It’s a very sad day across the hip-hop nation: Malik Abdul Baset, known to music fans around the world as Malik B., a founding member of The Roots, has died. The rapper was just forty-seven years old.
“We regretfully inform you of the passing of our beloved brother and long time Roots member Malik Abdul Basit,” The Roots shared on Twitter. “May he be remembered for his devotion to Islam and innovation as one of the most gifted MCs of all time. We ask that you please respect his family in our time of mourning.” A cause of death has not been revealed.
We regretfully inform you of the passing of our beloved brother and long time Roots member Malik Abdul Basit. May he be remembered for his devotion to Islam and innovation as one of the most gifted MCs of all time. We ask that you please respect his family in our time of mourning pic.twitter.com/NVHtb2CFWP
— The Roots (@theroots) July 29, 2020
Black Thought, who rapped alongside Malik B. on The Roots’ first four studio albums—1993’s Organix, 1995’s Do You Want More?!!!??!, 1996’s Illadelph Halflife,and 1999’s Things Fall Apart—shared a personal tribute to his fallen brother on Instagram.
“We made a name and carved a lane together where there was none,” Black Thought wrote. “We ressurected (sic) a city from the ashes, put it on our backs and called it Illadelph. In friendly competition with you from day one, I always felt as if I possessed only a mere fraction of your true gift and potential. Your steel sharpened my steel as I watched you create cadences from the ether and set them free into the universe to become poetic law, making the English language your bitch.” See the full post below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDPLu1nFpft/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
