Hip-hop has lost one of its dignitaries. Arrested Development member Baba Oje passed away today after a battle with leukemia, according to band frontman Speech. He was 86 years old.
Oje met Speech when both were students at UW-Milwaukee, and went on to join the group as a “spiritual elder.” During Arrested Development’s critical and commercial heyday in the early ’90s, when the group won two Grammy awards, hip-hop was still largely looked down upon by an older generation of listeners, who didn’t see it as real music. Oje’s presence telegraphed how wide its appeal could be.
“Baba was the oldest member of any hip-hop collective and his mere presence in rap spoke volumes for the genre and for a generation looking for symbolic wisdom and answers,” Speech wrote in an Instagram post today. “He was an activist for the homeless, a military veteran, a world traveler, spiritual advisor to the group, strict vegan, dancer, vocalist and avid roller skater. His family & friends are scheduling service arrangements for him next week Friday. We will deeply miss Baba Oje and ask for prayers for his family.
“I met Baba hanging with the young dudes while I was in college, he was always super cool and always willing to talk to the youth!” Speech's post continued. “I gathered up the nerve to ask him to be in my hip-hop group, he at first said no. But he later reconsidered when he thought about the fact that a young black man was striving to start a positive rap thing. However, we both found out that this partnership was bigger than we even knew. We both learned later that Baba knew my parents and in fact, was the best man in my mother and father's wedding way before I was even thought of! That's the spiritual bond we shared, he was literally like family to me, I will miss him terribly.”
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