Brooklyn Tribute - R.I.P. Murph
Our close friend, James Murphy, and one of our biggest show supporters unexpectedly passed away on January 26. Just 3 days after his 44th birthday. James was great person who made it his purpose in life to bring joy to others. I first met him in gym class my freshman year while discussing Brand Nubian’s In God We Trust. It was hip-hop that brought us together. Hip-hop was his passion, as it is for many of us. I was fortunate to experience many great concerts with him: A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Run-DMC, Brand Nubian, Heltah Skeltah, all the Rock The Bell tours too, but the one I'll never forget was Gang Starr. Guru was his absolute favorite. After the show he walked up to Guru, called him by his real name (Keith) and Guru was like, "you don't know me like that cousin." Of course, Guru was smiling, signed an auto and we all had our moment- a special moment we never forgot. They called James "MC Murf," even though he was far from an emcee. He reminded a lot of us of MC Serch. James was born and raised in Brooklyn and proud of it. He was BK to the fullest. When he passed I didn’t know what to do with myself. I still don't. Losing a close friend is never easy. We all grieve in different ways and mine was to throw myself into music. DJ 360 and myself decided the best way to celebrate James' life was to do a Brooklyn tribute in his honor. These are tracks that I knew he loved, but also tracks we love and ones we feel capture the essence of BK. We fully intend to do an entire show dedicated to the boroughs of New York, but for now, this is a mini-mix in honor of our friend, James and the great Kings County. We will never be able to replace James, as he was truly one of a kind, but we know he is still listening to us from upstairs. Rest in power, my brother.