Rapper Fatman Scoop has passed away aged 53 after suffering a medical emergency on stage on Friday.
The artist, real name Isaac Freeman III, collapsed on stage in Hamden Town Center Park, Connecticut, and was rushed to hospital.
“He is being transported by ambulance to the hospital,” Mayor Lauren Garrett wrote in a post on Facebook. “We will provide updates when they are available. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.”
Fatman Scoop was headlining Hamden’s Green and Gold Party on Friday night, the final Summer Concert Series of the 2024 season. He had been scheduled to open the series on July 12, but the event was rained out, and postponed to Aug. 30.
His passing was confirmed by his tour manager Birch Michael.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts I announce the passing of Isaac Freeman III, Known professionally as Fatman Scoop,” Michael’s Facebook post read Saturday. “You taught me how to be the Man I am today.”
He added, “You took me all over the world and had me performing alongside you on some of the biggest and greatest stages on this planet, the things you taught me have truly made me the man I am today.”
The DJ, who said he was feeling emotional at the time of writing the post, concluded, “I Love you Scoop, Thank you so much for everything you gave to me. Rest In Peace x.”
In video circulating online, he appeared energetic at first but then walked toward the back of the DJ booth as he said, “Hamden make some noise!”
Shortly after, video obtained by TMZ showed paramedics rushing to his aid backstage.
“Big man needs to relax … they ain’t got no fans on this stage,” a person could be heard saying on the mic at the time.
As first responders performed CPR and chest compressions, performers onstage and the audience then broke out in prayer, per footage shared on Facebook.
Scoop was then taken out on a stretcher and rushed to a nearby hospital for further evaluation.
The musician and producer was known for his incredible collaborations, working with the likes of Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey and David Guetta. In 2014, he revealed he was first given the nickname Fatman Scoop by his uncle due to his love of ice cream.
Scoop’s official cause of death has not yet been revealed.