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Sooner or later we all become familiar with the notion that death is a part of life and though we know this to be true it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with it when the time comes. A few days after Juice WRLD passed away Hip-Hop suffered another loss as OG Boogie Down Bronx graffiti artist Phase 2 (real name Lonny Wood) lost his fight to Lou Gehrig’s disease earlier during the week.
Hip-Hop promoter Van Silk spoke to HipHopDX about the sad news and told them that the legendary Bronx bomber/Hip-Hop DJ had been hospitalized since August with the rare neurodegenerative disease.
Though many of today’s Hip-Hoppers aren’t familiar with the man or his work, a gang of OG’s of the culture and day one Hip-Hoppers took to social media to pay their respects to Phase 2 and remember his contribution to the culture.
Not only was PHASE 2 one of the first aerosol artists to exhibit the art form, he DJ’ed, rapped, made logos for Mike & Dave Records of Cash Crew fame and was a member of the B-Boy crew Electrified Movement as well. He was also responsible for assembling another infamous B-Boy crew called The New York City Breakers.
Around the mid ’80s, PHASE 2 began art directing and co-editing the notorious street writing and subway art publication IGTimes. Basically, PHASE 2 lived and breathed Hip Hop. His “Funky Nous Deco” style, as he called it, influenced several of his successors.
R.I.P Phase 2
Check out some of the posts below.
Follow @‘magicbaltimore’Hip-Hop Mourns The Passing Of OG Graffiti Artist Phase 2 was originally published on hiphopwired.com
