I caught the messed up news yesterday on Twitter that battle MC/RhymeSayers artist Eyedea (government name Michael Larsen) passed away in his sleep at his home over the weekend. Terrible news for Hip Hop. Eyedea was one of the first battle MCs I ever really heard, so much respect goes out.
Sign up to the Facebook Event (Fundraiser), and his mum started a Paypal account to accept donations to help pay for the funeral.
Check some of his work below. The second video is my favourite FREESTYLE battle rap ever (yup, back when MCs actually rhymed off the top).
WTF??? I just saw this on the blogs. Wow. This year is getting insane. Man I even interviewed Roc Raida a few years back, dude was nice as hell. I don't even know what to say, we've lost way too many legends this year. Rest In Peace.
Peep the article from The Boombox below for details:
According to reports, legendary X-Ecutioners DJ Grand Master Roc Raida died this morning at the age of 37. Though very little information about the turntablist's death is available at the present time, the following statement was made by his representative; "The legendary Grand Master Roc Raida has passed away this morning...Family and friends will miss him dearly. Please give the family their privacy."
Busta Rhymes, for whom Roc Raida DJ'd, also tweeted about the universally respected turntablist's passing, saying ""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."
Neither Busta nor Roc Raida's rep revealed the cause of the DJ's death. His rep denied rumors that his passing was the result of a car accident, as previously reported, saying only that he had been hospitalized last week, and that his death was "unexpected."
Roc Raida was a founding member of The X-Ecutioners, also known as The X-Men, a DJ crew who brought east coast turntablism to the forefront in the mid-90's.
Raida was also a respected producer, who released six solo albums in addition to his work with the X-Ecutioners, and worked with artists from Ghostface, Fat Joe and Black Thought to Linkin Park and Pink. He will be missed.
