Double J of Flavor Unit has reportedly passed away, with multiple Hip Hop legends taking to social media to mourn the loss of the beloved rapper.
Flavor Unit co-founder Mark The 45 King announced his death on Instagram by simply writing “RIP my best friend” alongside a photo that read: “I [heart] Double J.”
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Diamond D dropped a few dove emojis to express his condolences, while Naughty By Nature’s Vin Rock — himself a member of Flavor Unit — added in a few prayer hand emoji’s.
DJ Premier shouted out the “Manslaughter” MC on his Twitter. “More sad news,” he tweeted. “Just found out that DOUBLE J. of FLAVOR UNIT has passed. A great Emcee and always kept it Street. Rest Peacefully King.”
New York’s Flavor Unit is a sprawling crew of MCs and DJs from the Big Apple and New Jersey which was later renamed the Unit. The 45 King founded the collective and was able to get the crew noticed thanks to his relationships with DJ Red Alert and DJ Chuck Chillout.
As the Unit gained popularity, 45 began battling drug addiction which led to Queen Latifah taking over the group. She transformed it into an umbrella collective alongside Shakim Compere that produced blockbuster films such as The Perfect Holiday and managed a plethora of rap talent including OutKast, Faith Evans, Monica, LL Cool J, and Naughty By Nature, among others.
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Latifah has yet to comment on Double J’s passing, and it’s unclear what contributed to his death.
Double J (real name Jerome Jenkins) appeared on the group’s early tracks such as “Flavor Unit Assassination Squad” with Latifah, Lakim Shabazz, Lord Alibaski and Apache, and was known for his own tracks “Cannibal Town” and “Bless the Funk.” He released his only solo album The Hitman in 1991, and recently appeared on Chill Rob G’s 2022 album Empires Crumble, featuring on the track “F.U.” with Lakim Shabazz.
In a 2015 interview with Red Bull Music Academy, Double J said he was initially pressured to start rapping by Flavor Unit member Apache while they were still in school together, and that he was reluctant to start.
“I wasn’t really into writing rhymes ‘cos I’m trying to raise a kid real early,” he said at the time. “When the music wasn’t giving me no checks, I’ve still got to put milk on the table and [buy] Pampers. So I had to keep living the street life and rhyme every chance I could.”
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He continued: “Meeting with Mark in ‘86, I heard everybody speaking of the basement, but when I started out we were in the attic in East Orange. Mark had the microphones screwed into the wall, like four mics lined up, and everybody used to come up there, rhymin’. We started to make so much noise he had to leave. Then we went down to the basement where we continued making the noise.”
