Rammellzee (MC, graffiti-artist, sculptor and wearable-art dude) died on the 27th of June, aged 49. The details don't go beyond "after a long illness", but why should we be privy to his medical records? No one's giving up his birth name either. For someone who receives an obituary in the New York Times, it's nice to see that kind of dedication to a guy's privacy.
I'll admit that Rammellzee wasn't one of my all-time favourite artists, but some of his stuff is indespensable for me. You can't go past his 1983 single 'Beat Bop' with K Rob: it's old-school, but it's avant-garde, even by today's standards. Actually, it's more avant-garde by today's standards than by the standards of hip-hop in 1983. Take for example the way the reverb varies randomly between drenched and bone-dry. Or those occasional flourishes of gypsy violin. Or take the words... they're anchored in b-boy culture, but otherwise they're barely anchored at all. The production is credited to Jean-Michel Basquiat, though that could just mean he paid for it to be recorded and pressed (in later years Rammellzee wanted to play down Basquiat's involvement on the track). Basquiat definitely did the cover art.
--Beat Bop: Rammellzee & K-Rob (1983)
The next clip is also dated 1983: live at the Rhythm Lounge - Rammellzee on the mic, with Toxic as DJ, and Basquiat on visuals. This is why I love that old-school vibe: awesomely minimal beats while Rammellzee keeps his flow up for seven minutes. You get similar sorta stuff n the Wild Style soundtrack, where it's all about the live scene, and everyone's cutting over the same bit of Fab 5 Freddy's 'Down by Law' (worth noting that Rammellzee appears on both the Wild Style and Style Wars soundtracks, and he's all over the bonus features of the Style Wars DVD).
--Rammellzee /Toxic /Basquiat @ Rhythm Lounge (1983)
And for some denser writings (on things like his theory of graffiti), here's Rammellzee's own website, Gothic Futurism.