Heavy D - Final Bow

Through the years, I have managed to keep hold of only two two ticket stubs from my early days as a hip-hop junkie: Eric B & Rakim headlining at the Chicago Amphitheater in 1990, and Dana Dane co-headlining with Heavy D at the historic Regal Theater in 1988. As might be expected, each of these little mementos carries with them a sizable memory. Especially the latter.

Heavy D would effortlessly live up to his growing reputation as a consummate showman that night in March of '88: he powered through rhymes with style, leapt in and out of dance routines with finesse, and delivered roses like a plus-sized pimp during the Al B. Sure chorused "Don't You know." The Overweight Lover was in the house that night, showing fans what it really meant to be large and in charge.

Years before other emcee heavyweights like Fat Joe, Notorious B.I.G., Big Pun or Rick Ross would come to play the role of "big papa," there was Heavy D. He was the first rapper to throw his weight around not as a goofy gimmick (a la The Fat Boys), but to show-and-prove that bigger could also be better. He was one of the best to ever rock a mic, and his place in the pantheon of hip-hop greats is remembered.

Dwight Arrington Myers (aka Heavy D)
May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011

Download: Mr. Cee's Heavy D Tribute Mix (Courtesy of the HOT 97 “Throwback at Noon” and Strawberryblunt.com)