Rob Base, one half of the iconic hip-hop duo Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, has died at 59 after a battle with cancer. His partner, DJ E-Z Rock, passed away in 2014. The duo was famous for their platinum hit 'It Takes Two'.
NEW YORK (AP) — Rob Base, a rapper and one half of the Harlem hip-hop duo Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 59. His creative counterpart Rodney “Skip” Bryce, who went by the stage name DJ E-Z Rock, died in 2014 at age 46 of complications from diabetes. The two met as fifth grade students in Harlem and said they were inspired to make music by the success of another Harlem-based group, Crash Crew. They signed in 1987 with Profile Records, one of the earliest hip-hop labels. The following year, “It Takes Two” landed in the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club Songs chart. The song has since been sampled by other artists including Snoop Dogg and The Black Eyed Peas and has appeared in several films. It has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The duo’s next single, “Get on the Dance Floor,” saw similar success on the club songs chart.
