Rico Wade, Outkast producer and Organized Noize member, passes away at age 52

Rico Wade, a member of the groundbreaking Atlanta-based production trio Organized Noize and an influential collaborator with Outkast in their early days, has passed away at the age of 52, as confirmed by an Instagram post from his close friend Killer Mike and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. No specific cause of death was mentioned.

The trio, consisting of Rico Wade along with Ray Murray and Sleepy Brown, formed the Organized Noize songwriting-production team in the early 1990s. They played a pivotal role in the early careers of artists like Outkast, TLC, Goodie Mob, and many others, often receiving acknowledgment or featuring prominently on their recordings. Together with Jermaine Dupri, their distinctive sound, influenced by both classic R&B and hip-hop, became emblematic of Atlanta's burgeoning music scene of that era. This scene laid the groundwork for Atlanta's rise as a dominant force in hip-hop in the subsequent decades.