NEW YORK (AP): Rapper Black Rob, known for his hit “Whoa!” and key contributions to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, in the 1990s and early 2000s, are dead. He was 52 years old.
Black Rob died Saturday in Atlanta, according to his old friend and former record label partner Mark Curry, who said he had the hand of the hip-hop performer at the end. In recent years, he had been hospitalized and suffered from various health problems and died of cardiac arrest, Curry said.
“Rest in power, King,” Diddy wrote on Instagram. “You’ve made millions of people around the world feel good and dance!”
Born Robert Ross and raised in Harlem, New York, Black Rob began shaving even before he was a teenager. After signing with Bad Boy, he made amazing appearances alongside fellow labels in the 1990s and early 2000s, including Diddy’s “Bad Boy for Life” and remixes of Total’s “What About Us” and “Come See Me “of 112.
He released a 13-bar revenge story on the 1998 cut “24 Hrs. Live” alongside DMX, which died earlier this month.
His debut album “Life Story”, released in 2000, reached number 3 on the Billboard charts and went platinum, led by the infectious single “Whoa!”
“Hey, he took us through a significant point of our time in hip-hop,” Curry said. “He always felt like he was holding the label on his back.”
His second album, “The Black Rob Report”, was his last with Bad Boy and his career stalled due to legal issues. He served four years in prison in connection with a 2004 hotel robbery.
Curry said Diddy had helped Black Rob financially over the years and was paying for the rapper’s funeral.