Prophet Christopher Tate, pastor and friend of late deejay Robert Lee Malcolm, popularly known as Gully Bop, remembers him as having an altruistic spirit.

“A memory I have of him: there was a lady who was a street sweeper and I gave Gully Bop some money that I collected for him, and when I pulled up beside the lady I said, ‘Good morning, mommy,’ and she said, ‘I want a breakfast inna di morning yah’… Gully Bop took out the money and said, ‘Have a breakfast, mommy’ and he was hungry [and] broke, and the first thing he did when he got the money was to give away out of the money. I look at it like this man is not normal. Gully Bop give away all of his wealth. He told me that he paid people to bathe the ‘mad people’ [and] put on clean clothes on them mek dem look good,” Tate told the Jamaica Observer.

Gully Bop, 59, passed away at the Kingston Public Hospital on Monday after battling kidney complications for some time.

Meanwhile, Tate said that he grew closer to the late deejay during his time of illness, particularly after he got baptised in June of this year.

“I know of him for a very long time, but how I got close to him was because of the ministry that I used to associate with. They were the ones who were assisting him spiritually after his kidney transplant,” he said.

Tate also said that discussions are currently underway to finalise funeral details for Gully Bop. He, however, cautioned that any contributions must be sent directly to the entertainer’s family.

“I want to assist in any other way, but the finance, I don’t want to handle any money for him. I’d rather his daughter do it… he has children, and they’re old enough. They’re the ones who will deal with the funeral package. We will go out there and plea to the public. Me and a couple of other social media giants will get together and do this thing for Gully Bop. Everything will go right to his daughter,” he said.

Gully Bop rose to fame in 2014 with his catchy track Body Specialist. A video recording of him deejaying the track on the streets went viral on social media, paving the way for him to the studios in a rags to riches story that captivated Jamaica.

His meteoric rise to stardom led to him being the closing act on Sting in December 2014 at the height of his short-lived career.

Towards the end of his life, Gully Bop was reportedly rendered homeless once more. An appeal was made back in August by social media philanthropist Donna Gowe, more popularly known as Aunty Donna, for people to assist the entertainer who had fallen on hard times and had been extremely ill.