Heavy D's Comeback - Discuss (RIP, Nov. '11)

Grandmaster Flash tweeted that he's passed away, Dream Hampton did the same :(

:( RIP

But I'm hoping this is premature.

its not even on wikipedia tho i havent heard confirmation, rlly hope its not true

only 44 yrs old

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfQN_M1pQc

i know that's not considered a key track for him but its the one i remember hearing on the radio all the time

he just performed at the BET awards too

I mean, whatever people may think about dude's legacy, a cassette copy of Big Tyme was among the first handful of hip-hop albums I ever heard so its hard to not have fond memories of him.

I mean, I remembed "Gyrlz, They Love Me" much more fondly than I do "Now That We've Found Love".

remember

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdPYZhAyyGs

Its confirmed :(

this seriously sucks

http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/08/heavy-d-dead/

So glad deej bumped this thread for this instead of the "fat rappers" poll.

Anyway, RIP Heavy D. :(

yeah RIP

sorry fat rappers poll was the first one I thought of that I knew had a mention of him

BUMMER

fuuuuuuuuuck

;_;

he was on "fresh prince of bel air" once.

rip overweight lover ;_;

relentless optimism RIP

RIP, you were fantastic

rip d, i wish i could have heard all your best jams on the drive home under better circumstances

Always loved this cameo (a little after 3:40)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFgB-DeMzlU

RIP.

this is totally tasteless perhaps but i do feel like the hevster gave us one final gift by passing on the day of mac miller's album release, entirely overshadowing it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZolpYGgpho

this is too sad.

I got nothing but love for him, baby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Gdr9fA-1M&feature=player_embedded#!

he seemed in such good health

caramanica: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/arts/music/heavy-d-rap-star-dies-at-44.html

really scary way to go, w/ respiratory issues. :(

rest in peace large lovah <3

Ba-diddle-a-diddle-a-diddle-a-diddle-a-RIP, respect.

:(

DONT CURSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iztp036z54

Always have to be like O__O at this lineup: (f. Kool G Rap, Grand Puba, C.L. Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Pete Rock, Q-Tip)

Should poll that song ^

RIP btw

pete rock is so awkward on that haha

One of the first rappers I really "got" at a young age, the perfect gateway into rap. I never bought a thing of his though, just had a bunch of stuff recorded from radio. Kind of forgot about him for like 15+ years until a few back when I went on a Heavy D / Biz Markie binge-fest.

44! yikes. Bros need to be taking better care of themselves.

wow i only just found out :(

bumped this on gun sounds, this is really really sad to me. He was absolutely one of my first breakthroughs to hip hop and he died far too soon. RIP Overweight Lover.

its interesting to me how little attention was paid to him these days relative to how big of a deal he seemed at the time. EVERYONE liked Heavy D. A real genuine rap crossover at a time when that was much more one-hit-wonder oriented. He had a deep catalog. So likeable as a person. Great aesthetic sense for adapting R&B without making it seem lame. *pointedly avoiding the easy Drake slam*

Its gotta be like ... the historical importance placed on 'technical rappers' really minimized his legacy unfairly i think. Dude was a dope rapper period and his music was everywhere but seemed so effortlessly cool

otm & well put. I was sad to hear he was gone; I still find myself humming Heavy D hooks years after last hearing them. the hopeful optimistic feel of '94 - just personally - is tied up with Heavy D for me.

I'd say that Hev was a relatively technical rapper, or at least a "rapper's rapper" who everybody recognized as being a highly skilled practitioner- even with all the smoothness...

-NR, if he got marginalized by any rap trend, it was the swing towards a grimy resume to go with your grimy/crimey rhymes (aka the same thing that got De La, Pete & CL, Kwame, etc., post Wu/BIG/Jay)

R.I.U. Dwight Arrington Myers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5uqPUZxZHg

that's such a good one, "you can't see what i can see." i have been enjoying listening to all the heavy d i'd forgotten about. also he's the greatest dancer.

this is so classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iztp036z54

See upthread homie^

Can't post it too many times.

otm

oh, and **** you

i have listened to the in living color theme song 20 times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwTB23DZVMY

my favorite. can't believe he was only 44.

