It’s another sad day in the hip-hop community. Rapper Robert ‘Black Rob” Ross has died at the age of 51. The former Bad Boy Records artist passed away in an Atlanta hospital, according to New York’s Power 105.1 FM radio personality and friend DJ Self. “Lord knows i tried to get help ……,” he started his Instagram caption ending with prayer hands. “I’m sad to say RIP to Black Rob ….. Passed away in the hospital in Atlanta …..”
Last Friday (April 9)—on the same day that it was reported that DMX was on life support—DJ Self shared a video of a weakened Ross sharing thoughts on the passing of his brother in hip-hop and giving an on-camera update on his physical health. “I don’t know. The pain is crazy, man. It’s helping me out though, it’s making me realize I got a lot to go.”
According to reports, Ross had been battling kidney failure. In a later video shared by Self, Ross opened up more about his health issues and candidly revealed his current hardships around housing.
“Oh man, I’ve been dealing with this for five years. Man, four strokes…I don’t know what to tell you, man,” the Spanish Harlem-raised artist said candidly in the minute and half-long clip. “This sh*t is crazy. This sh*t is hard. You know what I’m sayin’? I don’t got no house to live in, except probably, man, an apartment. Me and my man be trying to get together. I’m telling you, man. This sh*t is strange, it’s hard. You know what I’m saying? I don’t know what the people gon’ do, what the people gon’ say, but man, I need some rest man. Really. I need some rest, man.”
After Ross was released from the hospital, a GoFundMe campaign was created in an effort “to help him find a home, pay for medical help & stability during these trying times.”
n 1996, Black Rob was signed to Bad Boy Records and made his musical stamp in hip-hop with his chart-climbing single, “Whoa.” Within a decade after his music success, Ross released his first, two studio albums (Life Story and The Black Rob Report), appeared as a NEXT artist in our November 1998 issue, and was featured on Diddy’s 2001 cultural jams, “Let’s Get It” and the certified platinum hit, “Bad Boys for Life.” After serving a four-year bid for failing to appear in court over a grand larceny charge in an alleged connection to a hotel robbery. Upon his release in 2010, he made it a mission to get back to the music. In 2011, he returned with the hard hitting Game Tested, Streets Approved album on Duck Down records. By 2015, he offered came back with another full project titled Genuine Article. That same year Ross revealed that he’d suffered a stroke and refocused on turning his health around. BR last hit the stage in 2016 bring his high-octane performance energy to the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour.
Our prayers and condolences are with Black Rob’s family, friends and fans.
