Heavy D Dead at 44

Heavy D has died.

The rapper, whose real name was Dwight Arrington Myers, was just 44 years old.

A rep confirms the sad news to Gossip Cop.

Heavy D was rushed from his Beverly Hills home to a hospital on Tuesday after collapsing in a walkway in his apartment building.

While the official cause of death has not been announced, we’re told he was sick a few weeks ago after performing in Europe, and had trouble breathing shortly before falling unconscious in his condo today.

The rapper was alert and communicative when police arrived, but was breathing with difficulty.

Known as the front man for Heavy D & the Boyz and other hip-hop ventures during the 1990s and 2000s, Myers scored hits including “Now That We Found Love” and the themes for “In Living Color” and “MADtv.”

He also branched into acting roles.

The artist’s final tweets, posted just hours ago, included a tribute to the just-died boxer Joe Frazier, and, in his final Twitter message to the world, the two words: “BE INSPIRED!”