Magoo: rapper who collaborated with Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Aaliyah dies aged 50
The rapper Magoo, an early collaborator of producer Timbaland, has died aged 50. No cause of death has been shared.
The news was confirmed by Timbaland, who posted on Instagram: “This one hits different long live Melvin aka magoo !!!ᘓᘓᘓ Tim and Magoo forever ⭻⭻⭻ rest easy my king ᤸᤸᤸ”
The rapper Ginuwine, who collaborated with the duo, also paid tribute: “I will miss you maganooo that’s what we called him … totally one of the best ever in my eyes, always pressing forward.”
Melvin “Magoo” Barcliff met Timbaland in Norfolk, Virginia, when they were teenagers and formed the duo Timbaland & Magoo in 1989. Before he started rapping, he would cover songs by the likes of Ralph Tresvant and New
Edition in talent shows, which he often won.
In a rare recent interview with YouKnowIGotSoul, Magoo recalled being blown away by Timbaland’s seriousness about his DJing and producing. “He was selling mixtapes back then. We’re not talking about New York City, Atlanta or Miami here. We’re talking about Virginia. It was not a hip-hop area.”
In the early 90s, Timbaland & Magoo were also part of the group Surrounded by Idiots (SBI), which counted
Pharrell Williams as a member. Magoo recalled being similarly impressed by Williams, who was already part of his own group, NERD, alongside Chad Hugo and Shay Haley. “Pharrell’s musical ability was out of space and he was in his own world. The first time I heard him do a rap, I was like, ‘This dude already sounded like he was ready for the mainstream.’”
That era of working with SBI and recording with Timbaland beneath the radar, said Magoo, was “the special times”.
Magoo facilitated one of the most significant musical pairings of all time when he introduced Missy Elliott to Timbaland. “It was almost like God was putting pieces together,” he said. “She saw the future for what Tim’s production could do.”
Also in the early 90s, the duo – and Elliott – became part of Da Bassment Cru, a collective of rappers, singers and instrumentalists curated by Jodeci member DeVante Swing. They signed to his label Swing Mob and moved to his house in Rochester, New York, to start recording. “When I first got around all those cats, they were the most talented group of people I’d ever been around,” said Magoo.
In 1999, Timbaland told Request magazine: “DeVante was like a combination of drill sergeant and schoolteacher. For all of us, it was like boot camp. We were in the studio all day, every day. In fact, in a year’s time, I think I only came out of the house about four or five times.”
But Swing Mob dissolved in 1995 and Timbaland & Magoo signed to Blackground, run by Barry Hankerson, uncle of Aaliyah. “Aaliyah was funny and a good-spirited-type person,” Magoo recalled. “If it wasn’t for her,