Grammy Award-winning artist Louie Rankin, famous for his role as Ox in the 1998 crime drama Belly, died. The star died following a car crash in Canada on Monday, TMZ reports. The Jamaican actor’s age is unclear.
Rankin’s executive assistant Jewlz Sykes, with whom he shares children, confirmed his death on social media, sharing an Instagram slideshow of photos of them together.
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“There are no words!!!!!!” she captioned the post, which shows herself and Rankin cuddling and kissing. “Sleep with the angels my King!” she added.
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Rankin is best known for his role as Jamaican drug lord Lennox aka Ox in Belly, the 1998 film that follows friends Tommy Brown (Early “DMX” Simmons) and Sincere (Nasir “Nas” Jones) as they rethink their lives as drug dealers in New York City.
Following the film’s release, Rankin and Nas remained friends and later reunited in 2016 in DJ Khaled‘s track “Nas Album Done.”
Rankin, who was born and raised in Jamaica and a prominent figure on the dancehall scene, also appeared in the 2002 film Shotta as Teddy Bruckshut; he also starred in 2014’s We Run the Streets as Choppa.
One day before his death, Rankin announced on Instagram that he was in Toronto on work, filming a movie. “The Original Don DaDa On Set Shooting A Major Movie In Toronto,” he captioned a video of him showing off wads of cash.
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Following the news of Rankin’s death, Instagram users flocked to his final post to send condolences.
“RIP,” one user wrote.
“RIP LEGEND,” another said.
“Rip mi fam,” someone else wrote.
“Real DON! Rest up Legend,” one person said.
“Real sad day RIP daddy,” another wrote.
Rankin had also recently shared that he was working on a new album.
“That album bout to drop!!! Can you smell what the Ox is cooking?!” he wrote on Instagram over the weekend.
In 1992, he released his album Showdown, which featured his hits “The Muscle,” “Monster Move” and “Typewriter,” which won him a Grammy Award. He later released his album Lethal Weapon in 1993.
Photo credit: Big Dog Films
