Edward G. Fletcher, better known as the pioneering hip hop producer and rapper Duke Bootee, died Jan. 13 from heart failure. He was 69.
His death was confirmed Thursday by his wife, who told the New York Times that he died at their home in Georgia.
Born in 1951 and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Fletcher is widely celebrated as one of the seminal creative forces in the development of hip hop, having served as the primary songwriter on “The Message.” That 1982 track, a hit for Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, was one of the earliest examples of social commentary in rap and opened the door for a wave of socially conscious and overtly political artists who would eventually come to dominate the genre a decade later.
Following college, Fletcher embarked on a music career and by the end of the 1970s was working as an engineer for Sugar Hill records,...
His death was confirmed Thursday by his wife, who told the New York Times that he died at their home in Georgia.
Born in 1951 and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Fletcher is widely celebrated as one of the seminal creative forces in the development of hip hop, having served as the primary songwriter on “The Message.” That 1982 track, a hit for Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, was one of the earliest examples of social commentary in rap and opened the door for a wave of socially conscious and overtly political artists who would eventually come to dominate the genre a decade later.
Following college, Fletcher embarked on a music career and by the end of the 1970s was working as an engineer for Sugar Hill records,...
- 1/30/2021
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
Edward Fletcher, who, under his pen name of Duke Bootee, largely created the seminal hip-hop hit The Message, died Jan. 13 at his Savannah, Ga. home of heart failure, according to his wife. He was 69.
The Message was a huge and groundbreaking hit for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, one of the first hip-hop groups to gain mainstream attention. The song was one of the first to examine serious issues, starting with its opening lines, “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under.”
Fletcher started writing the song in 1980 while working at Sugar Hill Records as a studio musician. The label released the early records of the Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, becoming one of the first big success stories in the genre. Fletcher toured with the acts, contributed to the recordings, and composed music in what...
The Message was a huge and groundbreaking hit for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, one of the first hip-hop groups to gain mainstream attention. The song was one of the first to examine serious issues, starting with its opening lines, “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under.”
Fletcher started writing the song in 1980 while working at Sugar Hill Records as a studio musician. The label released the early records of the Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, becoming one of the first big success stories in the genre. Fletcher toured with the acts, contributed to the recordings, and composed music in what...
- 1/30/2021
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Duke Bootee, the pioneering rapper who co-wrote and appeared on Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s classic “The Message” — Number One on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time — died Wednesday at the age of 69.
Born Edward Fletcher, the rapper died at his home in Savannah, Georgia. The cause was end-stage congestive heart failure, his wife, Rosita, confirmed to Rolling Stone.
Fletcher served as a member of Sugar Hill Records’ house band alongside fellow New Jersey funk veterans like bassist Doug Wimbish, guitarist Skip Alexander,...
Born Edward Fletcher, the rapper died at his home in Savannah, Georgia. The cause was end-stage congestive heart failure, his wife, Rosita, confirmed to Rolling Stone.
Fletcher served as a member of Sugar Hill Records’ house band alongside fellow New Jersey funk veterans like bassist Doug Wimbish, guitarist Skip Alexander,...
- 1/15/2021
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
He was part of the pioneering hip hop collective Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, the first rappers to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Now Kidd Creole is in jail for allegedly stabbing a homeless ex-con during a late night scuffle on the streets of Manhattan. His tumultuous life had taken him from thrilling crowds at Madison Square Garden to making ends meet by working odd jobs as a security guard and handyman, but few could have predicted his descent into murder.
Kidd Creole was born Nathaniel Glover Jr. on Feb. 19, 1960, and grew up in the south Bronx.
Kidd Creole was born Nathaniel Glover Jr. on Feb. 19, 1960, and grew up in the south Bronx.
- 8/3/2017
- by Jordan Runtagh
- PEOPLE.com
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