Pigeon Trugoy of De La Soul dies at 54

Trugoy the Dove, also known as David Jude Joliceur, was a founding member of the famous hip hop group De La Soul and was better known by his stage name Trugoy the Dove. The official gave AllHipHop confirmation of this information.

Although Trugoi has been open about his problems with congestive heart failure in recent years, the cause of death has yet to be made public. At 54 he was.

On Long Island, Trugoy, often referred to as Plug 2, grew up in East Massapequa. Together with his high school buddies Vincent Mason (aka Maceo) and Calvin Mercer, he founded De La Soul in 1988 (aka Postnuos).

#RestInBeats my brother #Dave #Tough #DeLaSoul forever@hiphopgods⁩ pic.twitter.com/bS5thhyOA1

— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) February 12, 2023

The group’s debut album 3 Feet High and Rising was released the following year. This started a successful partnership with producer Prince Paul who released two more albums: De La Soul Is Dead in 1991 and Buhloone Mindstate in 1993. It was one of the greatest three-album pressings in the history of music.

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Stakes Is High, De La Soul’s fourth album from 1996, was largely self-produced, and the band released three more albums in the early 2000s: Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump in 2000, AOI: Bionix in 2001, and The Grind. Date in 2004. They contributed to the popular song “Feel Good Inc.” from Gorillaz in 2005, earning De La Soul their first Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration.

Trugoy and Posdnuos worked together on the Plug 1 & Plug 2 Present… First Serve concept album in 2012, and the band reunited for their ninth and most recent album And The Anonymous Nobody… which was released in 2016.

De La Soul’s creative sampling methods gave hip hop new directions, but sample clearance issues led to the band facing legal issues that prevented them from distributing their music on streaming sites. But earlier this year, it was revealed that their first six studio albums would finally be available online on March 3rd.

B-Real of Cypress Hill tweeted, “We’ve lost another classic of hip hop music and culture in my brother Trugoy aka Dave of De La Soul.” “His music will help us remember him long after he is gone. In addition to being a brilliant musician, he was a fantastic person. He was very important to us.