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May 01, 2020

Influential hip-hop artist Stezo dies aged 51

Old school hip hop icon, rapper, producer, dancer, and EPMD affiliate Stezo (Steve Williams) has passed away aged 51, Spin reports. Stezo first appeared on the hip-hop scene as a dancer for EMPD in their 1988 video for 'You Gots to Chill'. He eventually dropped his debut album, 'Crazy Noise' in 1989, which peaked at number 73 on the Billboard U.S. Tributes are coming in from fellow hip-hoppers - Stretch Armstrong said “I never knew the brother, but he made some of the best records in one of the most competitive and innovative periods in hip-hop".

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This is gonna happen a lot. Before Hammer’s pants, there was #Stezo...before we all abused that #SkullSnaps #ItsANewDay break...there was Stezo. Before #AtomicDog fed an ENTIRE GENRE....there was Stezo. While your favorite rapper was asking so & so & such & such to do some beats for em....Stezo was doing it all himself. I mean for gods sake this man made #SteveMartin cool to a hip hop generation too young to get King Tut/The Jerk/& a wild & crazy guy references—-he turned Steve Martin into the coolest verb EVER in 1988 (google #EPMD’s #YouGotsToChill video to see dances that defined a generation—-we talk about MCs/producers/videos/movies/icons from 87-92 but rarely give light to the iconic dances that came from that era—Stezo was always my fav dancer from this era (yes I know the Kid N Play dance was iconic too) but when you don’t have a partner to kick it with? Then yknow...lol——this dude is displaying ALL the moves that others will build empires on. Damn this damn virus man. Damn. Thank you @stezodezo

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