Rob Base, the New York rapper greatest identified for his timeless hit “It Takes Two,” has died. Per Selection, Base, born Robert Ginyard, handed away at present, simply 4 days after his birthday, after a non-public most cancers battle. He was 59.
A message posted to Base’s Instagram account reads as follows:
As we speak, we share the heartbreaking information that hip hop legend Rob Base handed away peacefully on Could 22, 2026, surrounded by household after a non-public battle with most cancers. ?
Rob’s music, vitality, and legacy helped form a era and introduced pleasure to thousands and thousands world wide. Past the stage, he was a loving father, household man, good friend, and inventive power whose affect won’t ever be forgotten.
Thanks for the music, the reminiscences, and the moments that turned the soundtrack to our lives.
Born in 1967, Rob Base emerged from Harlem within the mid-Eighties alongside DJ E-Z Rock (Rodney “Skip” Bryce). After constructing buzz with early singles “DJ Interview” and “Make It Sizzling,” the duo signed to the prolific New York rap label Profile Information in 1987 and promptly launched “It Takes Two” in 1988.
Constructed on a pattern of James Brown and Lyn Collins’ “Suppose (About It),” “It Takes Two” launched itself with Base’s iconic opening line: “I wanna rock proper now/ I am Rob Base, and I got here to get down.” A #36 pop hit and a #3 smash on the dance charts, the only went platinum and have become a dance social gathering staple for many years. It routinely seems in films and TV exhibits and has been endlessly sampled. It is a part of the muse of not simply hip-hop however popular culture on the whole.
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock adopted up “It Takes Two” with an album of the identical title, which featured the following dance hits “Get On The Dance Flooring” and “Pleasure And Ache.” In 1989, the brand new album The Unimaginable Base was credited solely to Rob Base, however when he lastly dropped a 3rd album, Break Of Daybreak, in 1994, it was as soon as once more below the banner of Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock. A one-off single referred to as “Prepared 2 Celebration” arrived in 1999.
DJ E-Z Rock died of problems from diabetes in 2014. In recent times, Rob Base has participated within the I Love the 90’s Tour, labored as a producer on the horror movie City Flesh Eaters, and headed up the manufacturing firm Funky Base, Inc.
