Hip-hop has given birth and laid rest to some of the most influential and iconic creative minds of our time. With the very recent death of Mobb Deep's Prodigy, I started to wonder if hip-hop really is dying. It’s one thing to grow old and retire but it's completely different when your time is cut short due to being murdered, a car accident or an illness. As hip-hop evolved into a different sound and look, we could always count on the pioneers to keep the original flow. When we lose one of these iconic figures it impacts the culture in a very profound way, it creates a void and it also puts more pressure on the current artist to be able to live up to with the legacy left behind. When their music was such a big part of our lives, we feel like we've lost our best friend. Their songs helped us cope with relationship woes, entertained us through our work commutes and also got the party started when it was time to turn up!
Last Saturday I went to the Art of Rap concert with a few iconic artists in Hip-Hop. The lineup was crazy. Ghostface, Ice Tea, KRS One, Onyx, Big Daddy Kane, Kurtis Blow, Raekwon, and Mobb Deep. This was a concert for real, I enjoyed every minute of it but if I knew it was going to be Prodigy’s last performance I would have cherished even the smallest moments of the night. There's no doubt about it, Prodigy is one on my favorite MCs. He was raw, he gave us straight bars. One of my favorite songs was “Shook Ones Part 2.” It’s very seldom where a sequel to a song is as good as the original or better. “Shook Ones Part 2” however was dope and Prodigy did not disappoint with his delivery. That’s the type of artist he was, you could always count on him to deliver a solid verse. As I spent the last couple of days listening to old Mobb Deep albums in his honor I started thinking about others we have lost and how the game really hasn’t been the same since they left us. These legends left behind a huge legacy. They either changed the game or left an impressive mark on the culture and helped shaped it to what it is today.
Here's a list of some of the gone but never forgotten MCs of our day.
1. 2Pac
Of course, I can’t do a list about the iconic rappers who are no longer with us and not include arguably the greatest rapper of all time. The void that 2Pac left is still empty even 20years later. He left us at the top of his game. Who knows what he could have accomplished by now. I feel like he could have a couple more albums, star in a few more movies and leading a few protest by now. A rapper, a poet, an activist, and an all-around party boy. He knew his people and he knew his craft, he was a true street poet and educated thug even. Yes, he also finally got that bio pic we were all waiting for. If you really think about it, 2Pac wrote this movie 20 years ago in his albums. All you had to do was listen and pay attention. Rappers today still try to reach the level that Pac was at when he was taken away from us. Few have come close, but almost doesn’t count. Let’s face it whether you’re a fan or not, there will never be an artist as unique as Tupac was.
2. Notorious B.I.G
We couldn’t even get over losing Pac before we got word the Big Poppa was gone. This drug dealer turned rap artist had one agenda and that was to make you bounce. He told a few stories but he really wanted to “Party and Bullsh*t.” His album Ready to Die with the iconic baby pic is a Hip-Hop classic. Biggie Smalls was also a unique soul. He knew how to use what he had and made it work for him. He knew he may not be the most handsome guy, but even if he was “black and ugly as ever, however” he still had us trying to cop a Coogie sweater. I’m still trying to get one, it was $735. That’s my rent and I’m not living in a Coogie sweater, besides I live in the desert I would only be able to wear it one day a year. His songs are all over my playlist, I still ride to work bumpin “Gimmie the Loot” and “Machine Gun Funk.” He gave us hit after hit sampling some of the best old school joints and just like Pac he was taken from us way too soon. Still, to this day, when the beat drops for “Hypnotize” people loose their minds—in the best way. He really was sicker than your average and for that we’ll always love Big Poppa.
3. Eazy-E
First of all I never really was a true fan of west coast hip-hop. I had an artist here and there that I liked but I couldn’t get into it as a whole. To me, west coast hip-hop is very local which is fine but I just couldn’t relate so I stuck to the party anthems and whatever was being played on the mainstream stations. However, when I discovered NWA I didn’t know why but I felt like needed a 1964 Impala immediately. Just how trap music can turn you into a drug dealer, NWA songs will turn you into a straight gangsta. Eazy-E was a big part this and by now, most of us have seen Straight Outta Compton which is possibly one of the best Hip-Hop biopics, ever. You know how the story ends. Eazy-E and NWA played a huge part in the culture bringing their raw and in your face rhymes. However, Eazy’s death due to AIDS changed the game in a different way. In the 80s and early 90s folks still didn’t know exactly what they were dealing with. People still thought is was more a lifestyle disease rather than something that any and every one can get if they don’t take the proper precautions. Before this, the Hip-Hop world thought they were immune to this disease. This sparked the awareness to the culture and made everybody wrap it up.
4. Left Eye
Left Eye is undoubtedly and rightfully included in everyone’s “best female MC” list. As a member of one the biggest R&B groups, TLC, her rhymes was a major part of their hits and she could rap the paint off the walls. Seriously after doing the bankhead bounce to the chorus of “Waterfalls”, we got ready for her verse. Everyone knows it “I seen a rainbow yesterday, but too many storms have come and gone leaving not one God-given ray…” IF you didn’t you are lying and that something you have to personally deal with. Left eye embraced feminism through her racy lyrics and controversial (for the time) views. Although Left Eye wasn’t the first female MC to ever grace the mic, she was one of the most iconic, with her signature style and voice. When Left Eye was on the track, you knew it!
