Rico Wade, a member of the legendary Atlanta manufacturing trio Organized Noize and co-founder of the hip-hop/soul collective Dungeon Household, has died, Billboard confirmed together with his representatives. He was 52.
“We’re deeply saddened by the sudden and sudden passing of our son, father, husband, and brother Rico Wade,” his household wrote in an announcement on Saturday (April 13). “Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the lack of a proficient particular person who touched the lives of so many. We ask that you simply respect the legacy of our beloved one and our privateness at the moment.”
Organized Noize and the Dungeon Household additionally shared a heartfelt message following information of Wade’s passing.
“We’re devastated by the information of the passing of our pricey brother Rico Wade. The world has misplaced one of the revolutionary architects in music, and we have now misplaced a useful good friend,” Organized Noize and the Dungeon Household wrote in a joint assertion. “Rico was the cornerstone of Organized Noize and the Dungeon Household, and we’ll perpetually treasure his reminiscence and the moments we shared, creating music as a united group. Our hearts weigh heavy with sorrow, and we kindly request privateness and empathy throughout this difficult interval. Rico’s presence will at all times have a particular spot in our hearts, and within the music we offered to the world.”
Wade’s explanation for demise had not been supplied at press time.
Wade — thought-about one of many architects of Southern rap sound — was one-third of the songwriting and manufacturing group Organized Noize, whose members additionally included Sleepy Brown and Ray Murray. The group fashioned within the early Nineties and performed a pivotal function in OutKast’s 1994 debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, and Goodie Mob’s 1995 first launch, Soul Meals.
Organized Noize additionally produced a lot of OutKast’s 1996 sophomore album, ATLiens, in addition to tracks on the duo’s Aquemini (together with “Skew It on the Bar-B”) and Stankonia (together with “So Recent, So Clear”). The group went on to work with Huge Boi on his solo tasks, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty (2010) and Vicious Lies and Harmful Rumors (2012).
Wade and Organized Noize had been additionally accountable for co-writing and producing TLC’s hit music “Waterfalls,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 chart in 1995. TLC’s T-Boz revealed within the 2016 documentary The Artwork of Organized Noize that she was accountable for introducing Organized Noize’s Sleepy Brown and Rico Wade via the latter’s job at LaMonte’s Magnificence Provide.
“Rico checked out me, did somewhat dance and mentioned, ‘So?’” Brown recalled. “And when he did it, it cracked me up a lot that I used to be like, ‘Yeah, I like him.’”
Along with TLC, Organized Noize was accountable for producing En Vogue’s “Don’t Let Go” and Ludacris’ “Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!).”
Wade and Organized Noize primarily labored with their Atlanta-based Dungeon Household collective, whose members have included a variety of abilities together with OutKast’s Huge Boi and Andre 3000, Goodie Mob’s Huge Gipp, Khujo, T-Mo and Cee Lo Inexperienced, in addition to Killer Mike, Slimm Calhoun, BlackOwned C-Bone and Spine.
Wado was additionally cousins with rapper Future, who beforehand famous that Wade helped launch his profession in music. “Rico help me 1000 extra occasions than anyone ever may,” Future mentioned in 2014, based on Rolling Stone. “No person may ever do what Rico Wade did for me. … Every part I find out about music, I do know due to Rico.”
Future added, “I received to see Huge Boi stroll into the studio. Simply at all times on the lookout for a brand new Outkast album, being a fan and at all times being behind the scenes and seeing what it took and seeing the method of creating data, and it was all simply fascinating to me.”
Killer Mike, who received his begin with the Dungeon Household, shared a message about Wade’s passing on Saturday.
“I don’t have the phrases to specific my deep and profound sense of loss. I’m Praying in your spouse and Youngsters. I’m praying for the Wade household. I’m praying for us all,” the Run the Jewels rapper wrote on Instagram. “I deeply admire your acceptance into The Dungeon Household, mentorship, Friendship and Brotherhood. Idk the place I’d be with out ya’ll.”
He concluded, “This is part of the journey. You informed me ‘It ain’t been onerous all through the journey, it’s been a Journey.’ The journey ain’t gonna be the Identical Journey with out U. Like U say tho Umma ‘Keep Down on it’……all of us are.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens additionally launched an announcement about Wade following his demise.
“My ideas and prayers are with the household and pals of Rico Wade,” Dickens wrote in an announcement on the Metropolis of Atlanta’s web site. “Rico was a musical genius and one third of the Grammy Award-winning music manufacturing group Organized Noize. A product of Atlanta Public Faculties, he led within the creation of a hip-hop sound that has spanned a long time and genres. With out Rico Wade, the world could have by no means skilled The Dungeon Household, OutKast, Goodie Mob, Future and plenty of extra. Rico left an indelible mark on music and tradition world wide and for that, the South will at all times have one thing to say.”
