Can we please have a moment of silence...

For Stan “the Man” Lee, founder of Marvel Comics, who died today (Nov. 12) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to family representative (via The Hollywood Reporter ). He was 95.

Born Stanley Martin Lieber on Dec. 28, 1922 in New York, the visionary writer/publisher created iconic comic-book characters such as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, Black Panther, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Thor, X-Men, the Avengers, the Defenders, Conan the Barbarian, and so many more. Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s the name was changed to Atlas Comics.

The Marvel branding began in 1961 with the launch of the The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles. Along with Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and many others, Marvel Comics delivered some of the greatest mythological figures of the 20 century through television, books and films. Lee also wrote a monthly comics column, “Stan's Soapbox,” and ending them with his signature catchphrase, “Excelsior!”

"I used to think what I did was not very important," he told the Chicago Tribune in April 2014. "People are building bridges and engaging in medical research, and here I was doing stories about fictional people who do extraordinary, crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed."

As a kid growing up in the ‘hood, I would spend half of my allowance money on Marvel comic books. My favorites were the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, Conan the Barbarian, Thor and the Defenders. Unlike DC Comics, Marvel's superheroes were people I could identify with because they had character flaws and hang-ups. For example, when Bruce Banner gets angry he turned into the Hulk and destroy everything around him. While people saw the Hulk as a menace, he was actually a gentle giant who is simply misunderstood. We all have that David Banner/Hulk "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry"-personality inside all of us.

Stan Lee has left a permanent mark on pop culture - especially in the movie business. In 2018, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp helped Marvel earned $4 billion at the box office.

However, before Lee's death, there have been questions about the vitality of his estate. According to The Daily Beast, Lee appeared to be the victim of "Hollywood charlatans and mountebanks" who are allegedly stealing money from his estate. According to one source close to the situation, “It’s a real fucking mess over there. I think his money will be gone in a few weeks...Stan and [his daughter] J.C. (Joan Celia) Lee are literally being picked apart by vultures."

After news broke of Stan Lee's death, his surviving family members issued a statement thanking fans who sent their well-wishes and condolences. It reads:

"J.C. Lee and all of Stan Lee's friends and colleagues want to thank all of his fans and well-wishers for their kind words and condolences," a family statement read. "Stan was an icon in his field. His fans loved him and his desire to interact with them. He loved his fans and treated them with the same respect and love they gave him."

Stan Lee will be sorely missed, but his imaginative spirit and Marvel Comics Universe will live on forever. 'Nuff said.

Peep the tributes/condolences to Stan Lee via social media below (click the link).

Can we please have a moment of silence for legendary jazz trumpeter Roy Anthony Hargrove.

The 49-year-old musician passed away on Friday night (Nov. 2) in New York. According to NPR, the cause of death was cardiac arrest. Hargrove's longtime manager, Larry Clothier, told NPR that he had been admitted to the hospital for medical issues related to kidney function; he had been on dialysis for many years.

Born in Waco, Texas in 1969, Hargrove was an enormously gifted musician who was discovered by iconic trumpeter Wynton Marsalis while he was still in high school. He would often sit with Marsalis and occasionally play sideman to his band. After high school, Hargrove attended Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music but left after one year and began his musical career in New York.

Hargrove was a brilliant experimenter in jazz. He was among the first to incorporate elements of hip-hop music into his repertoire back in the early '90s when doing so was often frowned upon by jazz purists. He created the RH Factor, a collective of artists that included like-minded musicians like James Poyser, Jonathan Batiste, and Bernard Wright, among many others. Affiliated members included Steve Coleman and Greg Osby (both of whom are part of the illustrious M-Base Collective).

“I think that music is so spread out,” he explain to veteran journalist/historian Nate Chinen about the RH Factor in 2003 (via JazzTimes). “There’s so many different worlds within music to be explored. Why limit yourself to just one?"

"When I was going to school at Berklee I noticed that there were a lot of cliques that had established themselves. There’s group A, group B, divisions and then subdivisions," he continued. "Because in the funk world you would have the straight-up fusion cats, and then you have cats that play behind straight-up R&B, and then you would have gospel in the middle of that. And in jazz, you would have cats who only played like Bird, bebop. And then the Trane cats. And you would have the progressive guys who were more into original music. So it was wild for me, because I would just go in and out of each one of these. I just never believed in limiting yourself to one way of playing.”

Hargrove's creative Neo-bop sound can be heard on his 1990 debut album Diamond on the Rough and on 1992's The Vibe. These two albums are the precursors to the late Guru's Jazzmatazz series. Greg Osby's debut effort 3-D Lifestyles (1993), Branford Marsalis' Buckshot LeFonque project (1994) and Herbie Hancock's Dis Is Da Drum (1994) are just a few albums that followed in Hargrove's progressive lead.

But Roy Hargrove Presents The RH Factor: Hard Groove project is his visionary take on the jazz, soul and hip-hop fusion. Overall, the album is a meticulous jam session with Hargrove's fluttery horn riffs highlighting the band's infectious live instrumentation. Standout tracks include the jazz-hop-inflicted "Poetry" (featuring Q-Tip and Erykah Badu) and the soulful love ballad "Kwah/Home" (featuring Anthony Hamilton).

