Hip-Hop pioneer, DJ and producer DJ EZ Rock died on Saturday due to complications caused by Type 2 diabetes. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 1994 and took a hiatus from music as a result.
EZ Rock who's, government name is Rodney Bryce reached his height as a DJ when he paired with rapper Rob Base on the 1988 mega hit "It Takes Two". The record sampled Lyn Collins' 1972 hit "Think About It". The spoken word intro used a sample from "Space Dust" by The Galactic Force band which was released in 1978. It Takes Two is one of the most popular classics in the history of recorded rap music.
Harlem native EZ Rock grew up with his long time partner Rob Base whom he met in the fourth grade. "I had moved from the Bronx at the time and I didn't really have any
friends in the area. We sat next to each other and just started talking
and went on from there. We played baseball together and became close
friends very quickly. We were the comedians in the class; the class
clowns that were loud and always joked around" said Rob Base of his late friend. Rob Base went on to say "With "It Takes Two," we were at a friend's house and we
were just going through a bunch of records. We had to go to the studio
that night and we didn't have anything prepared, but we found and liked
the
Lyn Collins sample that
night and went to the studio. We didn't think that it would cross over
and be as big as it became. We thought it would be what was called back
then a "Tri-state area" song.
Rob Base continued, "The last time I spoke to him was right before he went into the hospital
for the last time. He was telling me a lot of the things he was going
through and I was telling him, "I want you to come back out on the
road." I was going through a situation myself where my wife had just
passed away, so me and him were talking a lot and he was helping me get
through my problems. He was coming out to the shows again, but he was
really sick. He was talking about getting himself together so he could
come back out and DJ again. That was last month. He was in the hospital
for nearly two months before he passed. He went in and that was that."
The Visual Caffeine staff was fortunate to have spent time with DJ EZ Rock. The footage in this short is from VISUAL CAFFEINE episode 5. In this
episode EZ Rock and Lord Yoda X drop science on their trip to Iraq-where
they rocked it for the troops.
We miss you my friend!
Rest in Power!!
