Rammellzee, the pioneering hip hop artist and Wild Style star whose ten-minute-plus 1983 record Beat Bop is still fresher than just about anything on the radio, has apparently died.

His death was first announced on the Twitter page of Fab Five Freddy, who would know; and early this morning, a post went up on Rammellzee's Myspace page reading in part "...in mourning..as i type this, i'm numb from overwhelming sadness.....The Equation The Ramm:Ell:Zee has left his physical....left his pain." Details are unclear.

Rammellzee was also a way crazy visual artist—you can check out his website here. Basquiat did the Beat Bop album cover. They don't make ten-minute jams like that any more. (He did another album in 2008, and was still pretty fresh). "Life is given to us, just to do the right thing." R.I.P.