Greg Tate, renowned culture critic and author, dies at 64
Greg Tate, an influential writer, musician and producer, has died. He was 64.
A cause of death was not released.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1957, Tate and his family moved to Washington, D.C., when he was a teenager. He studied journalism and film at Howard University before moving to New York in the early 80s and started contributing to the Village Voice after getting hired by music writer Robert Christgau and later joined the staff full-time.
Tate, a Black man, later started the Black Rock Coalition in 1985 along with Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, singer D.K. Dyson and producer Konda Mason.
“The BRC opposes those racist and reactionary forces within the American music industry which undermine and purloin our musical legacy and deny Black artists the expressive freedom and economic rewards that our Caucasian counterparts enjoy as a matter of course,” Tate wrote in the group’s manifesto.
The organization memorialized Tate after his death was announced.
“The Black Rock Coalition is shocked, saddened and absolutely devastated with the news that our brother, friend and co-founder Greg Tate made his transition earlier today. Greg led the wave of Black writers who, without apology, honored the past yet went full speed ahead into the future, giving dap to Black artists across the cultural spectrum who were not getting love within mainstream circles.”
Tate was the author of four books, including “Flyboy in the Buttermilk,” a 1992 collection of essay about American culture and politics.
He was eulogized in Twitter throughout the day Tuesday.
“RIP Greg Tate... impossible to mimic, though we all tried... a giant, a good and big-hearted person, the realest one,” the New Yorker’s Hua Hsu wrote.
“Just heard that my friend, my mentor, one of the greatest writers of his generation Greg Tate passed away last night,” writer Toure wrote. He was a genius and his writing was amazing and I learned a ton reading him. I’m so sad.
[T]he first step to it is mimicry and who we are all mimicking is greg tate…the greatest…and the kindest, so generous with his time and that brain,” wrote Doreen St. Felix.
In Rolling Stone, where Tate also contributed, author Rob Sheffield attempted to describe Tate’s impact.
“He was a giant of a cultural critic, hugely inspiring and influential to the heads taking music seriously, making you hear the connections between hip-hop, jazz, rock, the blues, every cry of love under the sun. He treated criticism as an art in itself, and in his hands, it was, because he knew how to do justice to the raptures of listening,” Sheffield wrote.
