Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys Dead at 52

Source: Robin Marchant / Getty

Prince Markie Dee of the Fat Boys has passed away. He was just 52.

According to AllHipHop, Prince Markie Dee’s cause of death was congestive heart failure. Tragically, he was just a day shy of his 53rd birthday. Born Mark Anthony Morales, Prince Markie Dee came to fame as a member of the seminal early 80’s Rap group the Fat Boys, originally known as The Disco 3, alongside rapper Kool Rock Ski and beatboxing maestro Buffy aka The Human Beat Box, who unfortunately passed away in 1995.

Prince Markie Dee appeared in the ensemble cast of Krush Groove, which was loosely based on the life of Russell Simmons, and with the Fat Boys also starred in their own movie called Disorderlies in 1987. The Fat Boy’s self-titled debut was released in 1984 and produced by Kurtis Blow. Their 1987 album Crushin’ went platinum. After the Fat Boys’ run, Markie found success as solo acts, with “Typical Reasons (Swing My Way)” from his 1992 solo album Free. The song became a no. 1 single and he eventually settled in as a producer, as Soul Convention with Cory Rooney, as well as a radio host. Recently he had been hosting a show on SiriusXM’s LL Cool J-founded Rock The Bells. With news breaking of his untimely passing, Twitter immediately started mourning but also celebrating the life of one of Hip-Hop earliest stars. Rest in powerful peace Prince Markie Dee. Peep some of Hip-Hop Twitter’s homages to the legend below from his peers and fans. This story is developing. https://twitter.com/therealelp/status/1362544808192053251