Rob Base, the rapper who was best known for the hit “It Takes Two,” died on Friday, May 22, after a battle with cancer. He was 59.
News of his death was shared via his official Instagram account. “Rob’s music, energy, and legacy helped shape a generation and brought joy to millions around the world. Beyond the stage, he was a loving father, family man, friend, and creative force whose impact will never be forgotten,” the statement reads. “Thank you for the music, the memories, and the moments that became the soundtrack to our lives.”
Base performed as one-half of the duo Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, who died in 2014 after complications from diabetes.
The duo released their first single, “DJ Interview,” in 1986, but it was their 1988 megahit “It Takes Two” that propelled them into the hip-hop legend sphere. Created around a vocal sample from Lyn Collins’ 1972 hit “Think (About It),” the song blended hip-hop and house music and rocketed to Number Three on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs chart. Their single “Get on the Dance Floor” later topped the same chart. “It Takes Two” influenced generations of musicians to come, with Snoop Dogg, Gang Starr, Girl Talk, 2NE1, and more artists sampling the infectious track. Its cultural impact went beyond the musical sphere, having been featured in everything from the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to a scene in Sandra Bullock’s 2009 romantic comedy The Proposal and it also appeared in 2001’s Iron Man.
The song made Questlove’s Top 50 Hip Hop Songs of All Time for Rolling Stone, and is Number 24 on RS’s Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time. “Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s irresistible 1988 smash was a pop-rap landmark and an ode to understanding and respect that brought people together under a groove,” reads the review of the track. “The song was produced by Teddy Riley, who deployed a similar jump-up syncopation as the king of New Jack Swing.”
Born Robert Ginyard on May 18, 1967, Base and E-Z Rock were childhood friends who met in the fourth grade and grew up in Harlem. They were inspired by a local group called Crash Crew. “We used to watch them and looked up to them. We said to ourselves, ‘This is something that we want to do.’ Seven of us put together a group; a lot of them didn’t take it seriously, but me and him did,” Base told Rolling Stone in 2014.
After the pair dropped “DJ Interview” and “Make It Hot,” they signed to Profile Records where they released their debut album, It Takes Two, and it and its title track took off in clubs and on the charts. The album reached Number Four on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and housed additional singles “Get on the Dance Floor” and “Joy and Pain.”
“With ‘It Takes Two,’ we were at a friend’s house and we were just going through a bunch of records. We had to go to the studio that night and we didn’t have anything prepared, but we found and liked the Lyn Collins sample that night and went to the studio,” Base continued. “We didn’t think that it would cross over and be as big as it became. We thought it would be what was called back then a “Tri-state area’ song.”
In 1989, Base dropped his solo studio album, The Incredible Base. He reunited with E-Z Rock for 1994’s Break of Dawn.
Base continued to perform, recently appearing on the I Love the 90’s Tour. He was scheduled to perform at Pass the Mic Live at Hard Rock Hotel in Atlantic City and the Rock the Bells cruise later this year.