.’ Every single one of his verses was a mic drop.”

Barbosa reportedly left instructions for his family to release his fifth album, “Darkness and Other Colors,” later this year. The rapper’s family will is also looking to launch the Chino XL Foundation will launch in 2025.