” Roc Raida Lives “

ROC RAIDA’s musical contributions will live on forever…ROB SWIFT and RAIDA’s family have assembled a way for his supporters to pay homage…

CHECK IN….

*IN THE WORDS OF ROB SWIFT

I loved Roc Raida to death, LITERALLY.

Fresh off the road, on 9/18/09 (8 years ago), I drove down to Maryland and visited with Raida at the rehab facility he was moved to after his accident. I brought some of the guys – Mista Sinista, DJ Precision, Andrew Venable, and Guds –with me too. After the 4 hour trek, it felt good to finally see Raida and let him know, in person, we were pulling for him.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing Raida in a hospital bed paralyzed, we were back to our joking ways. The crew being together reminded me of occasions we’d be on the road, hanging out backstage or in one of our hotel rooms, shootin’ the shit about whatever. It’s like I forgot why we were there. It was like old times again. It was beautiful!

The few hours we spent with him went like a flash. None of us were ready to leave but we knew he needed his rest. So we all gathered around Raida while Dr. Butcher led us in prayer. As we left, each of us gave Raida a big hug and said our goodbyes. I left thinking I’d see him again the following week but approximately 14 hours later (Saturday, 9/19/09) he suffered cardiac arrest and passed away. Getting the news was confusing. I couldn’t comprehend how Raida could go from “yo they’re gonna teach me how to get into my wheelchair and I’ll be able to cruise around the rehab facility on my own…” to physically leaving us hours later? The key word in my previous sentence is PHYSICALLY though. Let me explain.

His presence is eternal and I, along with my fellow X-Ecutioners/X-Men and Battle Sounds : Hip-Hop DJ Documentary are committed to never letting y’all forget the name Roc Raida.