’90s Hip-Hop Star Dies Unexpectedly: RIP to Cleetis Mack

Digital Underground rapper Cleetis Mack has died. TMZ reports his cause of death, and age at the time of his death, is currently unknown, and notes his death is sending shock waves to those who know and loved him as it’s unexpected. 

A rep for the alternative hip-hop group told TMZ his death “leaves a void in our Digital Underground family and in our hearts that can never truly be filled.” The group is known for jumpstarting legend Tupac Shakur’s career.

Mack joined the group in 1993, six years after it was founded in Oakland, California. The group was founded by Shock G (Gregory Jacobs), Chopmaster J (Jimi Dright), and Kenny-K (Kenneth Waters). His first single with the group was “Wussup Wit the Luv,” which featured Shakur.

Regarding his impact, their rep also told the media outlet that was “more than a part of the movement — he was part of the soul behind it, bringing warmth, loyalty, and quiet strength to everyone around him. He will always be remembered by his humility, love, and spirited energy, qualities that lifted those around him and made a lasting impression on all who knew him.”

Founding member Shock G died in April 2021. He passed at age 57 from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and alcohol. At the time of his death, he was found unresponsive in a hotel room in Tampa, Florida. Shakur died of gunshot wounds in a Las Vegas hospital in September 1996. Duane “Keefe D” Davis, the man on trial for taking part in his muder was arrested three decades after his death. 

A former gang leader, Davis is accused of being the “on-site commander” who ordered the fatal drive-by shooting of Shakur after a run-in with his nephew, Orlando Anderson, in which Shakur and his entourage jumped him. Anderson was murdered two years after his passing.