Ranking Trevor Dies: Jamaican Rap Pioneer Killed In Car Crash

The artist’s brother, Robert Grant, says Trevor was killed on Tuesday after he was knocked off his motorcycle and then crushed by a passing car. Police are still investigating the accident but have yet to comment on it.

Born Maxwell Grant, Ranking Trevor recorded mainly for the Channel One studio in Kingston, Jamaica, where he had a profound influence on the development of reggae music.

According to Billboard.com, the Jamaican was one of the pioneers of “toasting,” a style of lyrical chanting that eventually inspired rap and hip-hop music.

During his heyday, Trevor’s songs “Caveman Skank” and “Three Piece Chicken and Chips” were not only popular in his home country but made the charts in England where the artist lived for more than 20 years.

His career declined in the 1980s, and he returned to Jamaica a decade later.

Robert Grant described Trevor as a “good brother and always jovial,” according to the Jamaica Observer. He said on Sunday that he was in a happy mood and did what may have been his last good deed.

“He is not a man who would normally cook for people, but on Sunday, he called two youngsters in the yard and cooked for them as their mother was away,” Grant told the Observer.

Maxwell ‘Ranking Trevor’ Grant is survived by his mother, four brothers, four sisters, and over 15 children.

Check out Ranking Trevor’s Caveman Skank below: