R.I.P. ROC RAIDA

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.