Hip-hop veteran ERIC 'O.G. STYLE' WOODS has died suddenly from a brain aneurysm.
The rap pioneer was rushed to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Texas on Wednesday night (02Jan08), but had to be put on life support after slipping into a coma following a brain haemorrhage.
Various internet reports claim Woods' heart stopped several times while in the coma, but he was kept alive by the life support machine in order to allow visiting friends and family to say their goodbyes.
Woods' condition failed to improve overnight and on Thursday (03Jan08), his wife gave permission for doctors to take him off life support. He passed away late on Thursday (03Jan08), aged 37.
The star, a native of Houston, Texas, started out in the music industry in 1986. He performed as Prince Ezzy-E, before going on to form the group O.G. Style with the late producer/DJ Big Boss, and changing his moniker to Original E. The duo's one and only album, I Know How To Play Em', spawned the hit single Catch 'Em Slippin' in 1991. When Boss left in the mid-1990s, Woods kept the name and became known as a solo artist as O.G. Style.
Woods continued working right up until a week before his death, and his teenage son, also called Eric, plans to complete the project - a collaboration with local rapper Smurk.
Smurk says, "He (Woods) had another new album he was working on. This was just untimely, man. When I went to see him at the hospital last night, his son told me, 'We're still gonna get it done.' I told him I was gonna hold him to that."
Woods is survived by his wife Shelley, their five children, his father and his three siblings.
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