New York emcee Timothy "Tim Dog" Blair has passed away following a seizure and long battle with diabetes.

Tim Dog was instrumental in the East Coast/West Coast rap feud of the 1990s, sending fire at Dr. Dre and N.W.A. with his hard-hitting track "Fu*k Compton."

The record spurred lyrical responses from Dr. Dre, Snoop, and several other West Coast kings, ringing in as one of the most pertinent tracks in the heated rap beef that reigned over hip-hop in the 90s.

Dog was most recently known as the rapper who conned a woman out of $32k in an online dating scam, an incident covered by NBC's "Dateline" in which he ended up getting 5 years' probation.

Despite the blemish, Tim Dog was undoubtedly a solid character among the architects of modern rap, and will be missed.

Our thoughts go out to his family.

Source: vibe.com