Cortez Hobbs

Mr. Cortez Hobbs, known as “Nunu, Noonie, and Babyman”, passed away on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Detroit, Michigan, at age 20. Cortez was born October 18, 2005, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Bethani Watson and Christopher Hobbs.

Cortez, you have many names because you’ve played many roles in our lives, and now we’re trying to find the right words for someone who was everything.

We are going to miss that style, the way you recreated yourself over and over again in every era with artists you were inspired by, and somehow it was still always you. We are going to miss your clumsiness, tripping over your own two feet. We are going to miss watching you dance, and vibe to music, and always feeling it deeper than the rest of us, because we know that music spoke for you when your words couldn’t. We are going to miss your creativity, your energy, and most of all we are going to miss you.

Thank you for 20 years. Twenty years of memories that we will have forever. One thing is for sure: you loved your family, and we loved you. Thank you for making space for us in your world, no matter what heavy load you may have been carrying. Thank you for being a safe space to everyone you encountered. Thank you for being the best uncle to our babies, and for being the best brother any one of us could ever ask for in our lifetime.

It’s still so hard for us to understand how we will manage without someone who brought us light, but we will try to keep that same light in the way we love each other, and the way we choose to remember you. In your absence, we will make sure to hold onto every single memory of you. Every laugh, every disagreement, every hug, every song, every single experience of a life with Cortez.

Cortez leaves to cherish his memory eleven sisters, Shaleika Swims, Asia Hobbs, Chamya Hobbs, Tiara Rosier, Taiva Burton-Hobbs, Lazaria Laird, Crysta Bartlett, Denesia Adams, “Joy”, Alayjah Hobbs, Olivia Miller, and DeAsia Teague; seven brothers, Christopher Hobbs “Lil-Chris”, Cayse Hobbs, Tavion Hobbs, Cincere Bartlett, Bishop Watson, Brandon Wooley, Jr., and Christian Hobbs; grandmothers, Anita Hobbs, and Marie Williams, and aunt, Rachel Watson.

You are so deeply loved, until we meet again. Forever our brother’s keeper