GURU R.I.P.

GURU R.I.P.

Remembering Eazy E

It's been 15 years since the passing of Eric Wright better know to the world as Eazy E. Time to reflect on the life & legacy of Eazy E.

Articles found on the web:

Rolling Stone - Flashback: Remembering Eazy-E

MTV - Eazy-E 'Paved The Way,' MTV's Sway Calloway Says

Phoenix New Times - Eazy-E: What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse?

ROC4Life - Remember the Rhyme? RIP Eazy E

XXL - Eazy-E Tribute: Alan Grunblatt, Business Never Personal

XXL - Dear Dad - Lil Eazy’s Letter to Eric Wright

XXL - Eazy-E Tribute: Tomica Wright, A Gangsta & a Gentleman

MTV - Eazy-E Remembered, 15 Years Later

Choppas On Deck blog - Eazy E-Howard Stern Interview(1993)[Audio]

Notorious B.I.G. The Official Bad Boy Tribute To Biggie Smalls In Brooklyn, NY

via MTV

Early Wednesday morning, Busta Rhymes was absolutely basking in an afterglow at 2:10 a.m. in the heart of Brooklyn, New York. Busta had just performed with Rick Ross, Fabolous, Red Café and Puff Daddy at the Lab nightclub — the collective, wearing T-shirts that read "Invisible Bully," took to the stage to honor the 13th anniversary of the death of Notorious B.I.G.

"Brooklyn is so thorough," Busta yelled in the parking lot. "We seeing U-Haul trucks, we smelling jerk chicken — Brooklyn's reppin', homie."

Busta brought the ruckus with his chorus on "Victory." There was no way Rhymes would have missed saluting his close friend, Biggie.

"God bless Ms. Wallace and thank you so much Ms. Wallace for giving us such greatness. As far as existence is concerned ... Big was greatness as far as existence was concerned," he said. "When I'm sitting in the venue, we sippin' on all type of things and we watching and really being able to appreciate how every single song ... you know how people got their favorites. It's one thing for people to sing their favorites, but it's another when everybody sings the entire catalog. Special homie!"

Buss said the night was just about perfect — however, one person was missing.

"The one thing I definitely feel a little funny about is that the homie Lil Wayne had to go in and the timing was so close to a moment. Not only did he tear it down at Madison Square Garden, I wish he had a couple of more days to be able to come and tear it down for us honoring the legacy of the late great B.I. I'm sure Weezy would have came through and repped with everybody that came through tonight. With that being said, I hope the homie holds his head, do his little stint, 85 percent of his stint, and comes home safe in one piece. Because you really can't cage genius. During 14th anniversary, we wanna see Weezy over here showing love to the late great B.I. Big up to the whole Young Money. Shout-out to the whole Cash Money."

PHOTOS:
Wire Image

Notorious B.I.G. You Are Missed

Dramatics Founder Ron Banks Dies

via Billboard

Ron Banks, singer and a founding member of veteran R&B group the Dramatics, died yesterday (March 4) at his Detroit home of a reported heart attack. He was 58.

Originally a vocal sextet known as the Dynamics in the early 60s, the group changed its name and became a quintet comprised of Banks, William Howard, Larry Demps, Willie Ford and Elbert Wilkins. The Dramatics scored its first R&B-charting single (No. 43) in 1967 on the Sport label with "All Because of You." But it wasn't until four years later that the Dramatics broke into national consciousness with the 1971 Stax/Volt hit "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," which peaked at No. 3 R&B and No. 9 pop. The Dramatics claimed an R&B No. 1 the following year with "In the Rain."

Between 1972 and 1980, the Dramatics also recorded for ABC and MCA, notching seven more top 10 R&B singles. Those songs include a cover of "Me and Mrs. Jones," "You're Fooling You," "Be My Girl" and "Welcome Back Home." Over the ensuing years, the Dramatics underwent several personnel changes, the most notable occurring in 1973 when L.J. Reynolds and Lenny Mayes replaced Howard and Wilkins in 1973.

Banks, whose sweet falsetto helped give the Dramatics its signature sound, was a Detroit native who was born May 10, 1951. He is survived by his wife Sandy and six children. Banks is the fourth Dramatics member to pass away following the deaths of Wilkins (1992), Howard (2000) and James Mack Brown (2008).

