Phife Dawg dead; A Tribe Called Quest rapper was 45

Phife Dawg, a rapper in the group A Tribe Called Quest best known for his rhymes on hip-hop classics “Can I Kick It?” and “Scenario,” died early Wednesday morning from complications due to diabetes, his family said. He was 45.

Born Malik Taylor and a native of St. Albans, Queens, Phife was known for his clever rhymes, mixing real-world concerns, political statements and playful personal descriptions, dubbing himself “The Five Foot Assassin” and “The Five Footer.”

Phife was open about his ongoing battle with diabetes, including a kidney transplant in 2008, which limited his ability to record and tour at times. He and Q-Tip grew up in Queens and met Ali Shaheed Muhammad, from Brooklyn, in high school to form A Tribe Called Quest, with Jarobi White joining the group later.

“I never expected it to be this big,” he told Rolling Stone last year to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the group’s breakthrough debut “People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.”

“I just thought we were going to be celebs in the hood. Like, honestly, within 25 years, when you go to places like Australia and Japan and Amsterdam and London and Germany and these people know [the songs] word-for-word, it’s crazy. So it’s nothing but a blessing at the end of the day.”

Phife’s influence was felt on and off the stage.

“Malik was our loving husband, father, brother and friend,” his family said in a statement. “We love him dearly. How he impacted all our lives will never be forgotten. His love for music and sports was only surpassed by his love of God and family.”

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Public Enemy’s Chuck D called Phife a “hip-hop and rap word warrior.” “Breathed it & lined rhyme into Sport. A true fire Social Narrator my bro,” Chuck D tweeted, along with the hashtag “#ATCQforever.”

At his Wednesday concert in Sydney, Australia, Kendrick Lamar spoke about Taylor’s influence on him and had the audience of 18,000 chant the late rapper’s name.

“We lost one of the pioneers in hip-hop today by the name of Phife Dawg,” Lamar said. “We’re gonna give it up for him, for allowing me to do what I’m doing on this stage right here, right now, today.”

A Tribe Called Quest had some tense moments — seen in the 2011 documentary “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest” — but thoughts of regrouping were being considered. To celebrate the group’s 25th anniversary, they performed together on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” which turned out to be their final performance together.

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Phife told The Associated Press that he wanted to go on tour with them again.

“I’m going to speak for myself — that’s always the case for me, whether we’re together or not,” he said. “These are my brothers. I know nothing but them. I only wanna work with them.”

Producer-DJ Mark Ronson tweeted, “Phife Dawg made some of the most beloved hip hop ever. It’s so sad that he’s gone. I’d have gone to every reunion show till the end of time.”

With AP