A

cast of the Southern California entertainment industry’s

rank and file,

which included Steven Seagal, paid their respects at Los

Angeles Forest Lawn to the ragga mic-controller Prince Ital

Joe, who Dr. Dre heralded as "the true Rasta reggae

rapper."

Prince Ital Joe died on an Arizona highway May 16, while

en route to his

home in Los Angeles. He was thrown from the car he was traveling

in after the tire blew. Police reports stated that Prince

Ital Joe was not wearing a

seat belt at the time of the accident. The vehicles seat

belt-wearing driver

was not injured, and another passenger who reportedly was

not wearing a seat

belt is listed in critical condition.

The 38-year-old native from the English and French patois-speaking

West

Indian island of Dominica was one of the first reggae chanters

to achieve fame in hip-hop music.

A devout Rastafarian who survived the street life and gang

violence,

Prince Ital made a legendary appearance as a Jamaican posse

don in the 1989

Steven Seagal film "Marked For Death." Prince

Ital Joe recorded with such artists as 2Pac, Marky Mark,

Coolio, Daz and Snoop Doggy Dogg.

The hit single "Respect" from the Dogg Pound’s

controversial 1995 Dogg

Food LP (Death Row) is infused with Joe’s rough and

ready raggamuffining. In his lifetime, Prince Ital Joe opened

for such reggae legends as Jimmy Cliff, Ziggy Marley, and

Steel Pulse.

The one-stop

culture shop Jah Juice that Prince Ital Joe owned and operated

at the corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga boulevards, was

a Hollywood fixture for more than a decade.

Prince Ital

Joe’s first single "Poverty Sucks" went to No.

1 in 1986 on the UK reggae charts. His collaborative 1994-released

album with Marky Mark Wahlberg on the In The Streets

LP (EastWest) also helped establish Prince Ital Joe as an

international superstar by charting at No. 1 in Germany.

The"Happy People" and "United" singles

from that album were used on the soundtrack for the ’94

motion picture "Renaissance Man" starring Danny

DiVito.

The still untitled last album Prince Ital Joe record is

scheduled for posthumous release on the independent label

Status Records in June. It will feature appearances by Coolio,

Daz Dillenger, and YoYo.

Prince Ital

Joe is survived by his wife, a daughter, his mother, and

three brothers.