Black The Ripper has died at the age of 32.

The rapper, whose real name was Dean West, found fame in the early noughties with mix tapes Holla Black and Afro Sumurai.

In recent years, he had been a strong advocate for the legalisation of marijuana in the UK.

His cause of death is currently unknown.

House DJ and producer DJ Pioneer paid tribute by sharing a picture of the artist, writing on Twitter: “R.I.P Black The Ripper”

Actor Michael Dapaah wrote: “Real sad news RIP Black The Ripper, my condolences to his family & loved ones.”

Singer Hardy Caprio added: “2020 is the worst year we’ve ever seen. RIP Black The Ripper”

Black had been a huge advocate for the legalisation of marijuana in the UK.

He was infamous for ‘hotboxing’ the London Eye and once posted a video on social media showing himself smoking a cannabis joint in an Asda store.

In 2016, he took to Instagram to post a video of himself toking on a joint while he walked around Asda.

He posted the clip on his Dank Of England account, which is a pro-cannabis group that sells a range of merchandise.

An Asda spokesperson said at the time: “Asda is a family-friendly retailer and we expect all our customers to abide by the law and recognise the strict no-smoking policy we have in place across our stores.”

One year earlier, Dean and his followers rented a pod on the London Eye to smoke cannabis in, causing much amusement amongst tourists.

He posted a video on Instagram at the time, showing the London skyline outside his pod as he and his pals smoked joints.

The rapper would refer to himself as a “motivated stoner” and often shared videos of himself smoking cannabis in public as he pushed to have it legalised in the UK.

One of his videos even saw a police officer confiscate his joint, but not before he had a few more tokes.

In August last year, he also controversially posted a video which appeared to show him being interviewed by police after being arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply cannabis.

In the caption, he included the hashtag #LegalizeIt.

He last posted on the social media site that month, sharing a picture and a video of himself and a pal holding his joint for him, joking that he was “passing the Olympic torch”.