Trugoy the Dove, Member of Legendary Hip-Hop Group, De La Soul, Passes Away at 54.
Trugoy the Dove - David Jude Jolicoeur
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Trugoy the Dove (born David Jude Jolicoeur), one of the founding members of the Long Island hip hop trio De La Soul, has passed away. He was 54 years old.
Tony Ferguson, his representative, confirmed the reports Sunday. No other information was immediately available.
A few years ago, Trugoy had said he was battling congestive heart failure and wore a LifeVest defibrillator machine. De La Soul performed at the Grammy Awards’ tribute to hip-hop last week, but Trugoy did not join his group mates on stage for the performance.
As soon as the news broke Sunday, social media was flooded with tributes, among them, prominent hip-hop luminaries such as Big Daddy Kane, Erick Sermon and B Real of Cypress Hill expressed their heartfelt sentiments over Trugoy’s passing. See their respective Instagram and Twitter posts below:
We lost another legend of hip hop music and culture in my brother Trugoy aka Dave of De La Soul. His music will allow him to live in our hearts and minds as he is gone. But not only was he a great musician but he was a great human being. He meant a lot to us 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/5PlZWX65CF
— B Real ™ (@B_Real) February 12, 2023
Trugoy was born in Brooklyn but raised in the Amityville area of Long Island, where he met Vincent Mason (Pasemaster Mase) and Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos) and formed a rap group. Explaining the genesis of his stage name, he said Trugoy was backwards for yogurt. He had recently been going by his birth name Dave for a few years.
De La Soul’s Emergence and Groundbreaking Album
“3 Feet High and Rising,” De La Soul’s debut studio album, released by Tommy Boy Records in 1989, was produced by Prince Paul. The album was praised for being a more positive, light-hearted alternative to N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions” released just one year earlier.
It was De La Soul who ushered in alternative hip-hop with samples from Johnny Cash, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, and others. In Rolling Stone, critic Michael Azerrad called it the first “psychedelic hip-hop record.” Some even called them a hippie group, but the members didn’t quite like that label.
Validating the historic significance of the album, The Library of Congress added “3 Feet High and Rising” to the National Recording Registry in 2010.
Post-3 Feet High and Rising
In an interview earlier this year, Trugoy told Billboard that the hip-hop record was a milestone for its time. It revolutionized music and the culture of hip-hop by introducing brave new ideas, like sampling Liberace instead of James Brown. He believes that it would not have the same effect today as it did when it was released due to our current unawareness of innocence.
Afterward, they released “De La Soul Is Dead,” a darker, more divisive album in 1991, and “Stakes is High,” in 1996.
After a lengthy battle with Tommy Boy Records about legal and publishing issues, De La Soul were going to make their streaming service debut in March, on Spotify, Apple Music and others. In 2021, Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy Records, with masters from De La Soul, Queen Latifah, and Naughty By Nature, accelerating things, and the full catalog was set to debut on March 3.
Trugoy cautioned Billboard that it’s not as simple as just reclaiming ownership of your work and waiting for the money to come in. There is much more to be done. He urged people not to take on the role of ‘lone commissioner’, but instead seek out collaborators and allies, get involved with companies and bring in people who can help. He was keen to emphasize that getting back their masters wasn’t a magical solution — there’s still plenty of hard work to be done.
When asked what kind of advice he would give to groups about staying together, Trugoy stated that you must fight, but it’s important to remember that you are always fighting for the longevity of the team.
It sometimes comes down to money, but the element also exists of we’re not getting along because we’ve failed to be honest with each other. It’s essential to work through that honesty, move on and keep progressing forward because ultimately, it feels good to move towards something.
“Fight it out, get it all out, and come back knowing you’re fighting for the team.”
In addition to being nominated for six Grammy Awards over the course of their careers, de la Soul won a GRAMMY for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for the song “Feel Good Inc.” by Gorillaz.
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