David Jolicoeur, a founding member of the avant-garde hip hop trio De La Soul, has died at the age of 54, US media reported.
No cause of death has been given to the rapper, who goes by the name Trugoy the Dove.
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The American musician has spoken openly about his congestive heart failure in recent years.
Jolicoeur co-founded the legendary trio – along with Posdnuos (Kelvin Mercer) and Maseo (Vincent Lamont Mason Jr).
The band changed the face of hip-hop in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and were honored last week at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in honor of the genre.
B Real who’s also a rapper of a Hip-Hop group Cypress Hill took to Twitter to described David Jolicoeur as a “legend of hip hop music and culture”.
“His music will allow him to live in our hearts and minds,” he wrote. “But not only was he a great musician but he was a great human being. He meant a lot to us.”
Last month, the band’s classic albums became available to stream.
Complicated licensing issues surrounding De La Soul’s use of hundreds of models have so far stymied the movement.
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De La Soul’s first six discs will be released for the first time on digital streaming services on March 3.
3 Feet High and Rising, their debut album in 1989, reached number 1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and regularly appears on lists of the greatest albums of all time. It includes the hits The Magic Number and Me, Myself and I.
