GREG Tate was a musician and writer who was often referred to as the Godfather of hip-hop journalism. On December 7, 2021, it was reported that Tate had passed away. What was Greg Tate’s cause of death? A representative for Tate’s publisher Duke University Press confirmed his death on December 7, but a cause of […]
GREG Tate was a musician and writer who was often referred to as the Godfather of hip-hop journalism.
On December 7, 2021, it was reported that Tate had passed away.
A representative for Tate’s publisher Duke University Press confirmed his death on December 7, but a cause of death was not provided.
He was 64-years-old at the time of his passing.
WBGO’s Nate Chinen first broke the news on Twitter of his music legend’s death, writing: “Absolutely gutted to learn (from a trusted source) that Greg Tate has left this dimension. What a hero he’s been — a fiercely original critical voice, a deep musician, an encouraging big brother to so many of us.”
Tate, from Dayton, Ohio, was a founding member of the Black Rock Coalition and the leader of Burnt Sugar.
He was at the front of the birth of hip-hop journalism, documenting the rise of the genre.
He joined The Village Voice as a staff writer in 1987, then worked for the publication for two decades.
Tate gained broader popularity in 1992 after releasing a collection of essays on Black music titled Flyboy in the Buttermilk.
As a teenager, he taught himself how to play guitar and went on to attend Howard University, where he studied journalism and film.
His 1986 essay Cult-Nats Meet Freaky Deke is often cited as a milestone in black cultural criticism.
Tate’s work has also been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Essence, VIBE and Rolling Stone, where he reviewed Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015.
Twitter was filled with tributes after the news of his death broke.
Writer Hanif Abdurraqib shared: “no language for how thankful I am to have lived in a time where I could learn from Greg Tate. Absolutely devastated by this loss.”
A second fan wrote: “One of the first things I did when I set out to write professionally was read everything I could by Greg Tate. He is the blueprint – the kind of writer, thinker, observer we all hope to be. Rest up and well done to one of the greatest.”
Another fan mourned: “Papa Greg Tate has joined the ancestors. The Godfather of hip-hop criticism. An expansive, gentle soul. His only violence was intellectual. (& it was beautiful & most of them folks deserved it!) He taught me/all of us so many things about so many things. Thank you, Greg..”
More to follow…
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