One of hip-hop’s old-school pioneering DJs, Eddie Cheeba (real name Edward Sturgis), has passed away aged 67 after being in hospital for over a year. The DJ was highly respected in the culture.
The news was shared by Def Jam co-founder and mogul Russell Simmons on February 13th, who credited the New York City DJ and rapper with inspiring him to enter the music industry.
Taking to Instagram, the Def Jam icon wrote, “One more legendary groundbreaking rapper has passed, and the hip-hop community was too uneducated to give him the proper flowers he deserved.”
Drawing awareness to Cheeba’s standing as one of hip-hop’s original radio gatekeepers, Simmons continued, “It was Cheeba or Hollywood, and if u couldn’t get one of those, definitely go get a smaller venue. Make sure u reach out and get Love Bug Starsky (rip) and charge less, but that’s the fact.”
Simmons added, “It was in that order they were the 3 biggest stars, and they were the reason we got to make rap records as a promoter of hip-hop promoting all 5 boroughs I’m 100000% sure that before there was a recording art when there was only performance artists.”
He concluded, “Eddie Cheeba was a major mastermind of hip-hop. All these rich rappers and ‘moguls’ you are standing on his shoulders!!!!! GIVE THE MAN HIS FLOWERS RIP THE GREAT LEGENDARY EDDIE CHEBA.”
Last October, Cheeba was admitted to the hospital for an unknown illness. Following his admission, Simmons informed the hip-hop scene that Sturgis was at risk of death and, as usual, emphasised his high standing in the culture.