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Louie Rankin, a Jamaican reggae artist/actor who appeared in DX’s 1998 film Belly, died in a car accident Monday in Ontario, Canada.
Rankin was involved in a wreck consisting of a transport truck and another vehicle, TMZ reported.
A tweet from Rankin’s verified account read, ‘It saddens us to have to announce that The “[ORIGINAL] DON DADA” “Trail Blazer” the legend – Louie Ox Rankin passed away this morning!
‘May God keep his soul with his father, sister and [niece] in #heaven #amen #sipox.’
Rankin, nicknamed the ‘Original Don Dada,’ was a Grammy-winner for his 1992 track Typewriter.
Rankin appeared in the movie Belly with Nas, Method Man and TLC’s Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins; in the film, he played a drug lord named Ox.
He went on to appear in motion pictures including 2002’s Shottas, 2014’s We Run These Streets and the 2015 short film Q, according to iMDb.
He had a rapport with Nas, and they subsequently appeared in DJ Khaled’s Nas Album Done video in 2016.
DJ Khaled took to Instagram Monday with numerous posts paying tribute to Rankin, his friend of decades.
‘Bless up my brother @louie_Rankin,’ he wrote. ‘Friends 20 years friendship from shottas and forever! Love and prayers for your family.’
Khaled went on to call his late friend ‘amazing FATHER,’ ‘always my brother’ and ‘the legend.’
Other notable names such as DJ First Class and Toronto-based director Diggz tweeted memorials to the late artist.
