Fatman Scoop DIES aged 53 after collapsing on stage mid-performance

Rapper Fatman Scoop has passed away aged 53 after suffering a medical emergency on stage on Friday. 

The artist, real name Issac Freeman III, collapsed on stage in Hamden Town Center Park, Connecticut, and was rushed to hospital. 

Screams rang out at his final show as the famous hype man was seen struggling after he climbed onto a platform before disappearing from view, as medics raced to revive him.  

His tour manager announced his passing on Saturday, saying he was 'lost for words.' 

Freeman's manager, DJ and producer Birch Michael, announced the rapper's death 'with the heaviest of hearts' in posts to social media on Saturday morning. 

'You took me all over the world and had me performing alongside you on some of the biggest and greatest stages on this planet, the things you taught me have truly made me the man I am today,' Michael said. 

A three-time Grammy Award winner, in recent years Fatman Scoop ventured into podcasting and reality TV, including appearing on Channel 5 's Celebrity Big Brother: UK vs USA in 2015. 

Tributes quickly poured in for the artist as news of his death was shared, with UK's Reminisce Festival - where he was set for perform on September 7 - sharing that his 'absence will be profoundly felt by everyone.' 

'He was not just one of our most popular performers, he was a cherished member of the Reminisce family,' the festival said.  

The artist's exact cause of death is not clear, however it came after he suffered a medical emergency on stage.  

When he collapsed Friday evening, footage from the audience captured the heart-stopping moment the adored rapper collapsed, which came seconds after he roused the crowd, shouting 'Let's make some noise!' 

Without his shirt on, the rapper strutted toward the back of the stage and approached a DJ booth. 

'I said Hamden make some noise!' Fatman Scoop shouted again. Then the hip-hop artist climbed the stairs to the DJ booth, however his breathing appeared to become labored as he panted into the microphone.

Behind the booth, he attempted to continue his performance. 

'If you came to party,' the rapper said, before taking a long pause. He then appeared to bend forward. 'Make some noise,' he added, his words slurred.

As soon as he finished speaking, he collapsed onto the ground, dropping the microphone.

Across the audience, screams of horror and gasps of fear were heard, while the rapper's fellow artists tried to calm the crowd. 

'We're having a good time,' one of them said, as another again asked for the crowd to 'make some noise' - which was met with a far more muted response than moments earlier.  

In another clip, a member of the rapper's entourage walked over to the DJ station and switched the music off and an eerie hush fell over the venue. 

With the DJ booth partly obscuring the view, a medical official performed chest compressions vigorously on the rapper. 

Around 8:33pm, authorities were dispatched to the scene. They wheeled the rapper out from venue on a stretcher and rushed him to the hospital. 

Hamden Mayor Lauren Garett said following the incident that Scoop was undergoing emergency care and asked fans to 'keep him in your thoughts and prayers.' 

A multi-award-winning artist and producer, Fatman Scoop was known for his many collaborations, including with Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, and David Guetta. 

In 2014 he revealed he was first given the nickname Fatman Scoop by his uncle, due to his love of ice cream, despite rumours Lauryn Hill had bestowed it on him when he appeared as an extra in the Fugee's 1996 video for Killing Me Softly.