De La Soul group member David Jude Jolicoeur, better known under the stage name Trugoy the Dove, has died.
He was 54.
A cause of death has not yet been revealed, but it was widely known that the rapper had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
“We’re all devastated,” Tony Ferguson, who has been the group’s representative for about seven years, told The Washington Post. “And it’s just been a really sad day today. Huge loss.”
De La Soul was formed back in 1988 by Trugoy alongside his high school friends, rappers Posdnuos and Maseo. The trio grew up in Amityville, Long Island. After building a local following, Prince Paul discovered the group and helped to release their iconic debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, in 1989. The album spent a considerable 17 weeks on the Billboard charts.
De La Soul’s trademark jazz and funk samples, bold jewelry, bright colors and penchant for daises helped to make them one of Hip Hop’s most influential and unique groups and even a label as “hippy hop.”
“If some think that we have a hippy style and a hippy sound, that’s just fine,” Trugoy told The Guardian in 2014. “But we’d be offended if it was said that we wanted to be hippies. We don’t. We just want to be ourselves. Our music is raw and it’s funky but, at the same time, it’s deeply soulful because this is the Daisy Age and this is the sound from within. Rap doesn’t have to come off with hard basslines and heavy kicks and snares. People sometimes want to listen to soft music – even the hardcore crowd.”
Tyler, the Creator, Mos Def, Arrested Development, Slum Village, Jurassic 5 and the late J Dilla have all cited the group as one of their biggest influences.
Trugoy’s death comes weeks after an announcement that De La Soul’s classic albums are finally coming to streaming services on March 3 via bandmember Maseo’s label AOI, in partnership with Reservoir and the distribution wing of Chrysalis. For several years as well, the rights to the band’s catalog were snared up in major label red tape from their time at Warner Bros. Tommy Boy regained control of the trio’s catalog. However, the group was forced to fight with the independent label over royalties, delaying the planned release.
Next month, 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, Stakes Is High and Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump will all be available to stream.
“It’s been 20 plus years overdue, but finally, we are here,” De La Soul’s Maseo said in press materials along with the announcement.
