Malik Tayor, the rapper known as Phife Dawg, hip-hop innovator with A Tribe Called Quest, died at age 45 Tuesday morning due to complications resulting from diabetes.
He suffered health problems in recent years according to sources who said he underwent a kidney transplant in 2008. Phife Dawg formed A Tribe Called Quest in the late 1980s in New York with his childhood friend Q-Tip. Taylor appeared on all five of the group’s studio albums, most notably 1991’s The Low End Theory and 1993’s Midnight Marauders, acting as the high-pitched, gruff vocal counterpoint to Q-Tip’s smooth, mellow flow. Though the group separated, Taylor always reunited with the group for live shows, in part, to help defray medical costs. “Even though I knew I had [diabetes], I was in denial,” Taylor said in a documentary. “I had to have my sugar. You have to accept it. If you don’t accept it, it’s going to kick your ass.”