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David “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, one third of the iconic rap triumvirate De La Soul, has died, Rolling Stone confirmed. The news was first reported by AllHipHop. He was 54. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Trugoy, who was recently named Dave, and is also known as Plug Two, is open about his battle with congestive heart failure in recent years. In De La Soul’s 208 “Royalty Capes” video, Trugoy spoke candidly about how his ill health prevented him from performing.
“I’m ready to just get back on stage,” he said. “I miss that. I like to travel. I love being with my boys and I want that back. ” De La Soul was part of the Grammys’ Hip-Hop tribute performance last week, but Trugoy was not on stage with his bandmates.
Known as one of the most innovative acts in the history of rap, De La Soul made their mark especially in the early Nineties when they represented a fun balance in the emerging gangsta rap scene.
Their early work was characterized by layers of different samples mixed together, serving as a jazzy, energetic canvas for Trugoy, Posdnuos, and Maseo to unleash their quirky rhymes on canonical songs like “Breakadawn, ” “Stakes Is High,” and “Me. , Myself, and I.” In the later track, Trugoy said Rolling Stone in 2009 that, “In the beginning, we tried to make sure that we said that we were not hippies. We are just ourselves. People now take the song as, ‘OK, it’s cool to be me and I don’t have to struggle’ – it wasn’t really about saying that, even though the video came out like that.
The three met in high school in the Long Island town of the native Amityville. The three all rapped in local groups, but eventually got together to record a demo called “Plug Tunin,” which Mase played for his neighbor, Prince Paul at Stetsasonic. Paul, who Pos once called “the fourth member of De La Soul,” played the track for New York rap figures, and it sparked a buzz that led them to sign with Tommy Boy Records in 1989.
In 2014, De La Soul released “The People” with Chuck D. At the time, Trugoy told Rolling Stone that, “lyrics are commentaries on our struggles and successes, our weaknesses and strengths…the experiences, trials and tribulations we face as people, a race and individuals ,” and that “we hope [the] The song lends itself to something positive in these difficult times.
Following news of Trugoy’s death, many in the music community paid tribute. Erick Sermon called De La Soul “one of the best rap groups” in rap history in an Instagram tribute to Trugoy.
“It just crushed me. RIP Trugoy the Dove, Plug Two,” Written by A-Trak. “It’s hard to express how much De La means to me. The artistry, the creativity, the humor, the wit, and the overall dopeness. Buhloone Mindstate formed me. All albums, but one in particular. Fuck.”
Earlier this year, De La Soul announced that the first six albums in their catalog will return to streaming services on March 3. The group was in a two-year feud with Tommy Boy Records in the late 2010s, but got their masters in Aug. 2021. Next month, they will be released again 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul Is Dead, Buhloone Mindstate, Stakes Is High, Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump, and AOI: Bionix on streaming services.
