A Donut For Sean Price
I met Sean Price in person twice. Nah, we wasn’t recording a record together or nothing. Nah, I wish. No, I did not know Sean Price. If Sean Price walked in a studio and I was in it, he would not have given two shits if I was the engineer or the weed roller (I does neither). The first time, it was after some event I went to with Torae. Some of ya’ll know Tor as an XM Sirius satellite radio host. That’s cool. I know him as a sharp ass lyricist and who I still make fun of for his 10 second cameo on a New York Undercover episode. We was outside, laughing at something, and in the opposite direction comes Jesus Price. And, I can’t even lie...dude was brolic and tall and I was young, and shook. I mean, outside of just being what could be seen as a frightening spectacle of a dude, I also admired the man’s pen game something vicious. So, Tor introduces me, we dap, I smile my simple ass gap-toothed smile and try to keep the blood from leaving my hands, cause the dap was Hulk-ish, and kept it moving.
The second time was during an impromptu visit with Dan the Man, another good ass dude and dope ass producer and engineer. I had just come back to NYC after spending some time in Florida and Atlanta for a few months. I had kinda been absent from the music world, and was getting my bearings back together. Dan had always been good to me, and he helmed my first project Reganomics in '06. So me and my then lady get there, and lo' and behold, it’s Mic Tyson. Dan introduces us again, P has no clue who I am, I am doubly nervous because I’m sure I look like a hipster, definitely felt him looking at my lady like "this nigga? Really???" and again, the dude always felt larger than life. More dap, more blood loss, and another peace out.
He was always my favorite member of the Boot Camp Click. Then I read his XXL interview, following a lengthy absence from the game, where he discussed crack sales, depression, and new music, and I was a fan. Because in that interview, based on what I’ve learned from countless sources, is the real Sean: witty, warm, gregarious. I didn’t know that Sean. Skyzoo did. Torae did. Dan did. Combat Jack did. Dru Ha and Buck and the whole Duck Down did. His family did. Combat Jack retold his listeners of Sean’s eagerness to join The Decepticons, a Brooklyn gang that terrorized the streets in the 80’s, because he was basically a kid who loved comic books and he didn’t want to be fucked with. Before he passed, he tweeted he was going to go fishing at Sheepshead Bay.
I’m mad I ain’t tell him how nice with the pen I thought he was, or how Jesus Price Superstar was one of my favorite albums, or how his acting chops could have gotten him a role on 30 Rock. When I heard he passed, I cried. On some grown man shit. I text Tor and told him I loved him. I hadn’t hit him up in a minute, and we both been busy making moves and such. I realized with Sean that life comes at you fast and you never really know when the clock ticks out. So, for Sean Price, or anyone else who you think you owe a shot of love to, here’s a donut. RIP Sean Price, and while we’re at it, RIP J Dilla too.
