Yesterday the sad news of Malik B.’s death was confirmed (July 29). The Roots co-founder and Philadelphia native was just 47 years old.
As the hip hop community mourns this great loss, rappers, producers and collaborators have shared tributes or memories of Malik on social media. The late MC’s group mates — Black Thought and Questlove — remembered their friend on Instagram.
“We made a name and carved a lane together where there was none. We ressurected a city from the ashes, put it on our backs and called it Illadelph,” Black Thought captioned a photo of the three of them.
“Your steel sharpened my steel as I watched you create cadences from the ether and set them free into the universe to become poetic law, making the English language your bitch,” he continued. “My beloved brother M-illitant. I can only hope to have made you as proud as you made me. The world just lost a real one. May Allah pardon you, forgive your sins and grant you the highest level of paradise.”
In his own post, Questlove shared a light-hearted story about Malik helping him level-up his fragrance oil game while he was still working as an intern at Ruffhouse Records.
“Malik told me the particular fragrance I dug was a mixture of 3 import oils from Saudi Arabia (his parents often taught school there) my dad was already on his cynic ‘fool me once….’ bag with Malik from a previous sale: ‘that boy tried to hustle me with Blue Nile that wasn’t all the way Blue, I know Johnson’s baby oil rebranded when I smell it’),” he wrote.
Social media tributes were also shared by mega-producer Just Blaze, Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike, R.A. The Rugged Man and many more. See some remembrances of Malik from fans, friends and collaborators on Twitter below. Rest in Peace.