Busta Rhymes, A$AP Ferg, Teddy Riley, and more honored late hip-hop luminary Fatman Scoop at a massive celebration of life gathering at the Apollo Theater in Harlem yesterday, Sept. 12.
The rapper, born Isaac Freeman III, died at the end of August after suffering a medical emergency onstage in Hamden, Connecticut. (An exact cause of death hasn’t been revealed yet.) Scoop was best known for his own worldwide hit “Be Faithful,” as well as his memorable features on tracks like Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control” and Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That.”
At yesterday’s ceremony (much of which was captured on video and shared online), Scoop’s friends and peers remembered not only his musical prowess, but his generosity and kindness. Busta Rhymes called him a “light in the room,” and said, “His spirit lifted everyone around him (via WBLS).
Busta continued, “Fatman Scoop is probably one of the most beautiful human beings I’ve ever met on this planet. I don’t think I’ve ever ran into Fatman Scoop having an off day. I’ve never seen him angry, I’ve never seen him upset, I’ve never seen him perspire and worry about things outside of when he was on that stage busting ass” (via Billboard).
Jim Jones, who also performed during the ceremony, called Scoop “a friend, a big brother, he was a lot to me.” He spoke about meeting the MC when he was still a teenager in Harlem, the way Scoop encouraged his creative ambitions and talent, and continued to “champion” his career as it grew.
“One thing I never seen was somebody, or anybody, that said they had a problem, or was mat at Fatman Scoop,” Jones said. “And that’s incredible inside of this game filled with haters… He’s gonna be forever, and I keep feeling like God keep taking all the best people from us because he must be having some type of party.”
Teddy Riley said Scoop’s “energy will live on through his music and the memories we all share.” And both Riley and his Wreckx-n-Effect bandmate, Aqil Davidson, remembered Scoop’s predilection for being as fresh as possible, even down to carrying around a bottle of mouthwash.
Davidson also remembered how “exceptional” a rapper Scoop was, recalling how he would “sit on a stool and say these rhymes that would have you like — first of all, how are you doing that, sitting on a stool? He was really that exceptional, and why that was a big deal for me, is because, I had this gift to put words together, right? But I’m a kid, so we reach towards those that are nearest towards us.”
A$AP Ferg similarly celebrated Scoop’s under-heralded mic skills and gregarious self-mythologizing. “He told me one story how he was supposed to be the first Biggie and Biggie jacked his style,” Ferg quipped. “He said, ‘Man, he seen me with the silk shirts and the slacks, he was trying to be like me!’”
The ceremony also featured remarks from Angie Martinez, Kid Kapri, DJ Webster, Ron Browz, and DJ Snuff. Others reportedly in attendance were LL Cool J, Main, DJ Self, Treach, and Datwon Thomas.