Brendon Whitney, the rapper and producer who recorded under the moniker Alias and co-founded independent record label Anticon, has died. According to friend and collaborator Sage Francis, Whitney passed away following a heart attack on March 30. The label has since confirmed the news of his death. He was 41 years old.

Whitney was born in 1976 and raised in rural Maine, where he cultivated an obsession with rap and hip-hop from an early age. In 1996, he met fellow rapper (and later Anticon co-founder) Sole, joining his band Live Poets, which later became the early Anticon group Deep Puddle Dynamics. Whitney founded Anticon alongside Sole, Doseone, Jel, Odd Nosdam, Pedestrian, and Yoni Wolf in 1998.

Over the course of his career, Whitney collaborated with other Anticon members as well as artists such as brother Ehren Whitney (as Alias and Ehren) and vocalist Tarsier (for 2006’s Brookland/Oaklyn). Last year saw him contribute production to Doseone & Mestizo’s A7PHA album. Whitney’s most recent solo studio album Pitch Black Prism was released in 2014.