Clarence Reid, aka Blowfly, Has Died

Photo via Facebook

Clarence Reid—the Miami R&B artist and songwriter who made dirty rap records as his masked alias Blowfly—has died. He recently entered hospice care after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and multiple organ failure. He was 76.

Reid was a profoundly prolific artist with two musical personas. One on hand, he was Reid, a singer and songwriter who wrote more traditional funk, soul, and R&B songs for artists like KC & the Sunshine Band, Sam & Dave, Irma Thomas, Bobby Byrd, and many others. Then there was Blowfly—the masked, outrageous artist who did sexually charged songs (with titles like “Who Did I Eat Last Night?” and “Electronic Pussy Sucker”). His website claims that he was the first rapper to have a song banned. Starting in 1973, he released close to 30 Blowfly albums. His final album, 77 Rusty Trombones, is reportedly due next month.

Blowfly was the subject of the 2011 documentary called The Weird World of Blowfly.

Update (1/17, 5:32 p.m. EST): Flying Lotus shared the below photo, adding, “RIP Blowfly. Thanks for the insanity and the mask.”

A photo posted by flyinglotus (@flyinglotus) onJan 17, 2016 at 1:51pm PST

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