Grime rapper and producer Dot Rotten dies aged 37

British rapper and producer Dot Rotten, real name Joseph Ellis-Stevenson, has died aged 37. He reportedly died in the Gambia, and his family confirmed the death to the BBC. Born and raised in south London, Ellis-Stevenson began producing music in childhood and was still a teenager when he released his debut mixtape This Is the Beginning in 2007.

He became celebrated as one of the core beat-makers in the then flourishing grime scene, with tracks such as Petrol Bomb and Bazooka providing heavy yet spry backings for MCs. He released seven volumes of his Rotten Riddims series, plus a number of other mix tapes.

Rotten was an accomplished MC himself, unafraid of combative tracks that clashed with Wiley, P Money, JME and Stormzy over the years. He crossed over to a wider audience after being signed to Mercury Records in 2011, appearing on Ed Sheeran’s No 5 Collaborations Project EP that year as well as an all-star charity record, Teardrop, released to benefit Children in Need.

The Gambia

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