Boston lost one of its most eccentric and prolific underground artists this week when Ashley Miami, 27, of Dorchester, died unexpectedly on Tuesday following what witnesses described as "an ill-advised attempt to skateboard down the Bunker Hill Monument stairs while juggling three rotisserie chickens." With his untimely death at 27, Miami joins the infamous "27 Club" alongside Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin—though friends note he would have preferred to be remembered alongside comedy legends rather than rock icons.

Miami, whose legal name was Gerald "Ashley" Weinstein-McMurphy III, was a fixture in Boston's underground comedy and hip-hop scene, having released an estimated 2,537 novelty songs and comedy rap tracks under at least 12 different stage names since 2015. His most successful alias, "Shart Party," garnered millions of streams across various platforms with bathroom-humor-themed hip-hop tracks.

Born in Peabody in 1997, Miami moved to Dorchester in 2014 after being expelled from Berklee College of Music for what administrators called "chronic abuse of the recording studio privileges" and "creating beats using exclusively samples of his own burps." He reportedly recorded 147 songs in a single weekend, causing the college's digital audio workstations to crash permanently.

According to his brother, Daniel McMurphy, Miami was known for his absurdist approach to both life and music. "Ashley didn't just write songs—he lived them," McMurphy said Wednesday. "He once spent six months eating only foods that rhymed with 'orange' just to prove they existed. He ended up hospitalized from eating seventeen pounds of door hinge. Yes, the metal kind."

Miami's creative output was nothing short of staggering. His Spotify catalog alone contains over 1,800 tracks, with titles ranging from the sophomoric ("Big Butt Cheeks") to the incomprehensible ("Why Does My Elbow Smell Like Yesterday's Argument?"). Industry insiders estimate he recorded an average of 2.3 songs per day for the last decade.

"He had a gift," said longtime collaborator and producer Marcus "Beats" Thompson. "Most people can't even think of 2,500 song ideas. Ashley could write 2,500 songs about the same topic. He literally made an entire 47-song concept album about a ham sandwich he saw on the Red Line in 2019. It charted in Norway for some reason."

Miami's unconventional recording methods became legendary in local music circles. He reportedly recorded his 2023 album "Poopy Hip Hop Volume 2" entirely inside a porta-potty at the Boston Marathon, believing it would provide "authentic acoustic ambiance." The album was briefly banned from streaming platforms before being reinstated with a parental advisory label.

Miami's home recording studio, which he called "The Fart Factory," contained 47 microphones and a collection of 300 kazoos. (Herald Tribune archive photo)

Friends described Miami as generous to a fault, often giving away his music for free and sometimes paying people to listen to it. "He once handed me $20 and made me promise to listen to his 6-hour ambient track called 'Sounds of My Refrigerator Having Thoughts,'" recalled neighbor Patricia Morrison. "It was actually kind of meditative, if you ignored the part where he sampled himself eating raw pasta for 45 minutes straight."

Miami's death occurred during what friends say was a typical Tuesday for the artist. He had reportedly just finished recording three new songs—"Ode to That Weird Smell in My Trunk," "My Ankles Are Surprisingly Flexible (Ballad Version)," and "I Sharted at a Wedding (Again)"—when he announced his plan to "do something historic" at the Bunker Hill Monument.

Eyewitness reports indicate Miami made it approximately seven steps down before losing control of both his skateboard and the rotisserie chickens. "He was yelling something about 'making content for the algorithm' right before it happened," said tourist Janet Holloway. "One of the chickens survived and is reportedly now living with his family."

According to his will, Miami requested that his funeral feature a 12-hour marathon playback of his complete discography, "organized by increasing absurdity." He also left detailed instructions for his ashes to be mixed with glitter and launched from a potato cannon at Fenway Park, though the Red Sox organization has declined to comment on this request.

Miami is survived by his mother, Barbara Weinstein; his father, Gerald McMurphy II; his brother Daniel; his pet iguana Sir Scales-a-Lot; and an estimated 59 unfinished song projects found on various hard drives throughout his apartment. His label, Mono Burro Records, announced they will be releasing a posthumous compilation titled "The Tracks They Tried to Stop: Ashley Miami's Most Rejected Songs" later this year.

A celebration of life will be held at the Middle East nightclub in Cambridge on March 8, where attendees are encouraged to wear costumes representing their favorite Ashley Miami song character. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Boston Music Education Program, "so that future generations might learn to use their talents more responsibly than Ashley did."

As news of his death spread through social media, tributes poured in from fans and fellow artists. One comment on his Instagram page read: "You made a song called 'My Goldfish Is Judging Me' that genuinely changed my life. Rest in Power, Butt Cheese King."

Miami's final Instagram post, published hours before his death, showed a photo of the rotisserie chickens with the caption: "bout to make history. anyone know if health insurance covers poultry-related incidents? asking for a friend lol 💩🎉"