David Jude Jolicoeur (September 21, 1968 – February 12, 2023), also known as Trugoy the Dove, Plug Two, and Dave, was an American rapper best known as one third of the

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group

De La Soul De La Soul ( ) is an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York (state), New York in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evoluti ...

. Along with the other members of De La Soul, Jolicoeur was a member of the collective

Native Tongues The Native Tongues was a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and jazz-influenced beats. Its principal mem ...

. Jolicoeur co-wrote the

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

song "

Feel Good Inc. "Feel Good Inc." is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American hip-hop group De La Soul. Released on 9 May 2005 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, ''Demon Days'', the single peaked at 2 in the United Kingdom ...

", which featured De La Soul and won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

in 2006 for

Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers ...

Life and career

Jolicoeur was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, to

Haitian-American Haitian Americans (; ; ) are a group of Americans of full or partial Haitian origin or descent. The largest population of Haitian citizens in the United States live in Little Haiti to the South Florida area. In addition, they have sizeable popu ...

parents, but he grew up in the

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

hamlet of East Massapequa. In his teen years, he attended

Amityville Memorial High School Amityville Memorial High School is a public high school located in Amityville, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. It is part of the Amityville Union Free School District, which includes the village of Amityville and po ...

in the

Amityville Amityville () is a village in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 9,500 at the 2020 census. The village maintains its own accredited law enforcement agency, ...

area of Long Island, where he befriended

Vincent Mason Vincent Lamont Mason Jr. (born March 24, 1970) is an American rapper, producer and DJ who is one third of the hip hop group De La Soul. He is also known as Maseo, P.A. Pasemaster Mase and Plug Three. Early life Mason graduated from Amityvi ...

Kelvin Mercer Kelvin Mercer (born August 17, 1969), also known by his stage name Posdnuos, Plug 1 and occasionally Pos, is an American rapper and record producer from East Massapequa, New York, best known for his work as one third of the hip hop trio De La S ...

, and Paul Huston. After they had separate solo spells in local groups, Jolicoeur, Mason, and Mercer eventually decided to form a rap group themselves, reuniting under the name

; they adopted the stage names, respectively, Trugoy the Dove, Maseo, and Posdnuos. Later in his career, Jolicoeur revealed that the first part of his stage name was just the word "

yogurt Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...

" backwards. Huston, best known as Prince Paul, kept working with the trio as their producer. With their eccentric fashion styles paired with the positive messages of the group's debut effort, ''

3 Feet High and Rising ''3 Feet High and Rising'' is the debut studio album by the American hip hop group De La Soul, released on February 6, 1989, by Tommy Boy Records. It was the first of three collaborations with the producer Prince Paul, and was the critical and ...

'', the image led to

critics A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...

and

journalists A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

labelling the members as "the hippies of hip hop" (a title that the group was quick to refute with the release of the second album ''

De La Soul Is Dead ''De La Soul Is Dead'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul, released on May 13, 1991. The album was produced by Prince Paul, whose work on ''3 Feet High and Rising'' was highly praised by music critics. The album was ...

'' in 1991).

Illness and death

In the last years of his life, Jolicoeur was diagnosed with

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF typically pr ...

and had to wear a LifeVest defibrillator machine in order to counteract its symptoms. He revealed his health issues publicly for the first time in November 2017, in the opening scene for the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

of "Royalty Capes", a track from De La Soul's 2016 album '' And the Anonymous Nobody...''. At the start of the video, Jolicoeur talked about how his heart problems affected his ability to perform and tour with the group consistently, saying: " he LifeVest defibrillatorwill shock me, and hopefully bring me back from

the matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...

. 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." On February 5, 2023, De La Soul took part in a special performance for the 50 Years of Hip-Hop at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year – October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022 – as de ...

, performing their 1988 song " Buddy". However, Jolicoeur was not on stage with his group mates. 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. Following the announcement, the late artist received tributes from several important figures in the hip hop industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jolicoeur, David Jude 1968 births 2023 deaths 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American rappers American rappers of Haitian descent De La Soul members Grammy Award winners East Coast hip-hop musicians Rappers from Brooklyn Record producers from New York (state) Place of death missing