Hip Hop pioneer Jimmy Spicer was diagnosed with stage 4 brain and lung cancer last year and he was fully prepared to fight it head on with the help the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. However, his daughter Janel has revealed he’s now nearing the end.
Subsequently, she’s launched a GoFundMe campaign in an effort to make him as comfortable as possible as his final days loom.
“His condition has taken a rapid turn, deteriorating to the point where we are now, with the end goal being to make his last days as comfortable and pain-free as possible,” Janel wrote in the campaign’s description. “My family and I have been spoiled by the tenacity and fight that my father has displayed during this past year.
“This unexpected and untimely decline has created an urgency that requires us to do all that we can to make his final days as peaceful as possible while respecting each his last wishes.”
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— Kurtis Blow (@KurtisBlow1) September 25, 2019
Spicer’s impact on Hip Hop culture was pround. In 1980, he dropped “Adventures Of Super Rhymes,” one the first Hip Hop songs on wax.
With his storytelling rhymes, he laid the foundation for MCs like Slick Rick and Dana Dane.
Janel, one his five children, reminded people how integral he was to the culture, adding, “If you have ever loved Hip Hop or have ever sung along to ‘Dollar Bill Y’all’ or ‘The Bubble Bunch,’ or if you’ve ever had the pleasure knowing my Father and being around his magnetic energy.
“Whether he was rapping his 15-minute epic ‘The Adventures Super Rhymes’ or dancing on the spot, whether you know him as Moppy from East New York, Super Rhyme, or Jimmy, we need your help.”
In an interview with HipHopDX last September, Spicer explained he was trying alternative forms treatment as well as radiation.
“There’s a few holistic doctors here in New York but they don’t take insurance,” he said. “They take cash and carry, and my financial situation put me in the position where I had to start a GoFundMe. I’ve spoken to a few friends who have been cancer-free for 10 years and never took chemotherapy. They just did a regular diet and radiation therapy.”
Evidently, those efforts were unsuccessful. Janel explained the funds raised would go to funeral and medical care costs.
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