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Jurassic 5 – “The Way We Do It” (Prod. Heavy D) (Video)

Pizzo — Tue, 20 May 2014 23:34:46 +0000

Good news, people of earth. Jurassic 5 is back together. Everyone, Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark included.

Nas Speaks On Heavy D’s Input On “The Don”

Pizzo — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:59:25 +0000

“When Salaam played me the beat for it, I said, ‘That’s the single — do this and do that and we’re golden.’ So he started flipping it around. When we heard that Heavy D died, of course we were messed up, and Salaam called me and told me, ‘You know your record “The Don”? You know who gave me that, right?’ He’s like, ‘Heavy D gave me that. He liked what we did with the other single, “Nasty,” and he sent me this record.’ And the rest is history. So rest in peace, Heavy D.”

Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, Goodie Mob, Naughty By Nature, Kurtis Blow Pay Tribute To Heavy D

Pizzo — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:20:12 +0000

The 2011 Soul Train awards had a fitting tribute to the late Heavy D, featuring Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, Goodie Mob, Naughty By Nature, Kurtis Blow, and more.

Photos: Heavy D's Funeral Service

Pizzo — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:01:12 +0000

Lots of familiar faces came out for Heavy D’s funeral service at Grace Baptist Church on November 18, 2011 in Mount Vernon, New York. Among them were Jay-Z, Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, Queen Latifah, Russell Simmons, Flava Fla, Chris Rock, and others.

President Obama sent a letter to Heavy’s family, stating “We extend our heartfelt condolences at this difficult time. He will be remembered for his infectious optimism and many contributions to American music. Please know that you and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers,” as read at the service by Rev. Al Sharpton.

B.o.B. Speaks On "Epic" New Mixtape and Heavy D

Pizzo — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:53:21 +0000

B.O.B. came through the Morning Riot to talk about his new mixtape, thoughts on Heavy D and the Lupe Fiasco situation with “Nothin On You”.

R.I.P. Heavy D

Pizzo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:55:59 +0000

TMZ has revealed that pioneering hip-hop icon Heavy D, aka Dwight Arrington Myers, has passed away at age 44, suffering from respiratory issues. The website reports:

Heavy D had just returned from shopping and walked up some stairs when he began having trouble breathing. Adam Mills, a designer who was in the building and knew Heavy D, found him leaning against a railing and clearly in distress. Adam tells us he cradled Heavy D in his lap as others called 911. Adam says Heavy D was conscious and said to him, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” When paramedics took Heavy D to the hospital he had a pulse. People in the building are saying he died of a heart attack, but we have not been able to confirm that. Law enforcement sources tell us … no foul play was involved and so far they only know the cause of death was “medical.”

Heavy D was one of the first rappers to bring hip-hop into the mainstream in the late 80′s and early 90′s, with hits like “We Got Our Own Thang” and “Now That We Found Love”, as well as performing the intro to The Wayans family’s comedy sketch show In Living Color. Heavy D was also responsible for introducing the world to Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, with Pete being a producer on the 1989 Big Tyme LP. Heavy also spit the classic line “Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth was on stage drinking Cisco” on “Gyrlz, They Love Me”, to be later sampled by Pete on their early single “Mecca & The Soul Brother”. Their hit “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” was written for Trouble T-Roy, a member of Heavy D & The Boyz who died in 1990.

Pete Rock told MTV news, “No words can describe the sadness I feel inside my heart. Hev was my biggest cheerleader, introduced me to the game and he Dwight Errington Meyers p/k/a Heavy D most importantly was my family. This is a very sad night for me. He was good to be true.”

The Top 10 Michael Jackson Hip-Hop Collaborations Of All Time

Pizzo — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:54:30 +0000

Sure, Michael Jackson’s legacy has been sampled to death, carving out a number of hit records for various artists including Jay-Z (“Izzo”), Kanye West (“Good Life”), Nas (“It Ain’t Hard To Tell”), and tons more. What you may not be aware of however is how many times Michael has tapped these same artists to appear on his own records. Here are MJ’s top collaborations with hip-hop artists of all time. No bootlegs or unofficial releases are included in this list.

10. “Jam” (feat. Heavy D) – “Jam” was 1992 single from Michael’s Dangerous album, an album produced with Teddy Riley, as he stepped into the 90′s with the era’s disposable New Jack Swing sound. While the single’s ambitious video featured MJ on the court with the other MJ (Michael Jordan), it also marked the first time he would share mic time with a rapper: Heavy D. Heavy was in his element here, at the time being looked at as the “safe rapper” to go to for projects like this, much different than Biggie’s mismatched appearance on “This Time Around”.

