Sad news going into the Holiday weekend.
Pam The Funkstress has passed away after undergoing successful surgery for an undisclosed medical condition last month.
Chuy Gomez of Hot 105.7 FM San Francisco helped circulate the unfortunate circumstances as the social media tributes poured in.
Born Pam Warren, she gained national recognition across the Hip Hop community for her turntable techniques as a vital component of defiant rap outfit, The Coup. She later earned the nickname “Purple Pam” for being a secret weapon to the late, great Prince, especially during his final farewell, The Piano and a Microphone Tour.
HipHopDX offers our deepest condolences to family and friends of Pam The Funkstress during this difficult time. Check below for more admiration on her life and career from her peers.
(This article was last updated on November 18, 2017 and can be found below.)
The Coup’s Boots Riley took to Facebook earlier this week to confirm Pam The Funkstress was at a Bay Area hospital ICU fighting for her life. Pam, who was Prince’s personal DJ and member of The Coup, is heralded as a Bay Area Hip Hop legend.
“Pam The Funkstress is in ICU, fighting for her life,” Riley wrote. “She’s stubborn, strong, and a fighter- but could use your thoughts, love, and well wishes in any way you see fit. Her family will show her this post. It will energize her.”
Pam, or Purple Pam — a nickname she earned because of her work with Prince — provided scratches on many of The Coup tracks, including 1993’s “Kill My Landlord” and 2006’s “Pick a Bigger Weapon.” During Prince’s final tour, the Piano and a Microphone Tour, Pam served as the DJ for many of the shows’ after parties.
On Sunday (November 12), Pam took to Instagram to announce she was experiencing some kind of health issue, but didn’t elaborate any further.
“Do to unforeseen health issues I am forced to cancel all gigs until further notice,” she wrote. “Thank you for understanding. Love you all.”
Many of her peers took to social media to show their support for Purple Pam, including Daveed Diggs and DJ Platurn.
HipHopDX reached out to Riley, but didn’t hear immediately back.
No further details on Pam’s condition are available at this time.
Prayers
Prayers out to The Funkstress!….
Sending my love and prayers out to Pam!
Who?
There’s this thing called Google .. and if you actually read the article then you’d know. Maybe try reading more than just the headline.
Dropping some weight would be a start…pretty much increases your likely hood or illness or disease by 60%+ due to the diet people like her typicaly have… best wishes but if ya make it make better life choices you only got 1 body…
Fuck you.
Eh truth hurts people die because they refuse to make healthy choices…rest in peace but people should learn from this shit..had a grandfather who was very overweight died with legs full of fluid and a heart full of fluid congestive heart failure caused by well you guessed it being 300+ lbs a majority of his life people should learn from this like i did my experience instead of saying OMG she was PERFECT when she had no neck and couldnt even tell where her bis/tris meet her elbow people as obese as her should avoid surgery at all costs but she went for it knowing the risk
At least your grandfather had a heart, you sack of shit.
Nah your right i dont have one dont give a fuck to have one now go back to crying about someone you never heard about till a week or two ago you fuckin sheep
You sure care about a comment section though…
Love The Coup. They have one of the few female rappers that can spit, Silk-E. Also worked with the GOAT, Prince, so hope she makes it through.
Lookin at her physical appearance it’s probably safe to assume it’s diabeetus y’all.
Damn. I’m pretty sure she produced all the tracks for the Coup since the ’90s, and they made some really dope shit. I didn’t check their last album Sorry to Bother You, but every other one of their albums is in my library. For those who’ve never heard of them, I highly recommend their albums “Genocide and Juice” and “Party Music.” Since she wasn’t the voice of the group, I can’t say I knew much about her except that she produced some amazing music. RIP.
Steal This Album is great too!
It was actually Boots Riley who produced almost all of The Coup’s catalog. Pam was an amazing DJ, but not really a producer.
I never heard of her so she aint no legend. I’m from the A, so while she might be big where she from the Bay < the A! daz all
It clearly says BAY AREA LEGEND so take your self hating bamma self back to the A where it belongs!!!!!!!
That’s a pretty douchey thing to say considering someone’s daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, friend, whatever, just passed away. Do your damn homework or stfu.
YOU are typical of WHY the ‘A’ makes the most disposable stuff these days, thinkin’ the world revolves around them…..The BAY is a historically RICH music community that has produced some of the most lasting music for over 6 decades! I’m NOT even from there or live there, but I have RESPECT for innovators and trailblazers…. whether they had a ‘mainstream’ hit or commercial household name. THE COUP made revolutionary music, study your past. You can’t KNOW where you’re going, if you DON’T KNOW where you came from!
PS: in 20 years from now when they’ll still be rockin’ the trailblazers, the mumble fumble bumble stumble crumble cRap from the ‘A’ will be a mere footnote of an era well forgotten…..time again to celebrate GREATNESS and INNOVATION, not IGNORANCE and DISRESPECT.
Damn, kill yourself, shithead.
What’s with all the ignorance, judgement & hate?
I remember seeing Pam the Funkstress live with The Coup in San Francisco. She was talented and hilarious. You could tell she knew what she was doing – and that she loved it!
Just because you’ve never heard of someone doesn’t mean they suck (and vice versa!). Same people likely don’t know who Evidence, Rhettmatic & Lateef the Truthspeaker are – which is fine. But don’t be
upset & trip out on the next person that hasn’t heard of your favourite rappers.
And “White Christmas,” I know you are just trolling with your anonymous racist drivel, but please stop.
Big Momma was dope on the wheels of steel RIP PAM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Long live the Titty Scratch…
RIP…sad news