Hip Hop has paid tribute to the late singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, who died on Tuesday (April 25) at 96 years old.
Belafonte’s longtime spokesperson, Ken Sunshine, told The New York Times his cause of death was congestive heart failure and that he passed away in his apartment in New York City’s Upper West Side.
AD LOADING...
Born in Harlem to West Indian immigrant parents, Harry Belafonte piqued Western culture’s interest in Caribbean music thanks to his 1956 smash hits “Jamaica Farewell” and “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).”
Both tracks appeared on his Calypso LP, which topped Billboard’s Top Pop Albums chart for over 30 weeks. Calypso charted shortly before Elvis Presley’s rise, and Belafonte is often cited to have the first album by a single artist to sell more than a million copies.
As his music career grew, Belafonte quickly shifted his focus to civil rights, befriending Martin Luther King Jr. and other legendary activists. He invested most of the seed money needed to help start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was one of the principal fund-raisers for the organization, as well as Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Belafonte also parlayed his musical success into movie stardom, becoming the first Black actor to achieve major success in Hollywood.
AD LOADING...
Hip Hop legends came out in droves to pay tribute to the late icon, with Questlove, DJ Premier, Chuck D, 9th Wonder, Swizz Beatz, Nick Cannon, Rapsody and dozens of others sharing their condolences on social media.
“Shining example of how to use your platform to make change in the world,” Questlove wrote on Instagram. “Hi$ activi$m was crucial for the civil rights movement. His activism was key in the anti-apartheid movement…If there is one lesson we can learn from him it is ‘what can I do to help mankind?'”
9th Wonder added: “I had the great pleasure of talking and eating dinner with this man. We as entertainers owe him. We owe Hattie McDaniel. Sidney Poiter. Duke Ellington. Gwendolyn Brooks. So many.
“Mr. Belafonte was instrumental in the funding of Beat Street, and asked his friends Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee could their son play the lead role. So many stories I got that night. So many lessons. Rest in Peace to THE GIANT that is Harry Belafonte.”
AD LOADING...
In his tribute post, Premo simply wrote: “R.I.P. Harry Belafonte. Thank you for all of your greatness to become just as great[.] ICON.”
Check out more tributes to Harry Belafonte below. HipHopDX sends its condolences to his family, friends and fans.
