Who was Greg Tate? Writer and 'Godfather of Hip-Hop Journalism' dies aged 64

Well-known writer Greg Tate is no more. Tate recently passed away at the age of 64, and the news was confirmed by Duke University Press spokeswoman Laura Sell on December 7.

Tate’s cause of death remains unknown, and his friends and other popular personalities paid tribute to him on Twitter. MSNBC contributor and New Yorker magazine staff writer Jelani Cobb said in his latest tweet that Flyboy in the Buttermilk is a clinic on literary brilliance.

Life and career of Greg Tate

Born on October 15, 1957, Greg Tate was a critic of the newspaper, The Village Voice, and put more emphasis on African-American music and culture. Flyboy in Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America comprised of his 40 works for the Voice.

Tate was also a founding member of the Black Rock Coalition and Burnt Sugar’s leader. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, and his family shifted to Washington, D.C., when he was 13. He trained himself in playing guitar when he was a teenager and studied journalism and film at Howard University.

Tate was a staff writer for The Village Voice from 1987 to 2005, and his essay, Cult-Nats Meet Freaky Deke, is mostly considered a milestone in black cultural criticism. His works were published in Down Beat, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and more.

Greg Tate founded Burnt Sugar in 1999 with 13 and 35 musicians combining several genres of music. He then published Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking From Black Culture, a collection of 18 black writers conveying the topic of white appropriation of black art.

Tate then published Flyboy 2 in 2016 and was the Louis Armstrong Visiting Professor at Columbia University’s Center of Jazz Studies and a visiting professor of Africana studies at Brown University. He was also a recipient of the United States Artists Fellowship in 2010.

Public pays tribute to Greg Tate on Twitter

Greg Tate was a name familiar to everyone, and his works were always appreciated by the critics. The public paid tribute on Twitter as soon as the news broke:

There is very little information available on Tate’s personal life. However, he is reportedly the father of a daughter born in 1979.

About the author

Anupal is a pop culture writer at Sportskeeda with a degree in Political Science. He developed a keen interest in the lives of celebrities, films, TV shows, and box office collections since an early age. After accumulating significant experience as a content writer across varied fields at companies such as The Indian Wire, DigiStatement, and QuirkyByte Media, he eventually settled on writing about his favorite genre - pop culture.

Anupal believes in conducting in-depth research while writing about any topic and relies on varied sources to ensure he produces holistic articles. He also often glances through content that was published in the 80s and 90s to gain a better understanding of the subject he is covering.

Anupal admires Robert Downey Jr., who played one of his favorite Marvel superheroes, Iron Man. He is inspired by the actor's resilience and the determination in overcoming past struggles to building a successful Hollywood career and admires the way he articulates his thoughts while speaking in interviews.

If Anupal could travel back in time, he would love to experience James Cameron's 2009 film 'Avatar' in a theatre full of fans. When he's not busy working, he binges on the latest OTT titles across languages.

Know More