Legendary grime star Dot Rotten has died at the age of 37
The rapper's family have confirmed his death
By Nick Reilly
Tributes have been paid to legendary grime star Dot Rotten, who has died at the age of 37.
Reports of the pioneering MC’s death had been circulating online earlier today (March 9), but his family have now confirmed his passing to the BBC. It is believed that he died in Gambia.
The rapper, real name Joseph Ellis, was known for his distinctive musical style and bridged the gap between grime music and pop, working with everyone from scene stalwarts such as D Double E to stadium fillers like Ed Sheeran.
His biggest mainstream moment came in 2012 with ‘Overload’, a collaboration with TMS which sampled Robert Miles’ dance classic ‘Children’ and saw Ellis opening up on his experiences with depression.
“It’s not the song I wanted to come out with, but it’s done a lot and I appreciate all of the feedback I’ve been getting from it,” he previously told Distract TV.
The musician began recording raps at the age of seven by his own admission, but his first mixtape came in 2007’s This Is The Beginning, released under the name Young Dot.
One of his biggest career moments came a year later with the now-legendary Rotten Riddims mixtapes, having released six volumes within the space of a month in 2008.
He was also known for having a prominent beef with Wiley, after accusing the grime fellow MC of selling out on the diss tracks ‘Pop Artist’ and ‘It’s Over’.
In recent years, he took a backseat from his own music to produce tracks for artists including Kano and AJ Tracey under the name of Zeph Ellis.
Paying tribute, Wiley showed there was no bad blood as he honoured Ellis on his Instagram page. He shared a photo of the two together, along with a broken heart and a dove emoji.
“Thoughts go out to his family. RIP to the brother,” added music personality Bouncer Play Dirty.