Rapper Magoo Dies, But His Legacy Never Will

I waited so long to share this post because sometimes you don’t want the worst to be true.

But here we are.

Melvin Barcliff, AKA Magoo of Timbaland & Magoo fame, reportedly has passed, according to industry friends and coworkers. My boys at YouKnowIGotSoul.com have more on it here.

Anyone reading this probably already knows how near and dear the Missy and Timbaland collective – known as the Supafriends – are to my heart. In an era where all of rap’s biggest stars hailed from New York, California or Atlanta, natives of Virginia like myself finally found representation on the big stage. They were my hometown heroes, and that also goes for Magoo.

It was Magoo’s crazy charisma that made me call my local music stores in a frenzy after I first heard him on 1997’s “Up Jumps the Boogie.” His feature on Missy’s “Beep Me 911” in 1997 provided some of the song’s most quotable moments. His pimped out persona on Timbaland and Magoo’s “Considerate Brother” in ’01 still makes me laugh out loud 20 years later. And his contribution to Timbaland’s “Boardmeeting” in 2007 showed how underrated his flow truly was.

Magoo’s off-kilter delivery and playful bars were often targets for memes today, which kinda annoyed me. Yes, he was silly but I mean, have you HEARD what today’s “hitmakers” sound like? Mag sounds like Black Thought next to Lil Scratch N’ Sniff in the XXL Freshman cypher.

Regardless, Magoo was never about bars, his strength was in his technique, and his ability to adjust his delivery from track to track is a vastly underrated skill. Simply put, that man RODE a beat – and that’s no easy feat, considering the otherworld beats Timbo cooked up regularly.

Not too long after Magoo debuted, he decided to briefly step away from the industry. In an interview by my hometown paper that has always stuck with me, Magoo said he felt underappreciated by rap fans, critics and even his own hometown, and that hurt his passion to make music.

I’m happy to say that a few years ago, I linked up with Maganoo on Twitter and, with that interview in mind, I was able to tell him how much he meant to not just my fandom, but countless others. He was the key ingredient for so many of those early Timbaland and Missy hits, and the outpouring of love from the likes of Ginuwine and Playa today showed how much he meant to their careers too.

He’s truly one of the nicest artists I’ve ever met. I hope that in recent years he was able to feel the love that was denied him early in his career. He deserved that and so much more.

When you mention the best the great state of Va have to offer, you have to give Magoo a seat at the table. He’s an underrated but essential key to Hampton Roads’ rise to hip-hop power; the extra spice added to Missy and Timbaland’s cauldron of creativity.

Plus, every time a Magoo verse hits my airpods, I can’t help but laugh or smile. He just wanted us to have fun, and he never let me down.

The bird is indeed the word.