Trugoy the Dove's Death Has Hip Hop Mourning

Brigitte Inverary: February 13th, 2023

Trugoy the Dove, a true pioneer in hip-hop, has unfortunately passed away.

Trugoy the Dove, real name Dave Jolicoeur, was raised in Long Island, New York, in the village of Amityville where he attended the local high school. According to NPR.org, during his high school years is where he came across his group members Kelvin Mercer, “Posdnuos”, Vincent Mason, “P.A. Mase,'' and their group’s mentor “Prince Paul”.  At the time of the late 80’s during hip hop’s golden age, inspired by artists such as Run DMC and LL Cool J, Jolicoeur and his friends were motivated to start a rap group well known today as De La Soul. Jolicoeur being ⅓ of the iconic group, differentiated in many ways from rap at that time. Their middle-class suburban roots played a major role as well as them rocking black medallions instead of the gold chains and medallions, which at the time was the look of rap.

In 1987, the iconic trio signed to Tommy Boy Records meeting with Dante Ross who saw potential and ended up managing De La Soul not long after. In an interview with Check the Technique, Dante Ross explained that the rap game took a bit of a turn with the dress wear when De La Soul stepped in.

 “When De La Soul came in the game, there was just a changing of the guard. The Gold chains and the macho s*** just wasn’t all that anymore.” 

On Sunday February 12, Dave Jolicoeur was pronounced dead at the age of 54 with no cause of death to be reported, according to HipHopDX.com. Some suspect his death is due to congestive heart failure as back in 2017 it was reported he was battling this issue. Fans and rap colleagues, such as Busta Rhymes, Queen Latifah and Pharell, took to social media to express grief and sorrow after the announcement of the rapper’s death. Rest in peace Trugoy.