David Jolicoeur who was one of the three founding members of De La Soul has died at the age of 54. Sources familiar with the situation tell the rapper passed away Sunday at a hospital in Maryland.
In recent years, Mr. Jolicoeur has openly discussed a struggle with congestive heart failure, including in a music video for the group’s song “Royalty Capes.”
De La Soul arrived with the album “3 Feet High and Rising” in 1989, a time when hip-hop was still relatively new to the mainstream.
The genre’s public face was often confrontational, with groups like Public Enemy and N.W.A speaking out about the racism, police violence and neglect faced by Black communities in America.
By contrast, De La Soul three middle-class young men from Long Island presented themselves with hippie floral designs and a music video set in a high school for their song “Me Myself”
De La Soul was unique in that they emerged in one decade, but seamlessly transitioned into another all while adapting their style and production to keep up with the times.
David Jolicoeur Cause Of Death
No other details, including a potential cause, have been released … but we’re told his death appears to be from natural causes, and that he was battling an undisclosed illness.
That album, with singles also including “Say No Go” and “Eye Know,” reached only as high as No. 24 on the Billboard 200 chart, but it was an instant classic that pointed to new directions in hip-hop. Later albums included “De La Soul Is Dead” (1991), “Buhloone Mindstate” (1993) and “Stakes Is High” (1996).
With its producer, Prince Paul, the group developed an idiosyncratic and freewheeling style of sampling that brought new textures to hip-hop.
But legal problems related to its samples became the bane of the group. One sample, of the Turtles’ organ-driven psychedelic pop track “You Showed Me” (1968), had not been cleared properly, and the Turtles sued; the case was settled out of court.