A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg Dead at 45 — Celebrities React

A Tribe Called Quest's Phife Dawg, aka Malik Taylor, has passed away at the age of 45.

The rapper's death was confirmed by Rolling Stone, but an official statement has not been released. He struggled with health problems over the years, including a kidney transplant to deal with Type 1 diabetes. In the “Beats, Rhymes & Life” documentary, he said about the disease in 2011, "It's really a sickness, like straight-up drugs. I'm just addicted to sugar."

In November, Taylor revealed about his health, "I am in a good spot, but I have my good days and I have my bad days. But I'm more or less in a good spot, so I can't really complain."

Before his death, Taylor was working on his new LP “Muttymorphosis,” which he described as “basically my life story.”

In 1985, Taylor helped form A Tribe Called Quest with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, his classmates from Queens, and Jarobi White, a forth band member who left the group after the release of their first album.

After news of his death, many celebrities took to social media to mourn him. Chris Rock tweeted, "I like brown ,yellow Puerto Rican or Haitian name is phife dog from the Zulu nation. Rip Phife.”

See more tweets below!