Malik Taylor, better known as A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg, died Wednesday at the age of 45, Rolling Stone reported.
An official statement has yet to be released.
Taylor's cause of death is unclear, but the New York native had health issues in the past. He underwent a kidney transplant in 2008 during a longstanding battle with diabetes.
He also rapped about his condition in his music.
"It's really a sickness," Taylor said in a 2011 documentary. "Like straight-up drugs. I'm just addicted to sugar."
"Mr. energetic, who me sound pathetic, when's the last time you heard a funky diabetic?" he rhymed on the 1994 hit "Oh My God" featuring Busta Rhymes.
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