PHOTOS:
Getty Images - Ron Banks (Retrospective)

Newcleus' Robert Crafton III, Bassist and Rapper, Dies at 47

via the New York Times

Robert Crafton III, a bassist, songwriter and rapper whose rhythms and rhymes helped the 1980s hip-hop group Newcleus redefine the sound of electro-pop, died on Feb. 23 in Brooklyn. He was 47.

The cause was a stroke, said Ben Cenac, who founded Newcleus with Mr. Crafton and two others. Mr. Cenac said that Mr. Crafton had been treated for diabetes and kidney problems for some time.

Starting in 1976 as a Bedford-Stuyvesant D.J. crew called Jam-On Productions, Newcleus developed a futuristic sound that combined funk, hip-hop and electronica. Computerized drums, old-school raps and cartoonish speeded-up vocals propelled the group’s signature hit, “Jam on It” (Sunnyview), to No. 56 on the Billboard pop-singles chart in 1984.

Newcleus “put out something way before its time,” said Red Alert, the influential D.J. who helped bring hip-hop from the streets to the radio. “They produced not only a hip-hop sound but also a dance-slash-pop sound that you can still hear in pop music to this day.”

Newcleus was a family group (Mr. Cenac, known as Cozmo D; his wife, Yvette Cook, or Lady E; his cousin Monique Angevin, or Nique D; and her future husband, Mr. Crafton, known as Chilly B), that emerged in the post-“Rapper’s Delight” era, when recorded hip-hop was still in its infancy.

Afrika Bambaataa charted a path into the future in 1982 with “Planet Rock,” which interpolated the synthesizer-driven groove of the German band Kraftwerk’s Euro-pop hit “Trans-Europe Express.” The worldwide success of “Planet Rock” spawned a subgenre known as electro-rap, epitomized by groups like the Jonzun Crew from Boston (“Pack Jam”) and Newcleus, whose debut single, “Jam-On Revenge (The Wikki Wikki Song),” was released in 1983 on the small May Hew label.

Like Afrika Bambaataa and Kraftwerk, Newcleus made music that anticipated a high-tech future. Decades before Wikipedia became a household name, Newcleus introduced “Wikki wikki wikki” to the pop lexicon by using it as onomatopoeia to denote a D.J.’s scratching a needle back and forth on a record.

“We were into the electronic sound,” Mr. Cenac said, “but in our stuff you’ll always hear a funky bass line.” The bass was Chilly B’s specialty.

“Chilly was the musician in the group,” said Mr. Cenac, a keyboardist, who grew up on the same block as Mr. Crafton and first jammed with him in a neighborhood band called Thunderfunk. “We were both self-taught, but he had a more seasoned musicianship in his playing. When he played bass, you knew it was him.”

In 1984 the group took part in Fresh Fest, a nationwide concert tour that proved hip-hop acts could sell out the same arenas as rock stars. Newcleus shared the bill with Run-DMC, Whodini, the Fat Boys and Kurtis Blow.

Mr. Crafton’s last performance with Newcleus was in June at a multi-artist Madison Square Garden show called Freestyle Extravaganza.

J Dilla You Are Missed

Aaliyah's Birthday, We'll Always Remember

Teddy Pendergrass: You'll Be Missed

Teddy Pendergrass - Joy





Photo retrospective:
Getty Images - Teddy Pendergrass
Wire Image - Teddy Pendergrass
Globe Photos - Teddy Pendergrass set 1
Globe Photos - Teddy Pendergrass set 2

Art Clokey: Creator Of Gumby And Davey & Goliath Children's Animator Dies at 88

Ironic that the Consumer Electronics Show, the technology fair in Las Vegas, is in full swing as one of the early innovators of technology specifically stop motion film/claymation/animator pioneer Art Clokey dies at 88.

via the Assoicated Press

LOS OSOS, Calif. — Animator Art Clokey, whose bendable creation Gumby became a pop culture phenomenon through decades of toys, revivals and satires, died Friday. He was 88.

Clokey, who suffered from repeated bladder infections, died in his sleep at his home in Los Osos on California’s Central Coast, son Joseph told the Los Angeles Times.

