The Panther

HOUSTON (AP) _ Big Moe, a Houston rapper whose 2002 album reached No. 3 on Billboard's hip hop charts, has died.

Big Moe, whose real name was Kenneth Moore, was 33. He died Sunday afternoon at Houston's Ben Taub hospital after being hospitalized for more than a week, said Bryan McLeod, a spokesman for the county public hospital system.

McLeod did not release a cause of death, but numerous hip hop Web sites said the obese rapper suffered a heart attack.

Big Moe, who rapped and sang, was a member of the late DJ Screw's rap collective the Screwed Up Click. DJ Screw died of a heart attack in 2000 after a reported overdose of codeine-laced cough syrup.

Big Moe often rapped about the drug and the titles of his first two albums made reference to it. His first album was called ``City of Syrup'' and his most successful offering was 2002's ``Purple World,'' for the color most often associated with the drug.

Big Moe's top two singles, ``Barre Baby'' and ``Purple Stuff'' were odes to the drug. He also released a third album, ``Moe Life,'' in 2003.

``He was a great influence to the music community here in Houston,'' said Swishahouse Records founder Michael ``5000'' Watts. ``He was a good person and one of the founding fathers of the music movement here.''

He collaborated with various Houston rappers including Mike Jones, Z-Ro and Pimp C.

Other Screwed Up Click members who have died are Big Hawk, who was shot to death last year, and his brother Fat Pat, killed in 1998.

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