Trugoy the Dove, co-founder of De La Soul, dead at 54

Rapper Trugoy the Dove, the co-founder of the rap trio De La Soul, has died. He was 54.

The death of the rapper, whose real name was David Jolicoeur, was confirmed by the group’s publicist, Tony Ferguson, The New York Times reported. Ferguson did not specify a cause of death.

In recent years, Jolicoeur had said he was battling congestive heart failure, according to The Associated Press. He had been wearing a LifeVest machine, the news organization reported.

David Jolicoeur of De La Soul, the rap trio that expanded the stylistic vocabulary of hip-hop in the 1980s and ’90s with eclectic samples and offbeat humor, becoming MTV staples and cult heroes of the genre, has died. He was 54. https://t.co/wtJ1QfZuVw
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 12, 2023

De La Soul became famous with the album “3 Feet High and Rising” in 1989, the Times reported. Hip-hop was still relatively new, according to the newspaper.

Jolicoeur was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Sept. 21, 1968 in Brooklyn, New York, according to the newspaper. He moved to Long Island with his family as a child and was raised in the Amityville area of Long Island, according to the AP. He met his future bandmates, Vincent Mason (Pasemaster Mase) and Kelvin Mercer (Posdnuos) and decided to form a rap group, the news organization reported.

Trugoy, Jolicoeur said, was backwards for “yogurt.”