Interesting story, morbid. What brought it on?

In the sentence:

Now it was a shell of its former self, most of the stores having been gutted or replaced by lesser stores, particularly more “urban” stores that promoted the hyphy lifestyle.

Is hyphy a typo, or is it a word I've never heard of?

Also...How long does it take for one person to die of drowning? From what I've read it takes up to 10 minutes to actually be "dead".