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Big DS

Born:     July 29, 1971

Birthplace:    Queens, NY

Died:  May 22, 2003

Zodiac Sign:  Leo

Marlon G. Fletcher aka Big DS, was an American hardcore rapper and record producer from Queens, New York.

Fletcher was born in South Ozone Park, Queens, New York City, New York. He studied at John Adams High School (Queens). In 1988, after graduating from school at the age of 17, Fredro Starr created the rap group Onyx along with his schoolmates Big DS and Suavé (also known as Sonny Seeza). Big DS came up with the name for the group, he named it after the black stone Onyx. They began to make the first demos in the basement of B-Wiz with drum machine beats from an SP-12.

In 1989, Onyx signed Jeffrey Harris as their manager, who helped them secure a contract with the label Profile Records. In 1990, at York Studio in Brooklyn, they recorded their first single, "Ah, And We Do It Like This", which was released to low sales on April 25, 1990 on Profile.

Big DS and Suave first met Jam Master Jay at Rev Run's wedding in 1990. They met again in a traffic jam at The Jones Beach GreekFest Festival on July 13, 1991. Jay give them about two months to get a demo, but Suave and Big DS couldn't make it to the studio to record the demo. They were replaced on the demo by Fredro Starr's cousin, Sticky Fingaz, who at that time was pursuing a solo career under the name Trop. Fredro and Jones recorded two records for the demo, "Stik 'N' Muve" and "Exercise", which Jam Master Jay liked enough to sign the group to his label, JMJ Records.

Big DS left the group in 1994 to start a solo career. Big DS founded his own label Illyotic Music and started producing music. After recording a few demos, Big DS sent them to Jimmy Iovine, co-owner of Interscope Records, in the hope of signing a contract with his label for the release of the album.

On May 22, 2003 Big DS died in the hospital in Queens after receiving chemo as a result of lymphatic cancer at 31 years old. Source.

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