Singer Trugoy the Dove, co-founder of De La Soul, has died

David Jude Jolicoeur, widely known as Trugoy the Dove and one of the founding members of Long Island hip-hop trio De La Soul, has died. He was 54 years old.

His representative, Tony Ferguson, confirmed the information on Sunday. No other information was immediately available.

In recent years, Jolicoeur had said he was battling congestive heart failure, living with a LifeVest machine strapped to his person. De La Soul was part of the hip-hop tribute at the Grammy Awards last week, but Trugoy was not on stage with his bandmates.

Tributes hit social media shortly after the news broke on Sunday.

David! It was an honor to share so many stages with you”wrote rapper Big Daddy Kane on Instagram.

Rapper Erik Sermon posted on Instagram that “This one hurts. From Long Island of one of Hiphop’s top rap bands #Delasoul #plug2 Dave has passed away, we will miss you… RIP”.

The young guru added: “rest in peace my brother. you were loved @plugwondelasoul I love you bro we are here for you. Smiles I love you my brother. It’s crazy” and DJ Semtex wrote that it was “heartbreaking news”.

He showrunner of “Luke Cage,” Cheo Hodari Coker, wrote on Twitter that “you don’t understand what De La Soul means to me. Its existence told me, a geek black from Connecticut, yes, hip-hop is yours too, and Trugoy was the balance, McCartney for Lennon, Keith for his Mick. It’s a big loss.”

Jolicoeur was born in Brooklyn but grew up in the Amityville neighborhood of Long Island, where he met Vincent Mason (Pasemaster Mase) and Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos) and the three decided to form a rap group, each with names distinctive. Trugoy, Jolicoeur said, was late for “yogurt.” More recently, he had called himself Dave.

De La Soul’s first studio album, “3 Feet Tall and Rising”, produced by Prince Paul, was released in 1989 on Tommy Boy Records and praised for being a more upbeat, positive counterpart to busier rap offerings like the NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton.” and Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions,” released a year earlier.

Featuring samples from everyone from Johnny Cash and Steely Dan to Hall & Oates, De La Soul ushered in alternative hip-hop. In Rolling Stone, critic Michael Azerrad called it the first “psychedelic hip-hop record”. Some even called them a hippie group, although the members didn’t like it very much.

In 2010, the Library of Congress added “3 feet tall and rising” to the National Registry of Record for its historical significance.

“It’s a hip-hop masterpiece for the era it came out in,” Jolicoeur told Billboard earlier this year. “I think the element of that time of what was happening in music and hip-hop and our culture, I think it was very welcoming and open minds and minds to see and try new things and different. … I think the innocence we had back then was brave, but we were in a time when innocence was cool. Not testing James Brown, but testing Liberace. I think it was shocking then. I don’t know if it would have an impact in the same way (now).”

They followed that up with 1991’s ‘De La Soul Is Dead’, which was a bit darker and more critical, and 1996’s ‘Stakes is High’.

De La Soul has released eight albums and was due to debut on Spotify, Apple Music and others in March after a long battle with Tommy Boy Records over legal and publishing issues.. Reservoir’s acquisition of Tommy Boy Records in 2021, featuring masters like De La Soul, Queen Latifah and Naughty By Nature, helped push it forward and the full catalog was released on March 3.

“You think you own your stuff and now they’re in control, waiting for the checks to come in. But it’s not like that at all. There’s a lot to do,” Jolicoeur told Billboard. “You need collaborators, you need help, you need to get back to work in the system and not necessarily be the sole sponsor of this project. You need allies, you need companies to work with, you need people to hire, and we learned a big lesson from that. It certainly wasn’t just “Let’s take our songs back!” It was not this.”

Over the years, the group has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, including one for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration for Gorillaz’s song “Feel Good Inc.”

During the pandemic, he said, there was talk of solo albums and diversification, which was nothing new.

“We support each other in those ideas, but at the same time I think the magic really happens when the three of us are together,” he said. “I’m not trying to figure out that formula, and I don’t think anyone else is either.”

When asked what advice he would give groups on how to stay together, he said to fight, but remember you are fighting for the team.

“Sometimes it’s about the money, but there’s an element of: we don’t get along because we haven’t been honest with each other. Get over that honesty, go ahead and carry on, because it feels good. Fight, take it all out and come back knowing you’re fighting for the team,” he said.

(with information from AP)

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