Rapper Big Moe, 33, Dies
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HOUSTON -- Big Moe, a Houston rapper whose 2002 album reached No. 3 on Billboard's hip hop charts, has died.
Big Moe, whose real name was Kenneth Moore, was 33. He died Sunday afternoon at Houston's Ben Taub hospital after being hospitalized for more than a week, said Bryan McLeod, a spokesman for the county public hospital system.
McLeod did not release a cause of death, but numerous hip hop Web sites said the obese rapper suffered a heart attack.
Big Moe, who rapped and sang, was a member of the late DJ Screw's rap collective the Screwed Up Click. DJ Screw died of a heart attack in 2000 after a reported overdose of codeine-laced cough syrup.
Big Moe often rapped about the drug and the titles of his first two albums made reference to it. His first album was called "City of Syrup" and his most successful offering was 2002's "Purple World," for the color most often associated with the drug.
Big Moe's top two singles, "Barre Baby" and "Purple Stuff" were odes to the drug. He also released a third album, "Moe Life," in 2003.
"He was a great influence to the music community here in Houston," said Swishahouse Records founder Michael "5000" Watts. "He was a good person and one of the founding fathers of the music movement here."
He collaborated with various Houston rappers including Mike Jones, Z-Ro and Pimp C.
Other Screwed Up Click members who have died are Big Hawk, who was shot to death last year, and his brother Fat Pat, killed in 1998.