If, like TheVine, you grew up during the 1990s, then you almost certainly watched Heavy D and the Boyz at least once on Video Hits. In particular, 'Now That We Found Love' was one of those ubiquitous early '90s songs, and for all that it was insanely catchy and liable to lodge itself in your head for days, it was also a pretty great pop song – a radio-friendly landmark in the good-natured pre-gangsta era of hip hop, a soulful tune that placed Heavy D and his Boyz right up there with the likes of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest as turn-of-the-decade rap royalty.
So it was with a surprisingly strong wave of sadness that we read of Heavy D's death this morning at the age of only 44. The news broke – as ever in 2011 – via Twitter, with hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash tweeting that he'd "just heard Heavy D passed away". The story was followed up by
Spin and ubiquitous gossip website TMZ, who reported that the rapper was taken to a Los Angeles hospital at midday yesterday, and was pronounced dead an hour later. As far as we know, no cause of death has yet been confirmed.
Apart from "Now That We Found Love", Heavy D and the Boyz had five Billboard Top 40 hits, and the rapper also enjoyed the respect of the generation who followed, and was memorably name-checked by the Notorious BIG in the all-time classic 'Juicy' ("I used to read Word Up magazine/Salt N Pepa and Heavy D all up in the limousine"). Although his career stalled during the 2000s, he'd recently made a comeback of sorts, with a performance at the BET Hip Hop Awards marking his first TV appearance for 15 years. And barely 24 hours ago, he tweeted about Joe Frazier's death, and sent a final, poignant message an hour later: "BE INSPIRED".
RIP.
Tom Hawking
Heavy D & The Boyz 'Now That We Found Love'