5. Nate Dogg
Yes, I know, Nate Dogg was more of a singer but his hooks are on some of the most recognizable in Hip-Hop. I mean there are very few West Coast hits without Nate Dogg on them. We all love “Regulator” but do you really want to know my favorite Nate Dogg song? “Walk to the corner store you know what I’m lookin for, St. Ides,”. Yes, it’s a malt liquor commercial but he made that junk sound good! Since I been living in Las Vegas every single time I go out during their West Coast break they would always play “Ain’t No Fun”. And we also can't forget about his hook on Ludacris' "Area Codes" So much to the point where I know it by heart now. When Nate Dogg left us the hook has never been the same.
6. Big L
One of Harlem greats and like the some of the legends mentioned earlier, his murder is also unsolved. His album Lifestyle ov the Poor and Dangerous remains a Hip-Hop classic. He was another artist that had potential and was taken from us way too soon. Before his death, he was looking to do business with Roca Fella. He was definitely the master of ceremony and had mad metaphors to make every verse crazy. Easily on the majority of hip-hop fans top 10 list. Big L was a major artist in the underground scene and was on tracks with some artists that are household names now. He knew Cam’ron before the pink furs and Ma$e before his shiny suit and preacher days. Back when he went by Murder Mase. Talking a bout gone too soon, Big L was taken from us before he could really get started so who knows what he would be up to by now. My favorite Big L songs are “Ebonics” and “American Dreamin”.
7. Phife Dawg
“You on point Tip? All the time Phife…” Phife Dawg one of the founding members of A Tribe Called Quest and possibly one of the most clever wordsmiths in the culture. Phife was taken from us suddenly, much like Prodigy. No one saw it coming. Being a part of such an iconic group, his absence yielded a void that the hip-hop community is still coping with. A Tribe Called Quest was really one of the first conscious rap groups. While NWA was straight gangsta, ATCQ rapped more about peace and tranquility. Their latest album “We Got it From Here… Thank You 4 Your Services” which, was dope by the way, also features his verses. I personally lived for his verses in “Scenario” and “Buggin Out”.
8. Jam Master Jay
When hip-hop was first taking off back in the late 70s, it was the DJ that rocked the crowd. As time moved on and the MC became front and center it was easy for the DJ to fade to the background but that was not the case with Jam Master Jay. He was an equal part of the trio Run DMC. He paved the way for other DJs to get back in the spotlight. Honestly, the only DJ I have heard to come close to his style and skill is his son. Jam Master Jay reminded the culture that we are nothing with the conductor, the DJ. Unfortunately, we still don’t know who killed him.
9. ODB (Old Dirty Bastard)
One of the 275-member group Wu-Tang. Seriously this is a big group. I think the only group that had more members is Earth Wind and Fire, back in the day they had about a million people. ODB was the comic relief but he still had skill. Not just a rapper, he was also a producer and produced big names like the Fugees. His style was one of a kind but it still seemed to fit. Who didn’t like Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” remix? “Me a Mariah goes back like babies and pacifiers, old dirt dog’s no liar, keep ya fantasy hot like fire…”. He always had dope videos back when videos were something to look at before folks were being cheap and just shooting footage at house parties. My favorite was the 70s joint for “Baby I Got Your Money”, as a matter of fact, I still sing that song to folks when I owe them money. Ya'll thought the whole Kanye and Taylor Swift was the first of its kind? Let me get my “Golden Girls” on. Picture it, 1998, the Grammy Awards. The award for best rap album went to Puff Daddy. ODB has his own speech basically stating that he got all fresh and fly ready to accept an award only for it to go to someone else. Just how Kanye did his “Imma let you finish…but” ODB says “Puffy is good but Wu-Tang is the best”. That was the type of artist ODB was. Straight talk no filter but also misunderstood. We still laugh at antics to this day. Remember when he went to the welfare office in a limo?
Man, if I named every artist we have lost this article would never post cause I would still be typing. I mean there’s Guru, Heavy D, Stack Bundles, Chinx Drugs, Dolla, Big Pun, Freaky Tah, Soulja Slim, Mac Dre, Pimp C, Big Moe and Adam MCA Yauc, just to name a few. When you have artists like these and they are suddenly taken away, you feel an emptiness. Instead of trying to replace this void, because it never works for us, we fall into a kind of a musical sunken place. We can’t go past their last album, last performance or last hit. We stay with their music on repeat remembering where were and what we were doing when we first heard these hits because that’s all we have. Now we are stuck in the memories of Mobb Deep albums as we mourn the loss of Prodigy.I love every last one of these artist's music and was sad to hear of their passing. Some hit me harder than others due to how I listen to their music but I do notice the difference now that they are gone. I see what they contributed to the culture and how they influenced some of the new generation. I can’t draw a mural or write a song in their honor, so with this piece allow me to pour a little out for the homies that ain’t here.
