Sidney Brown, the producer and DJ who worked with the likes of Drake, Beyoncé, and Lil Wayne under the name Omen, has died. Brown was found in his Harlem, New York apartment on Saturday, September 13, by his sister, Nicole Iris Brown. “He was holistic and healthy. So we don’t know of him being sick, so this is all pretty sudden,” she said in a statement to NBC News. Brown was 49.
Born in Harlem in 1976, Brown produced for artists in the Roc-A-Fella Records orbit throughout the late ’90s and early ’00s. He worked on Memphis Bleek’s Coming of Age, Mýa’s Moodring, and Fabolous’ Street Dreams, among others. Brown also composed the score for Paper Soldiers, the 2002 rap comedy produced by Roc-A-Fella’s film studio that gave Kevin Hart his big-screen debut.
In 2006, Brown made the beat for “Tell It Like It Is” from Ludacris’ Release Therapy, which won Best Rap Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards. A few years later, he met Drake through Noah “40” Shebib, and ended up co-producing “Shut It Down,” a The-Dream duet off the Canadian rapper’s 2010 debut Thank Me Later. Brown and Shebib would reunite on Lil Wayne’s “I’m Single” and again on “Mine,” Beyoncé’s own Drake duet from her 2013 self-titled album.
Brown’s last credited work as a producer was on Action Bronson’s 2015 LP Mr. Wonderful, though he continued to DJ at local bars and restaurants. “I hope people will remember that he was willing to help the younger generation,” his sister told NBC. “He was always big on helping younger people start their careers and get themselves into the game. It was about just the music, no matter who the artist was.”