Rapper Black Rob, best known for his affiliation with P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, died on Saturday. He was 51.
TMZ reported the news, with Rob’s fellow MCs Mark Curry and DJ Self taking to social media to confirm.
The cause of death has not been released. However, it is known that he had been battling kidney failure, and had also suffered a series of strokes, going back to 2015. Recently, he was hospitalised in Atlanta, although he was subsequently discharged.
Born Robert Ross, Black Rob grew up in East Harlem, beginning to rap before reaching his teenage years. At age 22, he began performing with his first rap group, the Schizophrenics, under the stage name “Bacardi Rob.”
It was in 1996 that Rob got involved with the Bad Boy label, appearing on a remix to 112’s ‘Come See Me’. The rapper would remain with Bad Boy until 2010, when he exited and signed to independent label, Down Duck Records, and eventually formed his own label, Box and One, alongside Jemal Mosley.
