Remembering Chris Lighty
Danyel Smith wrote a great piece about Lighty over at NPR:
Chris himself moved through life with a smooth, mean grace cultivated with his siblings, the notorious Lighty Brothers, in the rust and rubble of the ’70s and ’80s Bronx. This during an era when crack was only wack if you were doing it (as opposed to selling it) and when hip-hop was learning to walk in the Sedgwick Avenue apartment of DJ Kool Herc. Chris Lighty has been down with hip-hop since Day One. He comes from a generation of entrepreneurs — Russell Simmons, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter — who dared act a part close to their actual selves in corporate America. They studied Berry Gordy and Ahmet Ertegun. They told each other tragedy-laced stories about black artists of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s who “died broke,” or “didn’t keep their publishing,” or just plain old got played by a business that used and abused them. Lighty — and I know this because he’s told me — wasn’t having any of that. He wanted to, and did, win.
Writing for Complex, Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, explains what is was about Lighty’s character that helped him take Rap to another level:
What I do know is that Chris had seen his share of problems over the years and succeeded despite it all. It’s what made him so compelling as a character. Chris Lighty was passionately and sometimes violently loyal to his friends. The boy who busted up the Latin Quarter with his crew the Violators became the man who faced down Suge Knight to protect his mentor, Lyor Cohen. It’s that same heart that made him feel so acutely the pain of betrayal by people like Cohen, or Michael Ovitz, or any number of knuckleheaded artists who, to paraphrase that great poet Jerry Maguire, just couldn’t help Lighty help them.
In related news, Dave Lighty shared some of the suspicions he has about the circumstances of his brother’s death with Lisa Evers. The death has now been officially ruled a suicide by the medical examiner. Audio below via IFWT.
See also: Datwon Thomas for the New York Daily News | Jon Caramanica for the New York Times
Finally, DJ Wonder’s Lighty tribute mix. Tracklist here.
Previously: Lisa Evers Reports on Death of Chris Lighty
August 31st, 2012 at 3:29 pm
559-726-1000
915331#
…let go
August 31st, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Niggas is hoes
Where da 16s
Where’s da tough talk?
1033810
August 31st, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Niggas made me leave the Nike store for this?!?
August 31st, 2012 at 3:35 pm
damn oned himself over a bitch.
lifes ill.
August 31st, 2012 at 3:39 pm
lol, nigga in that cubi life, gotta be church mouse status,.
August 31st, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Where r they now?!?
August 31st, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Collect call from jail inmate
Doesnt accept
August 31st, 2012 at 3:43 pm
tHe kiD fRanKiE Says:
August 31st, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Niggas is hoes
Where da 16s
Where’s da tough talk?
^^
Lol!
He dipped out again after all that boasting. Smh.
*Time Lapse for FUPM Confronting Frankie*
0 Mos – 0 Days – 1 Hrs – 12 Min – 23 Sec…
0 Mos – 0 Days – 1 Hrs – 12 Min – 24 Sec…
0 Mos – 0 Days – 1 Hrs – 12 Min – 25 Sec…
August 31st, 2012 at 3:43 pm
this is painful to listen to, im in that cubi life, so I can be as vocal
August 31st, 2012 at 3:48 pm
0 Mos – 0 Days – 1 Hrs – 12 Min – 23 Sec…
0 Mos – 0 Days – 1 Hrs – 12 Min – 24 Sec…
0 Mos – 0 Days – 1 Hrs – 12 Min – 25 Sec…
^
lmao
August 31st, 2012 at 3:48 pm
“u livin broke life kid i can’t be u nigga
1720 N 5th I’m a see u nigga!”
August 31st, 2012 at 3:49 pm
niggas had me leave the kiosk and they aint rise to the call of action…shout out to tkf, kush, and cold …rest you niggas cant type tough for a while.
August 31st, 2012 at 3:50 pm
damm Veronica Lighty is bad.
she had that badu/kelis puss obviously
you can tell the nigga lighty was suffering from depression, just by how bloated he looks in that ny daily news pic. compared to a 2009 pic. Bitches be stressing niggas into depression, forcing them to take meds
so lets say that bitch was so fucked up he couldnt tolerate her, you leave that bitch to be the sole custodian of you kids ?
there has to be more to this.
August 31st, 2012 at 3:51 pm
niggas had me leave the kiosk and they aint rise to the call of action…shout out to tkf, kush, and cold …rest you niggas cant type tough for a while.
^
Be back in 15min ether
August 31st, 2012 at 3:51 pm
I’M TIRED OF THIS > I CANT TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE
August 31st, 2012 at 3:53 pm
You make it big, do you still bring your old hoes around?
August 31st, 2012 at 3:53 pm
*daps b*
August 31st, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Casket Face
1 min ago
niggas had me leave the kiosk and they aint rise to the call of action…shout out to tkf, kush, and cold …rest you niggas cant type tough for a while.
^^
Stop callin niggas
August 31st, 2012 at 3:54 pm
youtube.com/watch?v=Y3BsKOV4G1Y
^ SCARFACE suicidal toughts >>>
August 31st, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Fuck your call to action
BREAK BREAD
August 31st, 2012 at 3:56 pm
sometimes you may drink till the bottom empty
smoke a cig and cry yourself to sleep.
dark times.
maaaan.
August 31st, 2012 at 3:57 pm
my man Berk used to down a pint, and sound like Scarface, flow for days.
myyy nigga.
August 31st, 2012 at 3:58 pm
youtube.com/watch?v=xNhIQMs1HyY
just-ice & krs one – moshitup >>>
August 31st, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Fuck boy
Only 45 u tote is words per minute
Don’t talk dat street shit if Yount live it
Used to move trees yup to get my geez up
Just cuz I’m degreed up don’t mean u can’t get Swiss cheesed up
No bun no bread just beef
A ounce a kush my youngin leave ya brains in da streets
I asked my niggas /they said you was nobody
What da fuck u doin wit a gun? you no bodies!
Back seat fuck nigga Yount even ride shotty
But u type online like you John Gotti!
16 Os sell em 5 a piece
7 days later dat I’ll be 6Gs
Well connected tho I only paid 3
And that’s quick math
N I’m bumpin dat riff raff
Nigga I gets cash
U soft
Feminine frail
Nigga you bitch ass
I kno it’s crazy
Got niggas datll blast for me
They askin fee
Is only like a half a G
2 carats in my ear iont hear u nigga
Fear no nigga
Show up to Philly kill u nigga
-00
August 31st, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Is the call lines still open?
I have to finish up some docus.
September 1st, 2012 at 12:57 am
great piece on chris.
i salute you, eskay. in tragedies like this, nah right really stands head and shoulders above other blogs from a serious coverage standpoint. you and miss info really step up to the plate when the culture takes a hit.