Gumby grew out of a student project Clokey produced at the University of Southern California in the early 1950s called "Gumbasia."

That led to his making shorts featuring Gumby and his horse friend Pokey for the "Howdy Doody Show" and several series through the years.

He said he based Gumby’s swooping head on the cowlick hairdo of his father, who died in a car accident when Clokey was nine. And Clokey’s wife suggested he give Gumby the body of a gingerbread man.

Clokey said that though Gumby eventually became one of the most familiar toys of all time, he was at first resistant to roll out the bendable doll.

"I didn’t allow merchandising for seven years after it was on the air," Clokey told San Luis Obispo Tribune in 2002, "because I was very idealistic, and I didn’t want parents to think we were trying to exploit their children."



Clokey also created the moralizing and often satirized claymation duo "Davey and Goliath."

The Lutheran Church hired Clokey to make the "Davey and Goliath" shorts, and Clokey used the money to help bring a Gumby series back to television in the 1960s.

Eddie Murphy brought a surge in Gumby’s popularity in the 1980s with his send-up of the character on "Saturday Night Live" as a cigar-smoking show business primadonna.

Clokey said he enjoyed Murphy’s profane Gumby.

"Gumby can laugh at himself," Clokey told the Tribune.

Murphy’s Gumby brought new toy sales and eventually led to a new syndicated series starting in 1988.

It was only then that Clokey started seeing serious financial returns on his creation.

"It took 40 years," he said.

Three 6 Mafia 'In The Ghetto' Elvis Presley Cover

Happy Birthday Elvis!

Related:
L.A. Times Compares Lil Wayne To Elvis, OK?

People We Will Miss & Remember In 2009

Michael Jackson - Musician

Edward M. Kennedy - Senator/Politician

David Carradine - Actor

Farrah Fawcett - Actress

Britney Murphy - Actress



Steve McNair - Football Player/Athlete

DJ Roc Raida

Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein

DJ Omega Supreme



Mr. Magic - Radio Personality/DJ

Baatin - Rapper

Dolla - Rapper

Derek B. - UK Rapper



Natasha Richardson - Actress

Bea Arthur - TV Actress

Dom DeLuise - Actor/Director

Karl Malden - TV Actor

Ricardo Montalban - Actor



Billy Mays - TV Pitchman

Ed McMahon - TV Host

Marilyn Chambers - Porn Actress



Les Paul - Musician/Inventor

David 'Fathead' Newman - Jazz Musician

Koko Taylor - Blues Singer

Eddie Bo - Jazz Musician

Wayman Tinsdale - Musician

James 'The Rev' Owen Sullivan - Drummer

Soupy Sales - Comedian

Captain Lou Albano - Wrestler/Personality



Patrick Swayze - Actor

Walter Cronkite - News Caster

John Hughes - Movie Director

Roy Disney

Chris Henry - Football Player/Athlete

Roc Raida 2008 Video Interview Footage Posted Online

Back in 2008 when 'Grandmaster' Roc Raida was in Perth, Western Australia he sat down for a chat with Cut & Paste.

Roc Raida R.I.P., you are missed.

Mr.Magic Remembered By Funk Master Flex, Positive K & DJ Chuck Chillout Interview

MEMORIES OF MAGIC from h. imperial on Vimeo.

Photos from Mr. Magic's Funeral Wake on Wednesday, October 7 with Chuck D, Grandmaster Caz, DJ Chuck Chillout, Mr. C and others at the Chamber Funeral Home NYC:
Wire Image

Michael Jackson Still A Major Event With New Song and Movie "This Is It"

via New York Times

Michael Jackson may be gone, but he isn’t finished releasing new music. The first drop in what might be a flood of unheard Jackson material is a song called “This Is It,” which Sony had scheduled to send to radio stations on Sunday night. Based on a tape Mr. Jackson left behind containing only his piano and vocals, a full arrangement was built, complete with swelling strings and his brothers’ backup vocals. The song is to run during the closing credits of the new Jackson film, perhaps not coincidentally called “This Is It.”

