Rapper Gives $10K For Funeral of Western NY Woman Famous for Album Cover

A well-known figure in the Buffalo, New York community has passed away.

58-year old Clara Gomez was known by most as Claire, both in the Buffalo community, and in the hip-hop community, as well. The first of those two is the easier to explain, as Gomez was a resident of the area.

To explain her connection to the hip-hop community, we have to go back to 2019, when a Western New York hip-hop group used an image of hers as an album cover, and the subsequent popularity of the album led to Claire becoming a household name.

Or, at least, a household face.

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Following the Death of Album Art Icon "Claire", Buffalo Rapper Gives Back

It was shared by Syracuse.com last Wednesday that 58-year old Clara Gomez, known by those in the Buffalo community simply as Claire, had passed away. She was struck by an SUV outside a Metro Rail station, according to the report, and died at the scene.

Though she was well-known in Buffalo for years, her story took a unique turn a few years ago. An image of Claire was used for an album cover by rapper Westside Gunn and his group, Griselda, when they released their first album on Shady Records back in 2019.

Gunn paid tribute to Claire on Twitter after news of her passing broke:

Days later, a GoFundMe page was set-up in Gomez's honor, according to a follow-up story done by New York Upstate. Westside Gunn made a donation to the page, and encouraged his followers to do the same by tweeting out images of the page.

Take a look below:

The outpouring of support and condolences following the news of her passing re-affirms how tightly-knit the Buffalo community is. When a prominent member of the community passes away, the entire area grieves together, and works to honor them properly.

Our thoughts go to the family and friends of Clara Gomez.