For LEFTist

The Hip-Hop community lost one of its most impressive people this week. He won’t have books written about him like 2Pac, or have his songs stay in rotation on Hot97 eight years after his passing like Biggie. Heck, a lot of people may not have even heard of him, but there is no doubt that to those that knew him LEFTist of the Mindspray crew was an important and beloved individual. On Monday night LEFTist was hit by an oncoming truck while walking home. He did not survive the accident and now the Mindspray crew is down one member and the Hip-Hop world is down one amazing representative.

I met LEFTist through my friend Dyalekt, who I’ve known forever. Dyalekt had joined the Brooklyn, NY, based Mindspray crew a few years ago and at the first show I went to I met almost the entire crew, LEFTist included. There were three things that I instantly noticed about LEFTist, who was originally from North Carolina, the first being his trademark fedora hat which he wore for every show. Second, it would have been impossible not to notice his genuine and effusive smile. When LEFTist smiled you wanted to smile, too. There was just something about the total honesty of it, you knew that he actually wanted to smile, he wasn’t just putting one on for you to try to act happy, he truly was a happy person. The final element of LEFTist that I noticed was the purity of the openness of his soul. Everyone he met became his friend, it was like there was no other option, you couldn’t help but be LEFtist’s friend after speaking with him for more than five minutes.

Back in June LEFTist and C.O.N.C.E.P.T. were readying the release of their EP, Intervention. DJ Halo and I invited them to come to WVOF to promote it and we all got a crazy idea, let’s record a mix-tape live over the air during the second hour of the show! The Mindspray duo emailed Halo a few tracks to play and mix, I interviewed them, they freestyled a bit, and we even took a hilarious phone call from “Ulysses Serious Black.” At the end of the show we popped the recorded CD out of the CD player and less than a week later LEFTist and C.O.N.C.E.P.T. were giving copies of it away at shows.


LEFTist, Me and C.O.N.C.E.P.T at WVOF
The entire time we were in the studio together, actually every time I was ever around LEFTist in any capacity, he was always all about the love of Hip-Hop and he was always wearing that smile of his. It is rare to meet such a beautiful soul, which is one of the reasons it’s so hard to understand why he was in and out of our lives so quickly. You’d figure God would have left someone like him on earth for a good long while to spread his LEFTist-ness among the people. Some may say that it isn’t fair LEFTist left us so quickly, but the fact of the matter is we don’t make the rules in this particular game, we only live by them. I will always remember LEFTist as a man who loved Hip-Hop, who loved being with people, and as one seriously dope MC.

Rather than mourn I always attempt to celebrate a person’s life. When it comes to LEFTist I celebrate the fact that he was able to do exactly what he wanted in life, record and perform music with his best friends. So the crowds may not have filled arenas, so what? He didn’t care, it was always all about the love of the music and the love he had for the people he performed both with and for. I hope, no I’m sure he knows how much we loved him back. LEFTist you will be missed, but best believe we will not let you be forgotten.

LEFTist C.O.N.C.E.P.T on MySpace: myspace.com/leftistconcept

Intervention can be found at ConsciousBootleggers.com