A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg dead at 45
Hip hop just lost one of its founding fathers.
Phife Dawg, one of the founding members of the legendary hip-hop collective, A Tribe Called Quest, reportedly passed away Wednesday at 45.
Rolling Stone and Billboard confirmed the rapper's death, though the group has yet to release an official statement. The cause of death is unknown.
Born Malik Taylor in 1970, he founded A Tribe Called Quest in 1985 with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. One of rap's landmark early acts, A Tribe Called Quest released five critically and commercially successful albums between 1990 to 1998, responsible for hits like Bonita Applebum, Can I Kick It?, I Left My Wallet in El Segundo, Scenario and Check the Rhime.
After disbanding in 1998, the group reunited several times over the last decade to perform live, most recently bringing Can I Kick It? to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2015.
In recent years, he struggled with medical issues, battling diabetes and undergoing a kidney transplant in 2008.
Hip hop just lost one of its founding fathers.
Phife Dawg, one of the founding members of the legendary hip-hop collective, A Tribe Called Quest, reportedly passed away Wednesday at 45.
Rolling Stone and Billboard confirmed the rapper's death, though the group has yet to release an official statement. The cause of death is unknown.
Born Malik Taylor in 1970, he founded A Tribe Called Quest in 1985 with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. One of rap's landmark early acts, A Tribe Called Quest released five critically and commercially successful albums between 1990 to 1998, responsible for hits like Bonita Applebum, Can I Kick It?, I Left My Wallet in El Segundo, Scenario and Check the Rhime.
After disbanding in 1998, the group reunited several times over the last decade to perform live, most recently bringing Can I Kick It? to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2015.
In recent years, he struggled with medical issues, battling diabetes and undergoing a kidney transplant in 2008.
