Malik B. Who Was a Founding Member of The Roots Dies at Age 47: 'One of the Most Gifted MCs'

Ashley Boucher
·2 min read

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Malik Abdul Baset, one of the founding members of The Roots also known as Malik B., has died. He was 47.

"We regretfully inform you of the passing of our beloved brother and long time Roots member Malik Abdul Baset," the band announced on Twitter Wednesday. "May he be remembered for his devotion to Islam and innovation as one of the most gifted MCs of all time."

"We ask that you please respect his family in our time of mourning."

Baset's cause of death was not revealed.

Baset appeared on The Roots' first four albums — 1993's Organix, 1995's Do You Want More?!!!??!, 1996's Illadelph Halflife and 1999's Things Fall Apart — along with Questlove and Black Thought before leaving the group in 2002. He made guest appearances on later albums from The Roots and came out with a solo album in 2005, followed by an EP the next year.

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Black Thought shared a tribute to his former bandmate on Instagram, recalling Baset's "true gift and potential."

"We made a name and carved a lane together where there was none. We ressurected [sic] a city from the ashes, put it on our backs and called it Illadelph. In friendly competition with you from day one, I always felt as if I possessed only a mere fraction of your true gift and potential," he wrote.

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"Your steel sharpened my steel as I watched you create cadences from the ether and set them free into the universe to become poetic law, making the English language your bitch."

"I always wanted to change you, to somehow sophisticate your outlook and make you see that there were far more options than the streets, only to realize that you and the streets were one... and there was no way to separate a man from his true self," the musician continued. "My beloved brother M-illitant. I can only hope to have made you as proud as you made me. The world just lost a real one. May Allah pardon you, forgive your sins and grant you the highest level of paradise."