Hip hop industry remembers subtle genius David Jude Jolicoeur, aka Trugoy the Dove of De La Soul
NEW YORK -- David Jude Jolicouer, one of the founding members of hip hop trio De La Soul, died over the weekend.
The group's roots began on Long Island, but their music continues to make waves worldwide.
Jolicouer, aka Trugoy the Dove, was known as a subtle genius who helped revolutionize hip hop.
"It's a huge blow for the hip hop community," said Chuck Creekmur, co-founder of AllHipHop.com.
Joliceour was born in Brooklyn but raised in the Amityville, Long Island, area, where he met his two De La Soul other members. It was an unfamiliar area for hip hop at that time.
Their debut album "3 Feet High and Rising" was praised for changing the game.
"Me Myself and I" was De La Soul's first song to play on MTV, and it catapulted the trio to success.
"They were unique and special, and they presented fearlessness in hip hop. Initially, they were regarded as hippies," Creekmur said.
Last week, De La Soul was part of the Grammy Awards 50th anniversary celebration of hip hop, but Trugoy was noticeably absent.
"I was totally shocked. I knew that he had, you know, some heart problems," said Pete Nice, co-curator of the Universal Hip Hop Museum.
Nice got to tour and open for De La Soul in the late 1980s. He said Jolicoeur spoke openly about battling heart problems.
"The diagnosis I received as soon as I got to the hospital was that congestive heart failure was working itself on me again. Right now, I'm wearing this, which is called a LifeVest. It'll shock me and hopefully bring me back," Jolicoeur says on a YouTube clip.
Over the years, De La Soul was nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning one for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for Gorillaz song "Feel Good Inc."
De La Soul released eight albums and will soon debut on streaming service debut after a long battle over legal and publishing matters. The full catalog was set to debut March 3, the 34th anniversary of the release of their debut album.
"Irony and sadness that once he gets this all established, he's no longer here to benefit," Nice said.
The exhibit at the Universal Hip Hop Museum honoring the golden era from 1986 to 1990, curators say, De La Soul defined. It is open to the public now.
