Hasta La Ideas

An immensely talented rapper, singer and songwriter, and founding member of the legendary hip-hop group The Roots, Malik “Malik B” Basit has passed away at just 47 years old. Basit began performing with Black Thought and Questlove in Philadelphia in 1987 and appeared on The Roots’ first four albums—widely considered their best—Organix (1993), Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995), Illadelph Halflife (1996) and Things Fall Apart (1999), and also returned to cameo on others. After leaving the band, he released two albums: Street Assault (2005) and Unpredictable (2015), which was made with DJ/producer Mr Green. A nimble rapper, he told rich, visceral, moving stories, and here is one of our favorites.