The influential rapper and UTFO member Shaun Shiller Fequiere, known by his stage name Kangol Kid, has died at the age of 55. 

“I just wanna hear you again, another hug, another embarrassing kiss,” the rapper’s son T.Shaun Fequiere wrote in a Dec. 18 Instagram post confirming his death. The rapper’s death comes after he announcedhe had been diagnosed with colon cancer in February 2021.

As a member of the hip-hop group UTFO, which stood for “UnTouchable Force Organization,” Fequiere was part of a pioneering era of New York City rap in the early 1980s. Along with members Doctor Ice, Mix Master Ice, and Educated Rapper, who died in 2017, the Brooklyn group was best known for their 1984 hit song “Roxanne, Roxanne.” The track ignited what was later known as the “Roxanne Wars” after rapper Roxanne Shante responded with her diss track “Roxanne’s Revenge,” which in turn led to dozens of other groups creating their own records responding to the song.

Image courtesy of gaudy