He was performing at Hamden Town Center Park when he collapsed Friday evening, town chief of staff said.
US rapper Fatman Scoop, who topped charts in Europe with Be Faithful two decades ago and later contributed to hits by other artists, has died.
He died on Saturday after collapsing on stage at a show Friday in Connecticut, according to officials and his family. He was 53. The cause of his death wasn’t immediately clear.
The American rapper was performing at Hamden Town Center Park when he collapsed on Friday evening, town chief of staff Sean Grace said.
Mayor Lauren Garrett confirmed the incident in Connecticut on Facebook, saying that he had a medical emergency where concertgoers and paramedics tried to aid an artist who was taken to a hospital.
Scoop’s family wrote in an Instagram post on Saturday that “the world lost a radiant soul, a beacon on stage and in life.”
If the world knew him as an artist who got clubgoers moving, his family cherished him as “the laughter in our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength, and courage,” his relatives wrote.
“His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity. His joy was infectious, and the generosity he extended to all will be deeply missed but never forgotten,” they added.
Fatman Scoop, born Isaac Freeman III, was from New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood and broke out in 1999 with Be Faithful.
What started as a minor success in the US took off in Europe with a 2003 re-release, hitting No 1 on the singles charts in the UK and Ireland.
The following year, he appeared on the UK television series Chancers, in which musicians mentored artists who wanted to make it in the US, the BBC reported.
He also was a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother 16: UK vs USA, which was filmed in the UK and aired in 2015.
But Scoop — sometimes stylized as Fat Man Scoop or FatMan Scoop — was perhaps best known for his feature role on Missy Elliott’s Lose Control, a 2005 song of the summer that also featured Ciara. The track won a short-form music video Grammy at the 2006 award show.
The same year as Lose Control, he was featured on Mariah Carey’s It’s Like That. He also was featured on tracks from Timbaland, David Guetta, The Situation, and Skrillex, among other artists. In 2018, he reunited with Elliott and Ciara for a remix of the latter’s Level Up.
Elliott praised Scoop’s “voice and energy” Saturday on X, saying he had contributed to many songs that made people happy over more than two decades.
“Your impact is huge and will never be forgotten,” she added.
ADVERTISEMENTHis long-time booking agency, MN2S, described him as an artist with “boundless enthusiasm,” a passion for music, and a voice and personality that “made an indelible mark on the industry”.
His MN2S representative, Sharron Elkabas, said in a statement Saturday that she had spoken to him a few days earlier.
“He was in such good spirits. It’s hard to believe he is no longer with us,” she said.