The New Jersey rapper Tame One, of the East Coast group Artifacts and the supergroup The Weathermen, has passed away at the age of 52. Tame One’s real name was Rahem Brown. He died on Sunday (November 6th), and his mother shared the news of his passing on Facebook.
She wrote, “I can’t express this any other way. My son, Rahem Brown, Tamer Dizzle, is dead. The medical examiner says the six pharmaceutical drugs that Trinitas hospital prescribed to him last Friday, combined with the weed he smoked over this weekend… his heart simply gave out. I will not be responding to all the posts for a bit, but the hardest words I will ever post or say is, my son, my heart, is dead.”
Tame One began Artifact in 1988 with El da Sensei and DJ Kaos. They released their debut album Between a Rock and a Hardplace in 1994, which featured the singles ‘Wrong Side Of Da Tracks’ and ‘C’Mon with Da Git Down’. A further album followed in 1997 in the form of That’s Them before they split up soon after its release.
El-P, Tame One’s collaborator in The Weathermen (formed in 1998), took to Instagram to pay his respects. He wrote, “I don’t even know what to say. Rest in peace to Tame One. The Artifact, the Weathermen crew member, the leak brother, the legend, and undoubtedly the friend and family of many broken-hearted people.”
Several other stars from the world of hip-hop have given praise to Tame One, including DJ Premier, The Alchemist, and Lauryn Hill. Rah Digga wrote, “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!! Hold your head.” Evidently, Tame One will be sorely missed.
