NEW YORK (AP) – Rapper Black Rob, known for his hit “Whoa!” and the major contributions to Diddy’s dominant Bad Boy Records in the 1990s and early 2000s have passed away. He was 52.
Black Rob died in Atlanta on Saturday, according to longtime friend and former label mate Mark Curry, who said he held the hip-hop artist’s hand at the end. He was hospitalized in the past year and suffered several health problems and died of cardiac arrest, Curry said.
“Rest in power, King,” Diddy wrote on Instagram. “You made millions of people around the world feel good and dance!”
Born Robert Ross and raised in Harlem, New York, Black Rob started rapping even before he became a teenager. After signing with Bad Boy, he made notable guest appearances with label mates in the 1990s and early 2000s, including Diddy’s “Bad Boy for Life” and remixes of Total’s “What About Us” and 112 “Come See Me. ”
He shared a 13-bar story of revenge on the 1998 post “24 Hrs. To Live” with DMX, who passed away earlier this month.
His debut album “Life Story”, released in 2000, reached number 3 on the Billboard charts and reached platinum, led by the infectious single “Whoa!”
” Whoa! “carried us through an important point of our time in hip-hop,” Curry said. “He always felt like he was taking the label on his back.”
His second album, “The Black Rob Report”, was his last album with Bad Boy, and his career went awry due to legal issues. He served four years in prison for a 2004 hotel robbery.
Curry said Diddy has helped Black Rob financially over the years and paid for the rapper’s funeral.