"The members of UTFO just left EMD on his deathbed in the hospital.....which we all found out he's been in for a month"
I immediately grabbed my bluetooth, put it in my ear, and stepped onto the back porch and closed the door. I called Kang. "Yeah, I figured that would make you call" he said as he answered. "Yo, what the fuck happened??" Kangol proceeded to tell me that E was withered away to basically nothing, unrecognizable, from cancer. He told me that E has basically spoken his last words, and is now too weak to even speak. Kangol Kid, Doc Ice, and Mixmaster Ice were gathered in a circle holding hands and holding EMD's hands and praying for a miracle. At that moment, old beefs were set non-existent. No egos were in place, no one was an international star....At that moment, it was just Shawn Fequiere, Maurice Bailey, and Fred Reeves, praying for Jeffrey Campbell. Four men who just yesterday were boys from the neighborhood, who made it big with a hit song that would dominate the airwaves and create a storm of answer records, the likes the record industry had never seen.
Kangol proceeded to tell me the story of how nobody knew that this was going on. Not even the member who was closest to E, Mixmaster. But as soon as Mixmaster found out, he immediately flew to New York, and reached out to Doc and Kang. They all converged on the hospital to see E and basically to say goodbye. What they found was no longer The Educated Rapper, but their friend from the neighborhood, Jeff Campbell. But not even really him any longer. Just a shell of what was once a vibrant man and dynamic rapper.
This is all very difficult for me to even go into. Not because I work with Kang, and know Doc and Ice and have spoken with E. You have to understand this one thing. My very introduction to rap, was "Beats and Rhymes". Of course I had heard "Rapper's Delight", but THAT song made me fall in love with rap. From 1983, I was a fan of UTFO. I grew up on their music. I shoplifted the Skeezer Pleezer album from KMart, because I didn't have the money to purchase it, but I HAD to have it! I was in the army when "Lethal" came out. "Doin It" had some of my favorite tunes on it, even though it would mark the departure of Doc Ice, to embark on a solo career. I also LOVED Doc's solo album "The Mic Stalker". I have a funny story about that album but i'll get into that in another post. I bought and even enjoyed most of "Bag it and Bone It", although without the presence of all four members, the album just wasn't the same. EMD has been a part of my life for 34 years! He's been a part of most of my generation's lives as well.
EMD was much more than just a classic rap artist. He was a valedictorian, an expert in the field of communications. He was a founding father of Hip Hop, a founding member of one of the hottest bands on the planet at one time. He was part of the reason that newspapers had to be hidden during a particular tour, because the papers all talked about how UTFO had torn the house down in last night's concert and stolen the show from it's headliners, New Edition. He was a voice we breakdanced to in the 80s. But much more than that, he was a brother to three other guys who stormed the world and helped put Brooklyn on the musical map.
Rest well, sir. Thank you for the years and music. You WILL be missed.
Buon Anima
