Hypactive News - Craig Mack, rapper who scored massive hit with 'Flava in Ya Ear,' dies at 47

Craig Mack, a breakout star in the golden age of 1990s hip-hop who scored a platinum hit with "Flava in Ya Ear," has died in South Carolina. He was 47.

The former rapper apparently died of natural causes, the Colleton County Coroner's Office told NBC News.

Mack helped popularize Sean 'Diddy' Combs' upstart record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, with his debut album, "Project: Funk da World." The centerpiece of the 1994 record was "Flava in Ya Ear," a Grammy-nominated track that burned up the charts.

The song's signature line — "Here comes the brand new flava in ya ear" — seemed to herald a new era of hip-hop that went mainstream in the 1990s. A well-known remix of the song featured stars LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes and then-fledgling rapper Biggie Smalls.