Rob Base

Best known for the party-starting 1988 hip-hop classic "It Takes Two," ebullient rapper/producer Rob Base and partner DJ E-Z Rock rode the hit into dance clubs and, eventually, the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, providing a multi-platinum touchstone for the style known as hip-house. After Base leapt several hurdles -- including a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Maze's Frankie Beverly regarding the duo's third single, "Joy and Pain" -- he responded in 1989 with a gold-selling solo album, The Incredible Base. Base and E-Z Rock reunited for Break of Dawn, a generally tougher-sounding album issued in 1994, but the duo soon went their separate ways again. Base continued performing into the 2020s, and in 2026 died of cancer, over a decade after E-Z Rock died from diabetes complications.