Reports have suggested the rapper died in Gambia, although no official details surrounding his death have been confirmed by his family.<\/p>\n
Dot Rotten began rapping and creating his own music at the age of 7.<\/p>\n
Dot Rotten performs on stage at the Lovebox Festival at Victoria Park on June 16, 2012 in London. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
In 2007, he released his first mixtape, This Is the Beginning, performing under the name Young Dot before later adopting the stage name Dot Rotten.<\/p>\n
The musician said the name Dot Rotten was an acronym for \u201cDirty on Tracks, Righteous Opinions Told to Educate Nubians\u201d \u2013 while also referencing the EastEnders character Dot Cotton, portrayed by June Brown.<\/p>\n
He gained early exposure through appearances on radio station Rinse FM and the online music platform SB:TV, which helped him secure a recording contract with Mercury Records.<\/p>\n
Dot Rotten later collaborated with Ed Sheeran on the 2011 track Goodbye to You, and appeared on other artists\u2019 releases including Speeding By by Mz Bratt and Dub on the Track by Cher Lloyd.<\/p>\n
He was invited by Take That singer Gary Barlow to appear on the 2011 Children In Need charity single \u2013 a cover of Massive Attack\u2019s Teardrop.<\/p>\n
The recording also featured Wretch 32, Labrinth, Ms Dynamite and the duo Rizzle Kicks.<\/p>\n
Dot Rotten released his debut studio album Voices in My Head in 2012 and was nominated for the BBC\u2019s Sound of 2012 prize the same year.<\/p>\n
He also became known for diss tracks aimed at the grime artist Wiley.<\/p>\n
After Voices in My Head failed to reach the top 100 of the charts, the rapper had a dispute with Mercury Records and left the label, before releasing several independent projects.<\/p>\n
In later years, he worked behind the scenes in the music industry under the name Zeph Ellis, writing and producing for artists including Kano and A.J. Tracey.<\/p>\n
He recently returned to his Dot Rotten name with the release of the single Psalms For Praize, which reflected on his career.<\/p>\n
Tributes were shared across social media from the grime scene following news of Joseph\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Performer Sway wrote: \u201cVery sad news. Sleep well Dot.\u201d<\/p>\n
DJ Michael Hall added: \u201cWe have lost a genuine friend, brother and one of the best to ever do it ! My thoughts are with you and your family D. Mr Joseph Ellis Stephenson AKA DOTROTTEN THE ABSOLUTE GOAT ! THIS WORLD IS SUCH A CRUEL PLACE AT TIMES!\u201d<\/p>\n
DJ Logan Sama wrote: \u201cHis impact on the scene was not just as a brilliant artist but also the guidance and inspiration he gave to hundreds of other aspiring creators around him. Never, ever received the accolades or rewards for his craft that it deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiley also shared a tribute, posting a video of one of Joseph\u2019s instrumentals accompanied by a dove emoji.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reports have suggested the rapper died in Gambia, although no official details surrounding his death have been confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[106280,6461,61571,17955,4682,61570,34765,2548,18,117,60238,4080,147216,7717,19,17,337,173703,14411,173704,173702,55236],"class_list":["post-377311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-106280","tag-after","tag-aged","tag-as","tag-british","tag-died","tag-dies","tag-dot","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-flow","tag-for","tag-grime","tag-have","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-poured","tag-rapper","tag-reported","tag-rotten","tag-tributes"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116203810049111443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}