Trugoy the Dove (September 21, 1968 – February 12, 2023) was born David Jude Jolicoeur, and was also known under the stage name Dave. He was an American rapper, producer, founding member and one third of the hip hop group De La Soul.
Trugoy the Dove was born in Brooklyn, New York to Haitian-American parents, and grew up in the Long Island area of East Massapequa.
Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur), Vincent Mason and Kelvin Mercer were friends who attended the same high school in the Amityville area of Long Island during the 1980s and decided to form a rap group, De La Soul in 1988.
An early demo caught the eye of a local producer, Prince Paul, and led to their first album on Tommy Boy Records.
With their eccentric fashion styles paired with the positive messages of the group’s debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising” which was released in 1989, critics and journalists labelled De LA Soul as “the hippies of hip hop”, a title that the group was quick to refute with the release of the second album “De La Soul Is Dead” in 1991.
“3 Feet High and Rising”, reached number one on Billboard’s top R&B/hip-hop album chart and often appears on lists of the greatest albums of all time and was their most commercially successful record, and widely considered a masterpiece. It included hits “The Magic Number” and “Me, Myself and I”.
In “3 Feet High and Rising”, they instantly differentiated themselves from their contemporaries with their eccentric wordplay and eclectic jazz and funk samples, which would become their style.
Those samples changed the rap landscape but also landed the group in a lot of legal troubles.
One of the tracks on “3 Feet High and Rising”, a skit titled “Transmitting Live from Mars”, featured an uncleared sample from the Turtles who later sued De LA Soul for $2.5m in 1991. The case was settled out of court but their sample usages cast a long shadow on their career, preventing them from releasing their music on digital platforms.
In 2006, De La Soul won a Grammy for their collaboration with Gorillaz on the single “Feel Good Inc.”
In early 2015, they announced plans to release a Kickstarter funded ninth studio album “And the Anonymous Nobody…” in September 2015, which was eventually released on August 26, 2016. The album tracks are said to be the result of multiple improvised jam sessions and features guest appearances from artists such as Damon Albarn, Little Dragon, David Byrne, 2 Chainz, and Snoop Dogg.
Last month De La Soul announced that they had finally resolved their sample clearances and their back catalogue would be available to stream from March 3, 2023.
There had also been speculation of the possibility new music from De LA Soul after a photo emerged last year of Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur), Vincent Mason and Kelvin Mercer in the studio with their one-time champion Prince Paul.
De La Soul changed the face of hip-hop in the late 80s and early 90s, and were honoured at last week’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles during a tribute to the genre.
B Real from the hip-hop group Cypress Hill described Trugoy the Dove as a “legend of hip hop music and culture”, and said “His music will allow him to live in our hearts and minds. But not only was he a great musician but he was a great human being. He meant a lot to us.”
Trugoy the Dove openly discussed his struggles with congestive heart failure.
Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur) died on February 12, 2023, at the age of 54.
Check out De LA Soul on Amazon
Discography
3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
Buhloone Mindstate (1993)
Stakes Is High (1996)
Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000)
AOI: Bionix (2001)
The Grind Date (2004)
Plug 1 & Plug 2 Present… First Serve (2012)
And the Anonymous Nobody… (2016)
