House Music Icon DJ Rashad Found Dead

Rashad Harden, 35, was found unresponsive by a friend around 1:30 p.m.

DJ Rashad, a house music icon in Chicago whose new EP is set to be released next week, was found dead of an apparent drug overdose Saturday afternoon on the Lower West Side.

Rashad Harden, 35, was found unresponsive by a friend around 1:30 p.m. in an apartment in the 2100 block of West 21st Street, authorities said.

Rashad, of the 300 block of Park Avenue in Calumet City, was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:50 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday.

His cause of death is believed to be a drug overdose, as both narcotics and narcotic paraphernalia were discovered near the body, said police News Affairs Officer Ana Pacheco.

There were no visible signs of injury, Pacheco said.

Rashad’s new EP, “We On 1,” is set to be available on vinyl April 28. He performed at the Pitchfork Music Festival last year and opened for Chance The Rapper during last fall’s nationwide Social Experiment Tour.

Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Chance The Rapper took to Twitter to lament the artist's death.

Area Central detectives are investigating. 

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