De La Soul paid tribute to their late bandmember Trugoy The Dove with a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon featuring The Roots.
The rap legends appeared on Thursday night’s episode (March 16) to perform ‘Stakes Is High’ from their classic 1996 album of the same name.
Trugoy The Dove died at the age of 54 last month. He had been suffering from several health issues in recent years, although no cause of death was revealed.
De La Soul were on Thursday joined by The Roots – Fallon‘s house band – with Black Thought standing in for Dove’s verses on the track.
Before the performance, surviving De La Soul members Posdnuos and Maseo opened up about the 15-year process of bringing their catalogue to streaming services. They also reflected about their early days in Long Island and recording their 1989 debut ‘3 Feet High And Rising’.
Last month Posdnuos and Maseo broke their initial social media silence with two Instagram posts paying tribute to their bandmate.
Both posts consisted of lengthy messages from each surviving member, accompanied by a carousel of images depicting the rapper throughout his career. In the first, Posdnuos paid his respects, writing: “You were the heart of our group. You brought so much creativity, energy, and passion to our music, and your influence will be felt for years to come.”
Referencing Trugoy’s opening verse from their 1991 ‘De La Soul Is Dead’ cut, ‘Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)’, he continued: “Thank you for helping us become a group that will remain etched in the timeline of hip hop culture as well as the fabric of music and for now on when we perform “Ring Ring Ring Ha Ha Hey” we will say ‘2-2-2-2-222 we got an angel in heaven who can talk to you’”.
Maseo followed with a heartfelt message reflecting his close relationship with the deceased emcee, stating: “Dave – thank you so much for being in my life. Although you and I would argue like hell, we would both admit when we were wrong and totally come full circle and say, “I Love You.”