9. “HIStory (The Ummah Remix)” – Wha-huh? Just how far do the arms of J. Dilla reach? Yes, Jay Dee was commissioned to remix Michael Jackson in 1997 for “HIStory”, the lead single for MJ’s greatest hits album of the same name. Unfortunately, while the honor was great, “HIStory” was not a hit for MJ. Still, it’s interesting to hear Michael over a beat that could have essentially went on A Tribe Called Quest’s Beats, Rhymes, & Life, with Dilla’s trademark snapping drums and hollowed out basslines.

8. “2 Bad” (Refugee Camp Remix) / “Blood On The Dancefloor (Refugee Camp Remix)” – In 1997, The Fugees were just coming off of their success with The Score, and Michael Jackson tapped them for his remix album, Blood On The Dancefloor. While Lauryn was not involved with the project, Wyclef got busy on a pair of remixes, the highlight being the lead single and title track, where ‘Clef took it back to basics sampling classic breaks for Michael to rock over. One can also surmise that this was the highlight of John Forte’s career.

7. “This Time Around” (feat. Notorious B.I.G.) – On paper, this seems like a natural contender for the best Michael Jackson hip-hop collabo of all time, however the end result wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. This was recorded and finished when both artists were alive, back in 1995. The problem with it is the overly pop production of Maurice Joshua that didn’t mesh with the type of records we were used to hearing B.I.G. on. Listening to it now, it sounds incredibly dated, however Biggie comes nice with his, shouting out Mike at the end of the verse. Who wants to put money on Diddy remixing the song for 2010 remix single?

6. “Butterflies (Trackmasters Remix feat. Eve)” – After the success of “You Rock My World”, Mike stuck to the script with the hip-hop remixes, again employing the Trackmasters to reinvent his sound for Invincible. The duo cheekily jacks Redman’s “Tonites Da Night”, as Michael sings “I want to be with you toooniiiight”, with Eve backing him up. Typically we’d frown on this kind of thing, but Mike sounds so cool on this vibey, smoothed out track.

5. “Billie Jean (Kanye West Remix)” – Of course if you ask Kanye, he’ll tell you this is the number 1 Michael Jackson hip-hop collabo of all time, but hey. It’s kind of hard to improve upon perfection, so when word got out that Kanye was remixing “Billie Jean” for Thriller’s 25th Anniversary reissue, hopes got sky high, but the final product was a bit of a let down. ‘Ye got rid of the song’s trademark bassline, opting instead for the symphonic string section sound found on Late Registration, as well as some hard-hitting drums. We’d expected Kanye to drop a hot sixteen bars, but apparently this is one case where he kept his ego in check, and remained silent.

4. “I Want You Back” – Jackson 5 (Z-Trip Remix) – Z-Trip’s remix of Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back” for the 2005 Motown Remixed compilation is the ultimate love letter to the song, as he essentially breaks down and reconstructs the song, with different drum patterns, extended bridges, and a cut section. It’s hard to imagine that this song could sound as strong without the familar piano intro, but Z pulls it off with ease.

3. “The Girl Is Mine 2008 (feat. will.i.am)” – One of the other tracks from Thriller’s 2008 reissue showed the potential of what MJ could sound like with current production. Rather than simply remixing Mike’s old collabo with Paul McCartney, will crafted an entire new song with a new hook, new lyrics, and completely fresh sound for the king of pop, proving that the comeback that never happened may have been possible had he lived.

2. “Unbreakable (feat. Notorious B.I.G.)” – Taking a page from B.I.G.’s “Unbelievable”, this 2004 posthumous collabo almost recreates Biggie’s original beat, but flips the script on it so it’s not a complete bite (much like Diddy did in his early Bad Boy days). Big’s verse was reused from Shaq’s (!) debut album title track “You Can’t Stop The Reign”, however we predict in time it will be remembered for his verse here. This track was one of the lesser known selections from Invincible, as something else reigned supreme that year….

1. “You Rock My World (Trackmasters Remix feat. Jay-Z)” – This is easily Mike’s best collaboration with a rapper, hands down. The song dropped in 2001, two weeks after the September 11th attacks, and two weeks after Jay-Z dropped his classic, The Blueprint. This was the lead single to his Invincible LP, and was incredibly relevent at the time, getting major spins from just about every radio deejay in every market. Jay-Z’s opening verse sealed the deal.

Honorable Mention: Akon – “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough 2008″ – While we liked Akon’s treatment of the song for the 2008 reissue of Thriller, this was actually a cover of the song, not a collaboration.

Dishonorable Mention: Fergie – “Beat It 2008″ – Really, bitch? Get your ass off this song.