David Jolicoeur | |
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.jpg) Jolicoeur in 2019 | |
| Born | (1968-09-21)September 21, 1968 New York City, US |
| Died | February 12, 2023(2023-02-12) (aged 54) |
| Other names |
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| Education | Amityville Memorial High School |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1988–2023[1] |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Long Island, New York, US |
| Genres | East Coast hip hop |
| Labels | Tommy Boy |
| Formerly of | De La Soul |
Musical artist | |
David Jude Jolicoeur (September 21, 1968 – February 12, 2023), also known asTrugoy the Dove,Plug Two, andDave, was an American rapper best known as one third of thehip hop groupDe La Soul.[2]
Along with the other members of De La Soul, Jolicoeur was a member of the collectiveNative Tongues.[3] Jolicoeur co-wrote theGorillaz song "Feel Good Inc.", which featured De La Soul and won aGrammy Award in 2006 forBest Pop Collaboration with Vocals.[3][4]
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Jolicoeur was born inBrooklyn,New York City, toHaitian-American parents. He was raised in theLong Island hamlet ofEast Massapequa.[5][6]
He attendedAmityville Memorial High School in theAmityville area of Long Island.
In high school, Jolicoeur befriendedVincent Mason,Kelvin Mercer, andPaul Huston.[5][6][7] After they had separate solo spells in local groups,[7] Jolicoeur, Mason, and Mercer eventually joined together to form the rap groupDe La Soul. They adopted the stage names, respectively, Trugoy the Dove, Maseo, and Posdnuos.[6][7] Later in his career, Jolicoeur revealed that the first part of his stage name was just the word "yogurt" backwards.[5] Huston, best known as Prince Paul, kept working with the trio as their producer.[6]
With their eccentric fashion styles paired with the positive messages of the group's debut effort,3 Feet High and Rising, the image led tocritics andjournalists labelling the members as "the hippies of hip hop" (a title that the group was quick to refute with the release of the second albumDe La Soul Is Dead in 1991).[8]
In the last years of his life, Jolicoeur was diagnosed withcongestive heart failure and had to wear aLifeVest defibrillator machine in order to counteract its symptoms.[5][7]
He first revealed his health issues publicly in November 2017, in the opening scene for themusic video of "Royalty Capes", a track from De La Soul's 2016 albumAnd the Anonymous Nobody....[7][9][10] At the start of the video, Jolicoeur explains how his heart problems affected his ability to perform and tour with the group consistently, saying: "[The LifeVest defibrillator] will shock me, and hopefully bring me back fromthe matrix. I'm ready just to get back to the stage. I miss it. I love traveling; I love being around my guys. And I want that back."[7][9][10]
On February 5, 2023, De La Soul participated in a special performance for the 50 Years of Hip-Hop at the65th Annual Grammy Awards, performing their 1988 song "Buddy".[11] However, Jolicoeur did not appear or perform on stage.[5][6][7]
One week later, on February 12, 2023, his representative Tony Ferguson announced that Jolicoeur had died at age 54, with the cause of his death remaining undisclosed.[5][6][7][3] Following the announcement, Jolicoeur received tributes from several important figures in the hip hop industry.[5][7]
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