Tributes paid as grime star Dot Rotten dies, aged 37

Tributes have been paid to grime pioneer Dot Rotten, who has died at the age of 37.

The musician's death was confirmed to the BBC via his family. There were no details of the circumstances, although online reports suggested he had died in Gambia.

Born Joseph Ellis in Stockwell, London, he developed a distinctive sound that mixed hard-edged beats with emotional hooks; and worked with everyone from Chip and D Double E to Cher Lloyd and Ed Sheeran.

He scored a Top 20 hit in 2012 with the melancholy single Overload. The rapper said the song's lyrics were inspired by his experiences with "a major depression".

"The whole song was free-styled, I didn't write one word for it," he told Distract TV, adding that he'd had reservations about releasing such a personal song.

"It's not the song I wanted to come out with, but it's done a lot and I appreciate all of the feedback I've been getting from it."

In recent years, he traded the spotlight for the recording studio, producing tracks for artists like Headie One, D-Block Europe and Nines under the name Zeph Ellis.

A benchmark for grime music

Ellis started his career at the age of seven, rapping and making his own music on an Atari computer system.

He released his first mixtape, This Is the Beginning, in 2007, under the name Young Dot.

A year later, he changed his stage name to Dot Rotten, which was an acronym for "Dirty on Tracks, Righteous Opinions Told to Educate Nubians", with a cheeky nod to June Brown's iconic EastEnders character, Dot Cotton.

He heralded his arrival with the Rotten Riddims series of mixtapes, releasing six volumes within the space of a month in summer 2008.

The tracks were described by Clash magazine as "some of grime's most pertinent instrumental works", setting "a benchmark for production styles" in the genre.

After receiving exposure on Rinse FM and SB:TV, he won a recording contract with Mercury Records, and made a number of guest appearances on other artists' records, including Ed Sheeran's Goodbye to You, Mz Bratt's Speeding By and Cher Lloyd's Dub on the Track.

He was also invited by Gary Barlow to appear on the 2011 Children In Need single, a cover of Massive Attack's Teardrop that also featured Chipmunk, Wretch 32, Labrinth, Ms Dynamite and Rizzle Kicks.

Around the same time, he got into a war of words with the "king of grime", Wiley, accusing him of selling out and being past his prime on diss tracks like Pop Artist and It's Over. (Ellis also had a long-standing beef with his former collaborator P Money).

The musician was nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2012 prize, and released his debut album, Voices In My Head, that year.

Despite the success of the single Overload, the album stalled outside the Top 100, amid a dispute with his record label.

After extricating himself from the contract, he put out a series of independent albums - as well as a seventh volume of Rotten Riddims - but gradually moved behind the scenes as a writer and producer.

Shortly before his death, he resurrected the Dot Rotten name for a new single, Psalms For Praize, that spoke about his dedication to his career.

"Made mistakes, now I treat my career like a second child," he rapped. "And that's an oath I stay committed to like a wedding vow."

The song was co-credited to Who's British? - which turned out to be another of Ellis's many pseudonyms. He was also known as Three-Six, The Spirit, Big Dotti and Terror Child.

Speaking to BBC 1Xtra in 2012, the musician said he could write up to four songs a day.

"Once I've listened to a beat and I've written a hook, I'd say the average recording time for that hook to be finished and done is about an hour."

Despite his achievements, he said he had never let success go to his head.

"I'm very grounded. I try to stay very balanced," he said. "I have that skill of bringing people together and making things work, and that is what I'm trying to do."

After news of his death spread online, fellow MCs from the grime scene flooded social media with tributes.

The broadcaster Amplify Dot and singer Terri Walker simply posted broken heart emojis.

Even his former nemesis Wiley paid respects, posting a video of one of Ellis's instrumentals with a dove emoji.

The musician had "talent in abundance," noted DJ Logan Sama.

"His impact on the scene was not just as a brilliant artist but also the guidance and inspiration he gave to hundreds of other aspiring creators around him," he added.

"Never, ever received the accolades or rewards for his craft that it deserved."