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Friends, family, fans and fellow hip-hop luminaries including Busta Rhymes, Ice-T and Fat Joe gathered Monday on Long Island to remember beloved rapper and DJ Biz Markie as a passionate and fun-loving “icon” synonymous with the genre itself.
Following a lengthy battle with complications from Type 2 diabetes, the New York-reared “Just a Friend” rhyme-spitter died in a Baltimore hospital on July 16, holding his wife’s hand. He was 57.
“Biz was an icon,” said rapper Busy Bee outside a private memorial service at the Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts. “He is what we call hip-hop.”
Born Marcel Theo Hall in Harlem, the future Biz Markie spent his formative years on Long Island, eventually getting involved in New York’s burgeoning hip-hop scene under a stage name inspired by Busy Bee’s.
“He was peace, love, unity and having fun. That was Biz,” said Busy Bee.
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