DJ Clark Kent‘s family has sadly confirmed that the legendary Hip Hop figure has passed away at the age of 58 following a three-year battle with colon cancer.
A post to his Instagram account on Friday (October 25) revealed he’d passed the night before while surrounded by his loved ones.
“It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of the beloved Rodolfo A. Franklin, known to the world as DJ Clark Kent,” it read. “Clark passed away Thursday evening surrounded by his devoted wife Kesha, daughter Kabriah and son Antonio.
“Clark quietly and valiantly fought a three year battle with Colon Cancer, while continuing to share his gifts with the world. The family is grateful for everyone’s love, support and prayers during this time and ask for privacy as they process this immense loss.”
Tributes immediately poured in from DJ Clark Kent’s peers, including Jim Jones, Questlove, Nick Cannon and more.
“First person to tell me don’t stop SIP Clark,” Jones wrote.
“Clark will forever be the culture,” Quest wrote with a prayer emoji.
Fab 5 Freddy wrote: “This a great and a sad loss. A stand up guy who left a deep & resonating mark on the culture. I was honored to put him in New Jack City as a DJ in the early club scene and that’s how we became friends as he’d always thank me for that. Salute to a great one, DJ Clark Kent.”
News of Clark’s passing arrives just over a week after The Source first claimed that the veteran DJ, producer and sneakerhead had died due to an undisclosed illness, citing information from a family member – a report that Angie Martinez and others swiftly denied.
The famed host wrote on X: “The article that The Source Mag & others have posted about the passing of Dj Clark Kent is false. Clark is home with his family. Please refrain from sharing any other false information. It is hurtful, deeply irresponsible and untrue.”
Pete Rock also hit out at those spreading the unsubstantiated news, writing on Instagram: “DJ Clark Kent has not passed away. Stop traumatizing his family posting that he passed!!”
In August, it was reported that Martinez is producing a documentary about the 58-year-old, who produced classic songs like JAY-Z‘s “Brooklyn’s Finest,” Biggie‘s “Sky’s the Limit” and Junior M.A.F.I.A.‘s “Player’s Anthem.”
Titled God’s Favorite DJ: The Story of DJ Clark Kent, the film will chronicle his influential four-decade career in Hip Hop, exploring how he convinced JAY-Z to pursue rap full-time, “taught The Notorious B.I.G. to perform like a star” and “coached Lil Kim through her first studio session.”
The documentary will also include appearances from the likes of Hov, Questlove and DJ Khaled.
Brothers don’t want to go to the doctor. A quick screening catches this early, and then it’s easily treated.
Doctor equal evil. Me no go. It’s all witchcraft.
It’s deep seeded stuff because the doctor actually did harm us black people in the past, but we’ve got to get over this in 2024. The psychological scars from the past is passed down from generation to generation. Colon cancer is one of those ones that’s so preventable if caught early and disproportionately kills us.
It’s deep-seated you fuckin moron. Death is a gift in this hell realm as long as you figure how to avoid reincarnation.
RIP to Brooklyn’s Finest
Legend. RIP.
This dude was near death and still talking shit about 2Pac
If Pac lied about Biggie knowing about him getting shot beforehand and suggested he was responsible for setting up the scheme at any level without any real evidence and Pac shared that theory with everyone who would listen and did get Biggie killed, then there’s absolutely no harm in Kent speaking on it. It may be a tragic scenario, but it’s plausible and it was his truth. Kent was a certified legendary artist so chances are he wasn’t speaking out about it on his deathbed for clout or attention.
2Pac never said Biggie was involved. He criticized Biggie for not reaching out after it happened and letting him know what he knew about what happened. Go listen to Against All Odds on the Makaveli album, Pac blamed Jimmy Henchman and King Tut. Biggie was not mentioned on the track. Also 2Pac took issue with Biggie rapping about PAC’s life on the Ready To Did album. Even Biggie’s mom confirmed Biggie didn’t grow up poor like that. Pac made some poor decisions, but so did Biggie. Biggie’s shooting has never been anywhere close to being solved, unlike PAC’s where it was known from the beginning who was involved in the shooting. Supposedly some dude named Poochie shot Biggie, but this Poochie dude is dead so we don’t even know the motive. And that’s only if this Poochie dude did it. It’s never been proven he did, just some rumors. So in Biggie’s shooting we don’t know who did it or what the motive was. If DJ Clark Kent wanted to blame someone for Biggie’s death, he should have blamed Puffy for trying to be hardcore and putting Biggie in dangerous situations. Clark Kent was just jealous that 2Pac is revered all over the world, and that Biggie isn’t revered in the same way as Pac is. Ain’t no way Pac could be responsible because he was already dead when Biggie got shot. Biggie dick riders are jealous of Pac.
My problem with all that is Kent displayed ignorance instead of understanding by not looking at Diddy and his actions and solely blaming Pac for Biggie’s death. It’s real plausible that Biggie did know about Pac being set up, and Diddy purposely releasing Who Shot Ya to instigate the beef didn’t help. We all know Biggie shouldn’t have let Diddy convince him to go to LA or rapped The Long Kiss Goodnight on radio. Biggie got himself killed, but Kent is ignorant for ignoring all that and still blaming one man. It wasn’t a good look on Kent to be hating on Pac in one of the episodes from Angie Martinez’ show last year and had been hating for years before that. He wasn’t speaking any truth whatsoever, that man was bitter, he was spewing hate.
Highly unlikely Biggie knew anything about Pac being set up. And PAC never said Biggie was. PAC’s issues with Biggie exactly as he explained in interviews was Biggie not reaching out after the shooting and letting him know what he did know about the shooting, and for Biggie using PAC’s life as a basis for his lyrics on Ready to Die. Pac explained this in an interview that you can pull up on YouTube that he had with Sway. Completely false narrative that Pac blamed Biggie. And PAC had started to move past the beef with Biggie before he died. In an interview with MTV at the music video awards he stated he was moving past it. There were no disses of Biggie on the Makaveli album.
You’re right Clark Kent was a hater. Funk Flex said similar comments, and Lil Kim told him that shit was uncalled for. Lil Cease reached out to the Outlaws to make things cool with them. The closest people to Pac and Biggie don’t hold any animosity or blame either of them for how shit down. Clark Kent wasn’t even close to Biggie like that anyway, he was basically just an acquaintance.
Dude was 58 hating on a guy that has been dead more than alive.
Who?
DJ Clark Kent produced many certified Hip Hop classics and is a legend in the game, who the fuck are you?
R.I.P King
So cause of death; Too much KFC and sugary soda!