Hargrove's musical amalgam wasn't regulated to just hip-hop, he dabbled in different genres of music as well. On his 1994 album Blues 'n Ballads, he incorporated blues to his jazz compositions and on 1995's Parker's Mood, Hargrove teamed up with bassist Christian McBride and pianist Stephen Scott to pay homage to the father of bebop Charlie Parker.

Hargrove also delivered his beautiful trumpeting on other artists' projects. He performed on Common's 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate, as well as on Erykah Badu’s 2000 project Mama’s Gun and her 2003 effort, Worldwide Underground. He also contributed his brass arrangements on both D’Angelo’s revered albums Voodoo and Black Messiah.

Among Hargrove's accolades include two Grammy Awards -- one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album in 2003 for Directions in Music and Best Latin Jazz Performance in 1998 for Habana, his stellar Afro-Cuban album recorded in Havana.

After hearing the sad news of Roy Hargrove's passing, artists such as Questlove, Erykah Badu, Eric Roberson, Anita Baker and many others tweeted their condolences.

You can read some of their tweets below.

The Great Roy Hargrove. He is literally the one man horn section I hear in my head when I think about music. To watch him harmonize with himself stacking nine horn lines on mamouth 10… https://t.co/ytaw0i8RWV

— Lavondrius Meagle (@questlove) November 3, 2018

🖤ROY HARGROVE.

— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) November 3, 2018

I have no words over the loss of my dear brother of 31 years. We played on a lot of sessions together, traveled a lot of miles together, laughed a lot together, bickered on occasion - and I wouldn’t change our relationship for anything in the world. Bless you, Roy Hargrove.

— Christian McBride (@mcbridesworld) November 3, 2018

Nah man... tough news to wake up to. Rest well #royhargrove. Thank you for the music, the style and the doors you opened for all of us. https://t.co/9lgK2xHzhH

— Eric Roberson (@IAmEricRoberson) November 3, 2018

Tonal, Melodic, from BeBop to Hip-hop. Soulful, BRILLIANT, Young Master... Roy Hargrove🙏 https://t.co/bz1RPJI0TY

— Anita Baker (@IAMANITABAKER) November 3, 2018

R.I.P Roy Hargrove, King. Everyone speaks to your incredible artistry which can certainly never be denied but, I learned in watching you that the truly great consider others. You were… https://t.co/JZ1cbQpSoF

— Christian Scott (@cscottjazz) November 3, 2018

OMG I just got home and saw this. #RIPRoyHargrove - Your family and friends have my sincerest condolences. Working with you and this team's tribute to #FelaKuti was unforgettable. https://t.co/7oQS7wvjLI

— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) November 3, 2018

Roy Hargrove will be sorely missed in the music community. May he rest in peace.

Listen to Roy Hargrove/the RH Factor's "Poetry" Feat. Q-Tip & E. Badu

Listen to D'Angelo's "Spanish Joint" Feat. Roy Hargrove

Watch Roy Hargrove Quintet's "Soulful"

Watch Roy Hargrove Quintet's "The Seattle Vibe"

The year 2016 has been one of the most mournful years that I can remember. So many of my musical and cultural heroes  have passed away this year. Today, June 18, we lost another Prince.

It’s with great sadness that I bring you news of the death of another influential figure in hip-hop. P.M. Dawn co-founder/rapper Prince Be has passed away at the age of 46. According to PEOPLE, Prince Be died of kidney disease at a hospital in New Jersey.

Prince Be (real name Attrel Cordes) formed P.M. Dawn with his brother, Jarrett Cordes, known as both DJ Minutemix and J.C. The Eternal, in 1988 in Jersey City, N.J.

The rap duo became only the third hip-hop act ever - and first black rappers - to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1991 with their single, "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss," which utilized a sample of Spandau Ballet's "True." They achieved commercial success with their debut album, Of the Heart, Of the Soul and Of the Cross: The Utopian Experience in 1991.

P.M. Dawn's second album, The Bliss Album...?, was another gold-selling success thanks to the LP's classic ballad, "I'd Die Without You," which anchored Eddie Murphy's romantic comedy, Boomerang.

P.M. Dawn would go on to release three more albums together, but none of them would reach the commercial success of their previous efforts. Cordes and his brother would eventually split up.

Unfortunately, Prince Be will also be remembered for his infamous run-in with KRS-One. As the urban legend goes, KRS and his crew ran up onstage and shoved Prince Be off and performed "The Bridge." This is in response to an interview in Details magazine where Prince Be said "KRS-One wants to be a teacher, but a teacher of what?" Needless to say, the Blastmaster wasn't feeling that and confronted P.M. Dawn on their own turf. "I answered his question," KRS-One later told USA Today. "I'm a teacher of respect."

After the duo separated, Prince Be's health started to decline stemming from his ongoing battle with diabetes. He suffered a stroke in 2005 that paralyzed the left side of his body, and his one of his legs was amputated below the kneecap.

