As the hip hop community is still mourning the loss of DMX, one of the most influential New York rap artist in history, another one of his peers has recently passed away as well. During his career, Black Rob was signed to the Bad Boy record label and collaborated on many projects with Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Rob’s former Bad Boy label mate, Mark Curry, announced the death of his friend over Instagram on Saturday. “I don’t know where to begin this,” Curry said in his first Instagram video. “But I thank everybody for the donations. Rob passed away about an hour ago.”
In a second Instagram video, Curry expressed that he was with Rob at the hospital by his side as he passed away. “Rest in peace to my brother. I was there with him. I was there with him,” Curry said.
“Puff, I ain’t talked to Puff in 15 years — we talked today,” Curry added, referring to Combs. “This is the beginning of a new us. Rob made sure he knew what he had to do before he parted this world to make sure we all alright, and that’s what he did. Bad boy for life, yo.”
Rob’s cause of death has not yet been confirmed. However, his friend DJ Self posted on Instagram that Rob had been suffering from kidney issues over the last week. On April 11, Curry and producer Mike Zombie launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Rob pay his medical bills. A day later, Curry confirmed on Instagram that Rob had been released from the hospital, but he had to be put on dialysis.
“This GoFundMe is to help him find a home, pay for medical help & stability during these trying times. We’ve lost a lot of legends and we can’t afford to lose anymore. This is my way to try and help,” the campaign reads. Many donations were made after the announcement of his death.
He was born Robert Ross in Buffalo, N.Y. The Bad Boy artist grew up in East Harlem where he began to make hip hop music around the age of 11 or 12 years old. While signed to Bad Boy, he released four studio albums, the most famous being his debut album Life Story (2000). He is best known for his hit single “Whoa!” which made it to number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. Rob and Curry were also featured on Combs’ “Bad Boy 4 Life”, which charted at number 33 on the same Billboard list. Even though Rob did not re-sign with Bad Boy after his contract was up in the mid-2000s, he reunited with his former label mates for lives performers on the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour in 2016. This concert tour was popular because it was going to be the last live performances by every member of the Bad Boy roster together.
The hip hop community has lost another influential artist. To the casual hip hop music listener, Rob may be considered a one hit wonder with his song “Whoa!”. However, fans that had the opportunity to listen to his other creations realized that he was a talented MC who appeared on many projects and delivered solid vocals and lyrics.