Read more of the New York Times and other articles here:
NYT - New Michael Jackson Music Gets Midnight Release
Telegraph UK - Michael Jackson's new song This Is It gets first play

For more Michael Jackson info:
Michael Jackson.com

R.I.P. Mr. Magic

"Hangin' pictures on my wall. Every Saturday Rap Attack, Mr. Magic, Marley Marl"

from Wikipedia

Mr. Magic, an important figure in the world of hip-hop radio, debuted in 1983 on WBLS-FM in New York City with the first exclusive rap radio show to be aired on a major station. Billing itself as Rap Attack, Magic’s show featured Marley Marl as the DJ and Tyrone “Fly Ty” Williams as the show’s co-producer. Magic’s reign on the New York City airwaves lasted six years and was instrumental in broadening the scope and validity of hip-hop music.1

During the mid-80s there was a rivalry between Mr. Magic and Kool DJ Red Alert, who hosted a weekly show on WRKS-FM. The feud also played out between proxy rap groups, the Juice Crew and Boogie Down Productions (see The Bridge Wars). The Juice Crew – headed by Mr. Magic’s on-air assistant, DJ Marley Marl – was named after one of Magic’s aliases, “Sir Juice.”2

As confirmed by DJ Premier, Mr. Magic died on the morning of October 2, 2009, due to a fatal heart attack.

Read more here:
All Hip Hop
Hip Hop DX

RIP DJ Roc Raida

RIP TWITTERS:
Busta Rhymes
“I am sorry 2 say that on this day at 2:05 Sept 19th we lost another incredible life…DJ Roc Raida died 2day my personal Dj is gone… I just wanna thank everyone 4 ur love and support and ur prayers…We will never let ur name die Roc…We love u and will 4ever miss u…RIP.” (Busta Rhymes’ Twitter)

Kid Capri:
DJ Roc Raider was a real beast at his talent, and a very humble soldier, i will miss the homie, im deeply sadden, god bless his soul.
about 10 hours ago from web
kidcapri101
THE REAL KID CAPRI

RZA:
r.i.p. dj roc raida

FROM TALIB KWELI:
REST IN POWER
I love hip hop. Hip hop is light. Hip hop is life. Starting in the Bronx, ghetto youth experiencing city wide cuts to arts and education took the turntable and turned it into something magical. It has become the greatest instrument of our generation. These ghetto youth inspired a generation and gave us a value system that is respected from the corner hustler to our current president. Hip hop, in the words of John Forte, is powerful, beautiful, excellent. There are not many more powerful, more beautiful, more elegant, than the one and only legendary DJ Roc Raida. When I met him, the X-Men DJ he was in was in the process of becoming the X-Ecutioners, for copyright reasons. Me and Mos Def would often share the bill with them, and Total Eclipse used to DJ our shows. Roc was the smallest one of the crew, but the battle victories he constantly brought home made his stature larger than life. What I loved about this particular crew is the fact that I could relate to them on a different level. Often, the art of turntablism is associated with those on the outskirts of the hip hop culture. Many turntablist don’t know anything but break beats and old school classics. The X- Ecutioners, was real black men from real hoods that I could identify with. Roc Raida did not exist outside of the culture, he was front and center, and he was killin those decks.
Life comes full circle. I hadn’t seen Roc in a minute, but recently I toured with him as he was Busta Rhymes DJ for the Rock the Bells tour. Baatin was on that tour too. (RIP). I guess I’m at the stage in my life where time takes my loved ones to a better place. Roc Raida’s influence may be lost on those who don’t participate in the culture. That’s OK though. We are here to hold him down. We will cement his legacy in stone. Roc Raida, you are loved, you are missed.
Bussa Buss, Spliff Star, Sean C, stay strong my brothers.

Related articles:
Baller Status - Roc Raida, of The X-Ecutioners, Dies Suddenly

Hip Hop DX - Turntablism Innovator & Deejay Icon Roc Raida Dies

All Hip Hop - Pioneering DJ Grand Master Roc Raida Dead

Black Milk: Michael Jackson tribute in Paris

Black Milk raps over 'Rock With You' and his live band does an improvisation as well at La Nouveau Casino in Paris France Wednesday July 15.

The Game performance in Leeds UK

July 14 in O2 Academy Leeds, UK

Michael Jackson: One week sales Absolutely Staggering

According to Billboard based on preliminary sales numbers from Nielsen SoundScan, Michael Jackson sells 1.1 Million Albums In One Week.



Read the Billboard article here