French Montana Pays For Chinx Funeral

The widow of slain rapper Chinx wore white while many of the mourners filing into a Queens cathedral to say farewell Tuesday were clad in black.

But all around the Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral of New York the dominant color was blue — NYPD blue.

Norman Seabrook, head of the Correction Officers’ union and a cousin of the 31-year-old performer, noted the heavy police presence during his eulogy — and even asked for a round of applause for the cops.

“Violence has hit home,” he said after the service, as the rapper’s coffin was being loaded into a hearse. “He’s a kid who turned his life around and he gets assassinated. The police are doing a good job. Let's hope they catch somebody.”

Born Lionel Pickens, the rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting early May 17. Police still don’t have a suspect — or a motive.

Before the funeral service, friends and loved ones filed inside the sanctuary to pay their respects at the open brown casket where Pickens lay dressed in a gray suit and surrounded by white roses.

His grieving wife, Janelli Caceres, wore white jeans and a white top with the words “Baby Chinx” emblazoned on the back.

Two large screens set up nearby showed photographs of the rapper in happier days — with his wife and their three kids, at birthday bashes or hanging with friends.

Pickens was described in the funeral program as a “jokester” who “influenced many with his music and his drive to get to the top of the hip hop industry.”

Choking back tears, the rapper’s manager told mourners he would “keep his legacy alive.”

“His goal and his intention was to leave a mark and he’s done that,” said Doug Ellison.

Pickens and a pal were in a silver Porsche on Queens Blvd. near 84th Drive in Briarwood when a gunman pulled up beside them and opened fire, police said.

Shot multiple times, Pickens was pronounced dead at Jamaica Hospital. His friend, Antar (Yemen Chee$e) Alziadi, 27, was wounded but survived.

A product of the Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway, Pickens was no stranger to trouble. As a minor he was charged with attempted murder in 1999.

Three years later, his rapping career was nearly derailed when he was busted for armed robbery and for selling crack a year later. He wound up serving four years in prison.

Those experiences became the grist for songs like “Bodies,” in which Pickens rapped about his life of crime and violence.

Pickens was killed eight years after his mentor Stack Bundles, real name Rayquon Elliott, was gunned down at the Redfern Houses.

Police suspect the killings might be related.

Pickens had performed as a member of French Montana's Coke Boys crew and recently collaborated with rappers Too Short and Meek Mill.

Montana, real name Karim Kharbouch, is the sometime boyfriend of reality TV star Khloé Kardashian. He reportedly helped pay for Pickens’ funeral.

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