Hip-hop community mourns after killing of Zaher Noureddine, Toronto music journalist

Zaher "Zack"Noureddine stares into the camera and says he doesn't want people to put him in any categories.

"I don't want any label," he saidin the 2014 YouTube video."I'm an artist by nature. And I just happen to be a journalist and photojournalist by trade."

Canada's hip-hop community is paying its respects to the 25-year-old Toronto man,who was killed early Wednesday morning in what police there are callinga "brazen robbery."

• Zaher Noureddine, 25, dead after 'brazen robbery' outside Toronto restaurant

Noureddinewas leaving a Yonge Street bar in the city's midtown areajust aftermidnight on Dec. 30 when the group of people he was with got into an altercation with another group.

He was injuredand taken to Toronto's Sunnybrooktrauma centre, where died later that day.

'A kind and hardworking guy'

Before moving to Toronto,Noureddine studied journalism at Algonquin College in Ottawa, where he grew up.

In 2012, he began contributing articles and photographsto online magazineHipHopCanada.Noureddine had interviewed high-profile artists like multiple-Grammy nominee Kendrick Lamarfor the magazine, and his talent was clear from day one, said editor-in-chief Jesse Plunkett.

"From the beginning, I always thought he was a really kindand hardworking guy. He was very professional. He impressed right off the bat with his writing skills," Plunkett said Thursday.

"I think he really liked being able to tell a story with both pictures and words. It was a passion of his, and I'm glad we were able to give him an outlet."

A statement on HipHopCanada's website described Noureddineas "a hip-hop head to the core" and said his "support for the scene" would not be forgotten.

The magazine also said it was planning a more in-depthtribute to Noureddine in the coming days.

'We just clicked'

Noureddinewas a vivid, creative music journalist who was able to convey the intensityof the hip-hopshows he covered, said Nate Gravelleof Ottawa-based CapCityHipHop, another site Noureddinewrote and took photosfor.

Gravelle met Noureddine at an Ottawa nightclub in 2012, shortly after the site launched and he needed a photographer for a couple ofextra shows.

"He was a young photographer with a vision, with a big dream, with a drive, I'd say, to get out there," Gravelle told CBC News on Thursday. "We just clicked."

Noureddinefrequently posted his photography to Instagram, including many photos from hip-hop shows and from Lebanon, where he also briefly worked as a journalist.

"Zackwas a kind-hearted guy who loved photography and hip-hop music," said Algonquin College professor Joe Banks on the day he died."He was a likeable young man whose loss will befelt by his former classmates."

Toronto police continue to investigate the killing, and saytheyare searching for three suspects who were wearing dark-coloured clothing and whofled the area in a light-coloured four-door sedan.

Noureddine's cause of death has not been released.Family in Ottawa said funeral preparations areunderway.