Kool Herc Gets Choked Up as He Remembers Heavy D

Everyone is mourning the death of hip-hop great Heavy D, including Kool Herc.

XXL caught up with the father of hip-hop last night (November 10) at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., and witnessed him get choked up as he shared his feelings on the recent passing of Heav, who he dubbed a "humble gentle lion."

"[Heavy D] was on the lively side of the culture, the funny stuff, the witty stuff," Herc explained. "[He wasn't on any] mayhem, break you up, kill you [tip]. None of that. You’d never find Heavy on none of that.”

The Bronx native, who dealt with his own health problems earlier this year, says he wants to use his platform to speak on the importance of staying healthy.

"I’m gonna be the poster boy or whatever they wanna call it, man, with cancer, [or] whatever," he vowed, adding that he's "seeing a lot of my peers and peers of my people [and] of my family in hip-hop not here. It’s sad, man, real sad."

Kool Herc attended Rutgers University as a guest speaker and DJ for their Narratives of Power Conference. After a brief Q&A, Herc rocked the crowd by playing everything from classic b-boy cuts to modern club bangers that covered the span of his four-decade long career.— Mike Hennix