AceShowbiz - Dem Franchize Boyz is losing one of its members. Buddie, who was born Gerald Tiller, has passed away after battling cancer. The group announced the sad news of his passing through their official Instagram page by posting pictures of Buddie and his group mates on Sunday, August 25. "R.I.P Buddie you Will be Missed," read the caption of the post by Dem Franchize Boyz.

The post didn't include details of the cause of his death, but Jermaine Dupri suggested that Buddie died of cancer on his own Instagram tribute. "They call me Doctor Doc I prescribe what a n***a need," he wrote along with a photo of Buddie rocking a colorful shirt, adding "#ripbuddy may your soul rest easy #demfranchiseboyz. #f**kcancer."

Another DFB member, Parlae a.k.a. Maurice Gleaton, also took to his own Instagram account to pay tribute to his late group mate. "#RestEasyBuddie aka WeeFli," he captioned a photo of Buddie with the words "Rest In Paradise" written over it.

Fellow rapper Da Brat, born Shawntae Harris, reposted some pictures shared on Dem Franchize Boyz's Instagram post and added in the caption, "#RIPBUDDY #demfranchizeboyz # [f**k] cancer."

There's no word on what kind of cancer that Buddie had been battling.

Buddie performed with Parlae, Pimpin' (Jamal Willingham) and Jizzal Man (Bernard Leverette) as rap group Dem Franchize Boyz since 2002. The Atlanta group signed to Universal Records in 2004 and released their self-titled debut album in September of that year with hit single "White Tee".

They were later signed to Jermaine's label So So Def in 2005. Their charting tracks include "I Think They Like Me" featuring Jermaine and Bow Wow, "Lean wit It, Rock wit It" and "Oh, I Think They Like Me". They last released a studio album, their third one called "Our World, Our Way", in 2008, and a mixtape titled "Voltron" in 2011.