Rapper Melvin “Magoo” Barcliff, who rose to prominence in the golden era of rap in the early 1990s via collaborations with legends Timbaland and Missy Elliott, has died. He was 50.
Magoo’s death was first confirmed by Black Playa on Instagram which featured the collaborative album, Welcome to Our World, which was produced after they met in Norfolk, Virginia, in the late 1980s.
R&B crooner Ginuwine, who scored the smash hit “Pony” in that same era, conveyed his devastation at the shocking news.
“I don’t even know how to say anything at this point,”
After initially forming the duo Timbaland and Magoo, the pair further cranked up their collaborative years via the group S.B.I. (Surrounded by Idiots) that included Pharrell Williams and Larry Live.
He told the publication You Know I Got Soul that he was very impressed with Timbaland’s skills and hustle.
“He was selling mixtapes back then. We’re not talking about New York City, Atlanta or Miami here. We’re talking about Virginia. It was not a hip-hop area,” Magoo told the outlet.
Not long afterward, Magoo helped bring together Timbaland and fellow Virginia native Missy Elliott. They all became part of the hip-hop collective Da Bassment Cru, which was curated by Jodeci member DeVante Swing.
“When I first got around all those cats, they were the most talented group of people I’d ever been around,” Magoo recalls.
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