Christopher “Big Black” Boykin, the reality star who joined friend Rob Dyrdek on MTV’s “Rob & Big” in the 2000s, died Tuesday morning. He was 45.
TMZ reported the news, which HuffPost confirmed with Boykin’s rep. No cause of death has been given at this time.
Boykin rose to fame in 2006, getting up to ridiculous hijinks with Dyrdek on the pair’s reality show. The two later had a falling out, which Dyrdek opened up about in an interview with Graham Bensinger.
“It was a strange period,” Dyrdek said.
“I had been a pro skateboarder for years,” he added, “so me transitioning to mainstream fame was relatively smooth, right? Where for him it was the idea that, man, he was like working security two years earlier and now he’s on television, right? It was a much different dynamic. But I think we both struggled.”
Dyrdek said he didn’t want to be known as Rob from “Rob & Big,” and Boykin didn’t want to be known as a sidekick, which led to tension and a big blowout.
The two eventually reconciled enough for Boykin to make appearances on “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.”
Following the news, Boykin’s friends and fans, including Chanel West Coast from “Fantasy Factory,” sent out messages of love online.
