1970 - 2016
Phife Dawg, a rapper and founding member of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, has died, according to multiple news sources, including Billboard and Rolling Stone. He was 45.
He died Wednesday. No cause of death was immediately available, though the rapper was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990.
Dawg, who was born Malik Isaac Taylor Nov. 20, 1970, formded the chart-topping group with his high school classmates Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, formerly Jonathan Davis, who took the stage name Q-Tip. Jarobi White was also involved at the beginning, but only for a short time.
The group's second album, "The Low End Theory," helped pave the way for 1990s alternative hip-hop. Other popular albums include "Midnight Marauders" and "Beats, Rhymes, and Life."
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Actors and fellow musicians shared their condolences Wednesday on social media platforms, including actor Marlon Wayans and rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy:
Phife didawg... #RIP fam love you brother. You left the world with jewels man. My childhood… https://t.co/KRKK7Llw7N
— marlon wayans (@MarlonWayans)
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood)
Nooooooooo RIP Phife. I heard they just got a deal and was coming back. Yo that's soooo weak man!!!! They was posed to be on our album
Phife-HipHop & Rap word Warrior, simple as that.Breathed it & lined rhyme into Sport.A true fire Social Narrator my bro #RIBeats ATCQforever
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD)
Rest In Beats PHIFE ATCQ Forever pic.twitter.com/jwYNU6YLJ8
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD)
In an essay in Billboard magazine, the musician Questlove of the Roots, the house band on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," paid tribute to A Tribe Called Quest, noting that he borrowed Quest for his stage name.