Taurian 'Air Up There' Fontenette, AND1 Mixtape Legend, Dies at 43

Taurian Fontenette, better known as 'Air Up There' during his AND1 Mixtape career, has died at the age of 43.

Fontenette's sister, Tracie, confirmed Taurian's death in a post on Facebook (h/t Eddie Maisonet of the Houston Chronicle):

"As many of you may already know, last night we lost a huge part of our family, of our community. My heart is broken in a million pieces. I honestly don't even have the words to express the tremendous pain of losing my baby brother. This is a loss that I don't think our family will ever fully understand or be able to put into words. Thank you all for giving us grace, and allowing our family to try and process this and gain some understanding about what has happened."

No additional details, nor a cause of death have been announced.

Fontenette played college basketball for three different schools from 2000 to '05, including one year at UTEP as a freshman. He also spent time at Richland Junior College and Paul Quinn College.

After his college career ended, Fontenette joined the AND1 Mixtape Tour. He started out playing against AND1 players as an opponent in 2005 before being added to the team the following year after impressing in games.

Fontenette earned the nicknames "The Air Up There" and "Mr. 720" for his dynamic leaping ability that was best highlighted by what is widely credited as the first documented 720 dunk during a 2006 AND1 Mixtape Tour game in Houston.