El Da Sensei has mourned the death of his Artifacts groupmate, Tame One, who recently passed away at the age of 52.
The last surviving member of the Artifacts shared a touching message on Instagram on Monday (November 7), complete with a photo of himself, Tame and DJ Kaos in happier times. In his caption, Sensei remembered his late groupmates and asked fans to send positive energy his way to keep the Artifacts’ name alive and well.
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“The Fact’s. Gonna miss my brothers,” El Da Sensei wrote. “Tame man…..I will continue the legacy! We did some great things. Kaos you came and fit right in!!! Love y’all!!! We gonna be good y’all. I need all of y’all energy from here on!!! Salute my team!!! #tameonerip #djkaos1200rip #artifactsforever.”
Tame One passed away on Saturday (November 5), although a cause of death has yet to be announced. On top of his work with the Artifacts, Tame also formed the supergroup, The Weathermen, alongside the likes of El-P, Aesop Rock, Cage, Yak Ballz, Vast Aire and others.
Tame One’s passing was confirmed by Rah Digga, who posted an emotional tribute and offered her condolences on Instagram.
“I usually don’t race to the internet to post news like this when I’m in the middle of feeling it…but we gonna give this Jersey legend his muthafuckin flowers!!” she wrote. “Hold your head @el_da_sensei #RIPTameOne #Artifacts #LegendsNeverDie #BrickCity #JerseyShit #YouHadToBeOutside.”
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Hailing from Newark, New Jersey, the Artifacts dropped their debut album, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, in October 1994. Critics lauded the project, which featured production from Buckwild of D.I.T.C., along with T-Ray of the Soul Assassins crew.
The group’s sophomore album, That’s Them, followed in April 1997, however, the group split up soon after its release. They reunited after an impromptu on-stage appearance during Rocksteady Crew’s anniversary weekend in 2008, but didn’t release another project until this year’s No Expiration Date, a joint effort with producer Buckwild.
El Da Sensei also had the hard task of announcing DJ Kaos’ death in August 2019. He shared the tragic news on his Facebook page along with a picture of Kaos putting in work on the turntables.
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“With a very heavy heart I’m so sorry to say me and Tame have lost our DJ/Brother/friend Shawn Djkaos Perry today,” El wrote at the time. “I’m truly sad right now and I never thought I’d be posting anything like this about my brother Kaos.”
Revisit the Artifacts’ 1994 hit “Wrong Side of da Tracks” below.
