Virginia rapper Magoo, real name Melvin Barcliff, rap partner of Timbaland, has passed away yesterday at age 50. While the official cause of death has not been released, one of his acts told her followers on Facebook that the rap legend is believed to have suffered from some clotting issue, possibly a stroke.
Timbaland & Magoo were a rap duo consisting of producer/rapper Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley and rapper Melvin “Magoo” Barcliff, formed in 1989. Hailing from Norfolk, Virginia, the duo first met when they were teenagers. They later paired up as a duo and released their debut album Welcome to Our World, spawning their highest-charting single “Up Jumps da Boogie”.
They released two more studio albums as a group, Indecent Proposal in 2001 and Under Construction, Part II in 2003. The latter was meant as a sequel to Missy Elliott’s fourth album Under Construction.
In August 2021, Blackground Records, the label who launched R&B/Pop singer Aaliyah, signed a distribution deal with Empire Distribution to re-release Timbaland & Magoo’s catalog on CD, cassette and vinyl, onto digital download sites and, for the first time ever, streaming services. As a result, Timbaland’s 1998 LP Tim’s Bio: Life from da Bassment and Timbaland & Magoo albums Welcome to Our World, Indecent Proposal and Under Construction, Part II were re-released August 27, 2021.
