Artifacts Rapper, Tame One, Dead at 52

Tame One ©Twitter

Underground hip-hop legend Rahem Brown — who utilizing the sobriquet Tame One comprised the influential nineties rap group Artifacts along with El Da Sensai and DJ Kaos — passed away over the weekend at the age of 52.

His mother broke the news on Sunday evening in a Facebook post.

“I can’t express this any other way,” Darlene Brown Harris posted. “My son, Rahem Brown, Tamer Dizzle Is Dead.”

She went on to say that the cause of his death was likely a drug reaction, though authorities would know more once an autopsy is performed adding, “The medical examiner says the six pharmaceutical drugs that Trinitas hospital prescribed to him last Friday, combined with the weed he smoked over this weekend…his heart simply gave out.”

The news was met with a profound wave of mourning in the hip-hop community.

Rock Steady Crew legend Crazy Legs, rapper Immortal Technique and producer Just Blaze were among the many friends, admirers and collaborators who took to the internet to share their love for the deceased MC.

RIP #TameOne of Artifacts. #hiphop #mc #emcee #90shiphop pic.twitter.com/qfo9teRlRq

— Crazy Legs (@CrazyLegsBX) November 7, 2022

Rest In Power Tameone. I can’t believe it.

— Immortal Technique (@ImmortalTech) November 7, 2022

However, the emotional post from his former partner El Da Sensai on Facebook in reaction to the news stood out.

“I'm crushed. I'm ok...not ok. I feel every kinda way!!! My brothers are gone!!!! I'm sorry I seen a lot of y'all calling me. I just need a moment to process all this sh—t,” he wrote. I'm shocked…devastated as a lot of you are. This is not fair...not like this.”

He continued, “Darlene Brown Harris im so sorry. I love you. Your son was like a brother to me and we shared a gift With the world and stood the test of time even when we didnt know we werecapable. I'm proud of us.. Tame & Kaos do y'all hear me? We just put out some of our best work yet and now your gone. I will never understand this but I have to except it.”

Newark, New Jersey, natives, Brown, Kaos (who passed away in 2019) and El Da Sensai released the Artifacts debut album “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” in 1994.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Blaze (@justblaze)

Underground audiences gravitated to it, spurred on by hit singles like “Wrong Side of da Tracks” which highlighted the group's love of the graffiti scene in which they were active participants, and features by prominent artists like Brown’s first cousin Redman.

The group would release one more album, 1997’s “That’s Them” before disbanding and taking a 25-year hiatus before releasing their final project of new material, “No Expiration Date” in August of this year.

Brown found success outside the group, releasing music well into the new millennium. His 2003 solo debut “When Rappers Attack” drew praise from music critics. He also served as a member of the underground supergroup Weathermen alongside its founder Cage, El-P, Aesop Rock and several other notable underground stars.

Rapper Hurricane G, First Female Hit Squad Member, Dead at 52

Hurricane G in a screengrab from her video for "Somebody Else." 

Trailblazing rapper Hurricane G is dead at 52.

Hip-hop legend Erick Sermon, who shared a daughter with her, of EPMD confirmed the news on Sunday. 

“My heart is hardened today. One of my good friends… my oldest daughters mother passed away today,” Sermon wrote on Instagram in a touching tribute.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Erick Sermon (@erick_sermon)

He added that Hurricane G, born Gloria Rodríguez, was "a legend in her own right in the Hiphop community."

"She rapped with me. @redmangilla she paved the way," Sermon said.

The Brooklyn native never forgot her roots. She performed in both English and Spanish throughout a career spanning 30 years.

She was the first female member of Hit Squad — the hip-hop collective originally formed by Sermon and his partner-in-rhyme with EPMD, Parrish Smith, in the 1990s. Hurricane G made her mark on the loaded roster which included future icons Redman and Das EFX.

Her career as a solo artist peaked in 1997 with the release of "Somebody Else." The single, from her debut album "All Woman," charted at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart.

Her impact went far beyond her own music, though, through collaborations over the years with several prominent artists, including Redman, Xzibit and Diddy.

Hurricane G's appearance on Redman's 1992 hit "Tonight’s da Night" was her big break in the industry. She also was featured on tracks with Keith Murray, Delinquent Habits, Funkdoobiest and the Cocoa Brovaz.

In 1999, she was featured on the track "P.E. 2000" from Diddy's platinum-certified second album, "Forever." 

Her final solo effort was 2013's "Mami & Papi," featuring Thirstin Howl III.

No cause of death was given for the artist, but her daughter Lexus Sermon, revealed on Facebook in May that her mom was battling lung cancer.

"My mom has stage 4 lung cancer," captioned a photo of her mother smiling. "Don't know how many of you understand what that means but even after 30 years of life I'm still trying to process it myself. I have never cried so much in my life I have never felt so disconnected from reality in my life.

"Yet my mom still managed to be the one to hold it together and say ''don't worry baby everything's gonna be alright."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lexus Sermon (@lexxcannon)

Diddy Announces $185 Million Cannabis Deal

Sean "Diddy" Combs

A lot of rappers have claimed they got their start selling drugs to support their art. However, Sean "Diddy" Combs was a Howard University man before leaving the prestigious historically Black university early to pursue his music dreams.

With sweeping changes in attitudes towards some Schedule 1 drugs, as well as laws governing the production and distribution of cannabis specifically, the music and fashion mogul has decided the time is right to enter the game. Like everything else he does, the brash billionaire is doing it big.

Today, the entrepreneur announced his agreement to purchase licensed cannabis operations from Cresco Labs Inc. and Columbia Care Inc., two of the largest cannabis businesses in the U.S., for up to $185 million.

If U.S. and state regulators approve the deal, Combs will control an operation that has licensed marijuana operations in three states — making the new entity the nation's largest Black-owned cannabis company.

"My mission has always been to create opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in industries where we've traditionally been denied access, and this acquisition provides the immediate scale and impact needed to create a more equitable future in cannabis," Combs, Chairman and CEO of Combs Enterprises, said of his reasons for making the purchase. "Owning the entire process — from growing and manufacturing to marketing, retail, and wholesale distribution — is a historic win for the culture that will allow us to empower diverse leaders throughout the ecosystem and be bold advocates for inclusion."

Combs told the Wall Street Journal he desired to get into the business to help address long-running inequities that have seen Black people disproportionately arrested and jailed for marijuana crimes even as they make up a "tiny" percentage of the market for legal weed.

"It's diabolical," Combs, 53, said. "How do you lock up communities of people, break down their family structure, their futures, and then legalize it and make sure that those same people don't get a chance to benefit or resurrect their lives from it?"

If approved, the sale will give Combs significant entry into a legal market currently worth $27 billion annually. His company would be able to grow and manufacture cannabis products and wholesale and distribute those branded products to licensed dispensaries in major metro areas, including New York, Boston and Chicago, as well as operate retail stores in all three states.