Harlem Legend Rob Base, The Voice Behind “It Takes Two,” Dies At 59

Rob Base, the Harlem rapper whose booming delivery powered one of rap music’s most recognizable party records, died Thursday at age 59 after privately battling cancer for months.

Relatives said Robert Ginyard died May 22 surrounded by longtime friends and family only days after celebrating his birthday. Word traveled rapidly through New York radio stations and old school rap circles while veteran DJs and concert promoters reacted to news spreading through the city that helped shape his career during the late 1980s.

Harlem shaped nearly every chapter of Ginyard’s creative identity long before global audiences knew him as Rob Base. Childhood friendship eventually linked him with Rodney Bryce, later known as DJ E-Z Rock, after both met during elementary school and bonded through neighborhood turntable culture echoing through upper Manhattan.

National success arrived once the pair recorded “It Takes Two,” according to Billboard. Profile Records transformed the demo into a major release during 1988 after hearing pounding drums, shouted hooks and club energy separating the duo from countless rising acts crowding radio playlists during rap’s commercial explosion.

Roller rinks absorbed the record almost immediately after stations began spinning it nationwide. Summer cookouts, college gyms and wedding receptions soon followed while massive speakers blasted the track from car trunks and club walls as crowds shouted lyrics back line for line.

Ginyard controlled microphone duties while Bryce handled scratches and mixing boards, creating chemistry that kept live shows loud, frantic and playful. Earlier songs including “DJ Interview” and “Make It Hot” built street momentum before “It Takes Two” launched both performers into mainstream recognition nearly overnight.

Commercials, movies and sports arenas repeatedly pulled the anthem back into public life during later decades. Television programs and sample heavy records helped keep the track alive while few rap songs from that era maintained the same grip on dance floors and party culture for so long after release.

Bryce died during 2014, permanently breaking apart the original partnership, though Rob Base continued touring through reunion festivals and nostalgia driven concert circuits. Opening drum patterns from “It Takes Two” still triggered instant crowd reactions before many appearances even reached the first verse.

Private illness stayed largely hidden throughout his final chapter. Close relatives kept medical details quiet while the performer gradually reduced travel schedules that once carried him city to city through reunion events celebrating rap’s first mainstream boom.

Another foundational voice from New York’s early rap expansion has now fallen silent. Decades after two Harlem kids assembled a quick demo that rattled dance floors around the world, Rob Base leaves behind a record still capable of shaking packed rooms while another generation watches pioneers from the culture’s original rise disappear one by one.