"Prince Be Rest In Peace forever more, Pain from Diabetes can't harm you anymore," Cordes' cousin and P.M. Dawn member Doc G wrote on the group's Facebook page following Cordes' death. "My Heart is at Peace B-Cuz U suffered so long, Tell Grandma I said Hi & Stay Blisstatic & Strong."

The Roots drummer Questlove also posted a heartfelt tribute to Prince Be who he called the "Brian Wilson of hip-hop."

"Eccentric. Rich. Textured. Talented. A Sad Beauty. Melancholy....Genius? 3 Dimensional?" he wrote in referenced to Prince Be's songwriting and musical style.

Prince Be leaves behind his wife, Mary, and three children Christian, Mia and Brandon.

I want to send my deepest condolences to Cordes’ family and friends. May he rest in peace.

 

Art: New Yorker Magazine

 

It's been sixteen years since we lost the great one -- Notorious B.I.G.

You know how the story goes -- On March 9, 1997, the late Brooklyn rhyme-spitter was shot and killed in Los Angeles by an unknown gunman. The murder still remains unsolved despite various people popping up with their own conspiracy theories of who committed the dastardly act.

In conclusion, Los Angeles police detective Greg Kading -- who was assigned to investigate B.I.G.’s murder case between 2006 and 2009 -- told Complex magazine that the Biggie murder case may never get solved.

Although Biggie is gone, his musical legacy continues to be remembered by fellow hip-hoppers and fans alike. They are a slew of B.I.G. tributes on the Internet, here are just a few that may interest you:

Check out Beats and Rants's Notorious B.I.G. Big-Ups Tribute in 2012.

DJ Rude always wondered what if Biggie would sound like it he rapped on today's producers' hot beats. That experiment comes to fruition on his Notorious 9 EP. The collection features the late Frank White spitting bars over popular beats by hit-makers No I.D., Large Professor, Harry Fraud, the Alchemist, Jahlil Beats and a few others.

Watch: The Notorious B.I.G. & Puff Daddy live in London in March 1995. (Courtesy of Tim Westwood)

Notorious B.I.G. and His Coogi Fashion History

Obie Trice -- "Pocket Full" (Notorious B.I.G. Tribute)

Watch Bone, Thugs-N-Harmony Pay Tribute to Easy E, Biggie and Tupac Shakur

Rest in peace, Biggie. You are forever beloved.

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Can we please have several moments of silence for Chris Lighty, a visionary manager of hip-hop stars, who passed away on Thursday (Aug. 30) at age 44.

According to the New York Daily News, the Hip-Hop mogul was found dead at his Bronx apartment from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Authorities did recover a black semi-automatic pistol at the scene. Sources in law enforcement also told the newspaper that Lighty was going through some personal and financial struggles, including owing the IRS $5 million in unpaid taxes.

Mr. Lighty (aka "Baby Chris") started his career in the late 1980s working at Russell Simmons' RUSH Management firm and learning the ropes of the music business under the tutelage of Lyor Cohen at Def Jam Recordings. He later founded Violator Entertainment, which managed a roster of hip-hop's biggest rap superstars including 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Fat Joe, Ja Rule, Jungle Brothers, LL Cool J and many others. He was instrumental in introducing corporate America to hip-hop and helped rap artists with branding themselves to fashion labels and sneaker companies during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It was Lighty who convinced Gap to have LL Cool J promote its apparel and he secured endorsement deals for Busta Rhymes (with Mountain Dew) and A Tribe Called Quest (with Sprite's "Obey Your Thirst" campaign). Lighty also brokered an investment deal between 50 Cent and Glaceau (makers of Vitamin water) in 2004. Two years later, Coca-Cola buys out Glaceau for $1.2 billion and Fiddy pockets an estimated $60-100 million.

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of a hip-hop hero," said Russell Simmons in a statement. "Chris Lighty has been a dear friend of mine since he was a kid. Was a brilliant partner in business and I was so proud of all that he had accomplished. He is an amazing example of how a passionate kid from the street can go to the most even-keeled, smart, thoughtful manager in the business and a generous philanthropist. He was loved by everyone who knew him, including me. He will be missed greatly by all of us."

Moments after hearing the devastating news, the hip-hop community took to Twitter to share their condolences.

I Would Be Nothing Without YOU!!! My Kids Appreciate YOU God Bless Chris Lighty

— FAT JOE (@fatjoe) August 30, 2012

R.I.P. Chris Lighty. He Was A Dear Friend Of Mine And I Still Can't Believe It.

— iamdiddy (@iamdiddy) August 30, 2012

R I P Chris Lighty SMH to the mongrels that have made the BLACKmusic industry a depressing game to drag such good cats into a pit of bullsht

— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) August 30, 2012

Rest peacefully Chris Lighty, my prayers go out to family and loved ones! Dear God please have mercy

— Rihanna (@rihanna) August 30, 2012

U never know what can send a person over the edge or make them want 2 keep living. take it easy on people. We are so fragile.

— Mary J. Blige (@maryjblige) August 30, 2012

Rest in Power, Chris Lighty. You were a visionary in the rap game and your impact will be forever felt in hip-hop. Thank you. Heartfelt condolences to the Lighty Family.