rip Mr. Big Stuff. brought the overweight rappers into the new jack era. a crossover giant in every sense

you can do what you wanna do horseshoe

everybody here is equally KIND

:(

RIP. Pretty sure I still have my cassingle of We Got Our Own Thang. So much goodness in this vid I can't even...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uPWH3TziI4

@ natlawdp yah except that id say pete rock and tribe are much more commonly mentioned by ppl these days than heavy d, for some reason

"We Got Our Own Thang" is at the heart of my memories of Yo! MTV Raps.

when polka dots were cool

never understood why dotted patterns are associated with polkas, tbh

i didnt mean to imply he wasn't a technically adroit rapper or anything, just that history has treated the kool g / big daddy / rakims more kindly

i think maybe its the R&B associations that tribe / main source etc were more respected? i dunno

anyway, i love heavy d!!

i assume someone posted that his last tweet was "Be inspired!"

Nah, I understand your point Ned

history is strange; if the first mainstream rap break-throughs were Run DMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, Hev was part of the 'mustard/colorful blazer' wave that thrived on the safer/fun side of Yo! MTV Raps- Fresh Prince, Kid & Play, MC Hammer, Kwame... He was still right up there in the mix when PE, BDK, EPMD, Brand Nubian, NWA, De La, Tribe were biggest. He never really played out, so much as graduated/exited/aged himself out to the biz side.

funny- as 'back in the day' as Heavy seems, he's basically the same age as Pharoahe Monch, Jay-Z, and Will Smith.

Hahah hi there natlawdp, AFAP Raggett isn't me.

Hev was part of the 'mustard/colorful blazer' wave that thrived on the safer/fun side of Yo! MTV Raps

This, BTW, is a perfect summary.

if the first mainstream rap break-throughs were Run DMC, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, Hev was part of the 'mustard/colorful blazer' wave that thrived on the safer/fun side of Yo! MTV Raps- Fresh Prince, Kid & Play, MC Hammer, Kwame... He was still right up there in the mix when PE, BDK, EPMD, Brand Nubian, NWA, De La, Tribe were biggest.

I don't think these divisions are hard and fast at all - D cites Tribe upthread as being "more respected" or whatever but y'know Tribe namedrops Trouble T-Roy on Low End Theory. And Heavy D came up with Marley Marl, who was sort of in a different league from Kwame, Kid & Play, MC Hammer etc. Hev was a crossover artist no doubt but he was a legit, respected rapper, with good reason.

mustard and other super-saturated color blazers on men were one of my favorite things about early 90s fashion. i associate them with keenan ivory wayans and with taye diggs in go but def heavy d was part of that as well.

although there's a vaguely weird patheticness to their recent output, i kind of wish heavy d hadn't graduated to the background & instead joined naughty by nature in occasionally releasing tracks that jam into the twilight of his career -- 'nuttin but love' is like the exact parallel to 'jamboree' in career arc terms, and treach is similarly underrated today

funny- as 'back in the day' as Heavy seems, he's basically the same age as Pharoahe Monch, Jay-Z, and Will Smith.

Fresh Prince is backer in the dayer than Heavy D!

a diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly dee
dude always had a lot of calloway in him

the best thing about that pre-Wu/BIG/Jay era is the diversity amongst top artists

-if you put together a 'Self-Destruction' or 'All In The Same Gang' today, there would be gaps in the lanes filled by Public Enemy, Humpty/Digital Underground (unless you got Doom), NWA/Above The Law/Stetsasonic (aka 'rap groups'), and of course- no big guys with pleasant dispositions.

plus everybody pretty much dresses alike.

not to mention a modern West Coast version would be full of unrecognizable people and Tyler cursing about his father.

(ps. sorry for the confusion D-40 & Ned!)

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/obama-sends-note-heavy-d-funeral-200138883.html

oooh i like it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RZUuw5m6UM&feature=related

...it was good to me.

Nuttin but love !

at the moma restaurant yesterday afternoon, saw a woman showing the other people at her table the program from the funeral; wanted to say something but what the hell do you say?

"...adiddlydiddlydiddlydiddly...."

"black dress no sugar no cream, that's the kind of girl i need down at my wake"

got nuttin but votes
Heavy D – Singles Poll