Trugoy the Dove, De La Soul founding member, dead at 54
De La Soul's Posdnuos, left, Trugoy and Maseo perform during South by Southwest in 2017, in Austin, Texas. Founding member Trugoy the Dove has died at age 54. Credit: Invision / AP / Jack Plunkett
David Jolicoeur, better known as the rapper Trugoy the Dove in the groundbreaking Amityville hip-hop trio De La Soul, has died. He was 54.
The group’s publicist, Tony Ferguson, confirmed the death Sunday night but did not provide details on a time of death or a cause. Jolicoeur had publicly addressed his struggles with congestive heart failure in a 2016 video for the group’s single “Royalty Capes,” explaining to viewers that he was wearing a Life Vest that will “shock me and hopefully bring me back from the Matrix.”
Trugoy — whose unusual stage name was “yogurt” spelled backward, because he liked the food — helped break down hip-hop stereoptyes on De La Soul's 1989 album “3 Feet High and Rising,” produced by fellow Amityviller “Prince Paul” Huston. At a time when the genre was associated mostly with street-hardened machismo, De La Soul — which included the bespectacled Posdnuos and the amiable Maseo — presented itself as a group of slightly geeky, slightly hippie-ish suburban kids. The album’s cover featured hand-drawn flowers; the songs had an upbeat, whimsical vibe.
On “Me, Myself & I,” one of the band’s biggest hits, Trugoy rapped: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall / Tell me mirror, what is wrong? / Can it be my De La clothes?/ Or is it just my De La song?”
Posdnuos, in a recent interview with Newsday before Trugoy’s death, recalled his bandmate as a kid from the Amityville-East Massapequa area who established himself as a formidable beatboxer. The two became a duo and stayed focused on rapping even as other musicians joined them but invariably drifted away. “Me and Dave were trying on writing a few lines, and we just practiced, practiced,” Posdnuos said. With the addition of Maseo, a local DJ and rapper, De La Soul was officially born. “And then me, Mase and Dave stayed together and kept doing what we needed to do.”
De La Soul released at least nine albums over the ensuing decades, but legal problems over the group’s prodigious use of samples would prevent the music from being heard over streaming platforms for many years. A company called Reservoir Media recently acquired the group’s former label Tommy Boy, and in January announced that De La Soul’s back catalog would be available for the first time on all streaming services beginning March 3.
“I’m ready just to get back to the stage,” Trugoy said in that 2016 music video. “I miss that. I love traveling. I love being around my guys and I want that back.” When the Grammys’ recent hip-hop tribute showcased De La Soul, however, only Posdnuos was onstage.
Tributes poured in on social media shortly after the news broke Sunday.
“Dave! It was a honor to share so many stages with you,” wrote rapper Big Daddy Kane on Instagram.
Rapper Erick Sermon, another Long Island hip-hop star, posted on Instagram that “This one hurts. From Long Island from one of the best rap groups in Hiphop # Delasoul #plug2 Dave has passed away you will be missed… RIP.”
With AP
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