R.I.P. Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor, co-founder of A Tribe Called Quest

The BBC reports that Malik Taylor, better known as Phife Dawg, co-founder of the pioneering rap group A Tribe Called Quest, has died. There has been no official statement from his family about the cause of death, but Taylor struggled with complications from diabetes for years, and had received a kidney transplant in 2008. He was 45 years old.
Taylor was born November 20, 1970, and grew up in Queens with Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (then Jonathan Davis), a.k.a Q-Tip. The two friends formed their rap group, which was originally known simply as Quest, in 1985 and brought DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad and rapper Jarobi White into the fold. The group’s name got its familiar prefix from their classmates and hip-hop contemporaries The Jungle Brothers who, along with A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, made up the The Native Tongues collective.
Buoyed by the buzz surrounding The Native Tongues, Tribe drew lots of attention from record companies, including Geffen Records, who gave the group a demo deal in 1989. But Tribe ultimately signed with Jive Records, through which it released the debut album People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm. The group’s first hit, “Can I Kick It?,” was a playful counterpoint to the posturing that dominated the genre. But Q-Tip and Taylor were no less skilled than their contemporaries, rapping fluidly over a fusion of jazz and hip-hop.