By LINDSEY BAHR (AP Film Writer)
David Jude Jolicoeur, recognized broadly as Trugoy the Dove and one of many founding members of the Long Island hip hop trio De La Soul, has died. He was 54.
His consultant Tony Ferguson confirmed the studies Sunday. No different info was instantly out there.
In current years, Jolicoeur, had stated he was battling congestive coronary heart failure, residing with a LifeVest machine affixed to his individual. De La Soul was a part of the hip-hop tribute on the Grammy Awards final week, however Trugoy was not onstage along with his fellow bandmates.
Tributes poured in on social media shortly after the information broke Sunday.
“Dave! It was a honor to share so many stages with you,” wrote rapper Big Daddy Kane on Instagram.
Rapper Erick Sermon posted on Instagram that “This one hurts. From Long Island from one of the best rap groups in Hiphop # Delasoul #plug2 Dave has passed away you will be missed… RIP.”
Young Guru added, “Rest in peace my brother. You were loved. @plugwondelasoul I love you brother we are here for you. Smiles I love you bro. This is crazy” and DJ Semtex wrote that it was “heart wrenching news.”
“Luke Cage” showrunner and hip-hop journalist Cheo Hodari Coker wrote on Twitter that, “You don’t understand what De La Soul means to me. Their existence said to me, a black geek from Connecticut that yes, hip-hop belongs to you too, and Trugoy was the balance, McCartney to Pos Lennon, Keith to his Mick. This is a huge loss.”
Jolicoeur was born in Brooklyn however raised within the Amityville space of Long Island, the place he met Vincent Mason (Pasemaster Mase) and Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos) and the three determined to type a rap group, with every taking up distinctive names. Trugoy, Jolicoeur stated, was backwards for “yogurt.” More lately he’d been going by Dave.
De La Soul’s debut studio album “3 Feet High and Rising,” produced by Prince Paul, was launched in 1989 by Tommy Boy Records and praised for being a extra light-hearted and optimistic counterpart to extra charged rap choices like N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions” launched only one 12 months prior.
Sampling everybody from Johnny Cash and Steely Dan to Hall & Oates, De La Soul signaled the start of different hip-hop. In Rolling Stone, critic Michael Azerrad known as it the primary “psychedelic hip-hop record.” Some even known as them a hippie group, although the members didn’t fairly like that.
In 2010, “3 Feet High and Rising” was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for its historic significance.
“It’s a hip-hop masterpiece for the era in which it was released,” Jolicoeur instructed Billboard earlier this 12 months. “I think the element of that time of what was taking place in music, hip-hop, and our culture, I think it welcomed that and opened up minds and spirits to see and try new different things. … I think the innocence that we had back then was brave, but we were in a time where innocence was so cool. Not sampling James Brown, but sampling Liberace; I think it was shocking (when) we came out (that) we sampled Liberace. I don’t know if it’d impact the same way (now).”
They adopted with “De La Soul Is Dead,” in 1991, which was a bit darker and extra divisive with critics, and “Stakes is High,” in 1996.
De La Soul launched eight albums and in March had been going to make their streaming service debut, on Spotify, Apple Music and others after a protracted battle with Tommy Boy Records about authorized and publishing issues. The 2021 acquisition of Tommy Boy Records by Reservoir, with masters from the likes of De La Soul, Queen Latifah and Naughty By Nature, helped transfer issues alongside and the complete catalog was set to debut on March 3.
“You think that you own your stuff and that now it’s on cruise control, waiting for the checks to come in. But it is not that way at all. There’s a lot to do,” Jolicoeur instructed Billboard. “You do need collaborators, you do need help, you do need to rework back into the system and not necessarily be the lone commissioner of this project. You need allies, you need companies to work with, you need people to hire, and we learned a big lesson from that. It definitely wasn’t just, “We got our masters back!” It ain’t that.”
Over the years, the group was nominated for six Grammy Awards, profitable one for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for the Gorillaz track “Feel Good Inc.”
During the pandemic, he stated, there have been talks of solo albums and branching out — which weren’t new.
“We support each other in those ideas, but at the same time, I think the magic really happens when it’s the three of us,” he stated. “I’m not trying to crack that formula, and I don’t think anyone else is, either.”
Asked what recommendation he would give to teams about tips on how to keep collectively, he stated it’s a must to combat, however keep in mind you’re combating for the workforce.
“Sometimes it’s about money, but then there’s an element of: We don’t get along because we haven’t been honest with each other. Get through that honesty, move on, and keep going — because it feels good going. Fight it out, get it all out, and come back knowing that you’re fighting for the team,” he stated.
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In a narrative printed Feb. 12, 2023, The Associated Press erroneously spelled the primary identify of Erick Sermon. It was up to date Feb. 13 to right.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”