P.M. Dawn Member, Prince Be’ Dies Of Kidney Disease At 46

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AOVf9p9ht4&w=420&h=315]

You may not know him by his given name of Attrel Cordes. But you may remember his stage name of “Prince Be”, the founding member of the chart-topping hip-hop duo P.M. Dawn. The rapper/singer died Friday in a New Jersey hospital following a battle with renal kidney disease. He was 46. A representative for the group confirmed Cordes’ death to People.com.

The kidneys filter waste and excess fluid from the blood. As kidneys fail, waste builds up.
Symptoms develop slowly and aren’t specific to the disease. Some people have no symptoms at all and are diagnosed by a lab test.

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Early detection is the first step in treating chronic kidney disease. The symptoms of kidney disease may include:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Passing only small amounts of urine
• Swelling, particularly of the ankles, and puffiness around the eyes
• Unpleasant taste in the mouth and urine-like odor to the breath
• Persistent fatigue or shortness of breath
• Loss of appetite
• Increasingly higher blood pressure
• Muscle cramps, especially in the legs
• Pale skin
• Excessively dry, itchy skin
• In children: increased fatigue and sleepiness, decrease in appetite, and poor growth

Medications help manage symptoms. In later stages, filtering the blood with a machine (dialysis) or a transplant may be needed.

Formed by brothers Attrel and Jarrett “DJ Minutemix” Cordes in their native Jersey City, New Jersey in 1988, P.M. Dawn became only the third hip-hop act ever – and first black rappers – to top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 with their single “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss,” which used a sample of Spandau Ballet’s “True.” The band’s critically acclaimed 1991 debut LP, Of the Heart, of the Soul and of the Cross: The Utopian Experience, achieved gold status, as did its well-received follow-up, 1993’s The Bliss Album…?.

For more on kidney disease and how you can fight it, click here.

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P.M. Dawn once again climbed to the upper reaches of the Hot 100 again – Number Three – with their ballad “I’d Die Without You,” which gained popularity after first appearing on the 1992 soundtrack for the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. The track later featured on The Bliss Album…? alongside “Looking Through Patient Eyes,” another Top 10 hit and a cover of the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood (The Bird Has Flown).”

Prince Be and the melodic music of P.M. Dawn will be missed. Here’s a look at one of their hits.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_qWlPCEnGM&w=420&h=315]