John Forté Remembered: “Legends Never Die”

John Forté’s death sent shockwaves through the music community. According to the Associated Press, the 50-year-old former Fugees affiliate was found unresponsive in his Martha’s Vineyard home on Monday, Jan. 12. Police say they do not suspect foul play. Per the Vineyard Gazette, his death is being investigated by the state medical examiner’s office in Massachusetts.

Forté's death reverberated widely through hip-hop circles because he’d had one of hip-hop’s most remarkable stories, and his early career, legal pitfalls and latter-day redemption symbolized so much. He was born in Brooklyn and raised as a violin prodigy, rising to first chair in his school’s orchestra and performing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He would land a scholarship to the highbrow Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where he would begin attendance as a ninth grader. Years later, he would thank his mother for supporting his interests. 

“My mom is not a singer or an instrumentalist. She's a nurturer,” he explained to Okayplayer in 2021. “If I was keeping my end of the bargain, by being a good kid and a good student, then if I had extracurricular interests, my mom would do everything in her power to support that.”

As a teen, hip-hop grabbed his attention and Forté began rubbing elbows with figures like Gang Starr. And he enrolled at New York University to study music business, where his roommate was a fellow Brooklynite named Talib Kweli. 

He landed a job as an A&R executive for indie rap label Rawkus Records, and that’s where he met the collective of artists that would become the Fugees. They all collaborated on what would become the group’s multiplatinum, award-winning sophomore album, The Score. 

“I submitted beats, we did The Score. I was part of the nominations when it came down to the Grammys,” Forté said in a 1998 interview with The Source. “It made me feel really proud to be part of an organization that in fact was a family.”

Forté contributed standout verses to tracks on The Score, the kind of performances that seemed to hint at a star in the making. Then Wyclef Jean released his hit solo single “We Trying to Stay Alive,” with a prominent guest appearance from Forté, and there was the infamous cypher at a Columbia Records event with Forté alongside Mos Def, DMX, Mic Geronimo, Big Pun and Canibus that seemed to herald NYC rap’s late-'90s new wave. His time was coming.

But Poly Sci dropped in the summer of 1998 and quickly faded from the cultural landscape. The failure of his debut sent Forté down a dark path, one that led to him agreeing to work with some shady individuals who promised they could boost him financially after he was dropped from his label, Ruffhouse.

Forté wound up busted in an airport sting and convicted of distributing liquid cocaine. He was sentenced to 14 years and the former breakout artist of the Refugee Camp All-Stars was suddenly a rap cautionary tale. Russell Simmons and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah pushed for his release — as did Carly Simon, whose son was one of Forte’s longtime friends. 

“He’s an extraordinary young man. And he was the first time I met him. He’s even more so now,” Simon told ABC News in 2008. The day prior, then-President George W. Bush agreed to commute Forté's sentence. He was released after serving 8 years. 

He would resume his music career, having learned to play acoustic guitar in prison. And he had singles make their way onto movie soundtracks like Just Wright and Stomp The Yard 2: Homecoming. His song “Something To Lean On” was a widely played theme song of the Brooklyn Nets’ first season. 

It was Carly Simon and James Taylor who led Forté to Martha’s Vineyard. He moved there in 2015, where he met freelance photographer Lara Fuller. They got married in 2017, and had two children. He dropped an album, Vessels, Angels & Ancestors, in 2021.

In 2024, he scored the documentary Paint Me a Road Out of Here, which told the story of women imprisoned at New York’s Rikers Island and a painting from the jail that made it to the Brooklyn Museum. He also scored HBO’s revival of Eyes on the Prize, a series about post-Civil Rights Black America.

Forté still had so much to offer. As news of his death spread, his former collaborators honored their fallen friend. 

“This one hurts,” Fugees founding member Wyclef Jean wrote on social media with a video of himself and Forté performing together. “My brother @john_Forté has joined the Angels. Legends never Die. Look at the smile. RIP my Refugee brother.”

Ms. Lauryn Hill reflected on meeting Forté and how they became friends as they were bonded by music and culture. “I loved him, my family loved him… I remember meeting his mom with her sweet voice for the first time and walking New York City streets with him in full youthful fascination mode,” Hill wrote. "Our generation of hip hop was young and at the ascent of its epic rise," Hill said. "We were both there… participating and taking it all in, full of excitement and possibility."

The Grammy winner went on to share how they all came together in the Refugee Camp before the Fugees were fully formed as a trio. 

"I introduced Forté to Wyclef and Pras and soon after he’d become part of the crew, (Refugee Camp to be exact) and part of the music the Fugees were creating," Hill said. "Contributing bars, beats, and that beautiful smile. I remember that summer like a movie."

The twists and turns of John Forté's life now feel emblematic of his generation. It’s part of why his death struck a certain cadre of hip-hop so hard: he was that talented kid with the famous friends who always seemed just on the cusp of a major breakthrough. John Forté may have never found superstardom, but he seemed to find peace. And in that, he earned life’s greatest reward.