Sometimes we still can't believe that Heavy D is gone. But the sad reality is that he is. The 44 yr old rapper/actor/executive passed away at the young age of 44 and left behind him friends, family and a classic catalogue of recordings that will keep him in our hearts and ears forever. Many of the music industry's heavy hitters came out to pay their respects and shared private moments and the roll Heavy D played in their lives. Check out photos from the funeral after the jump.
What became clear, from within the two overflowing halls of Mount Vernon's Grace Baptist Church, was that Heavy D had touched countless lives – particularly in the hip-hop and African-American communities. Jay-Z, Usher, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, John Legend, Denzel Washington and Queen Latifah were spotted walking in; a list at one of the security check-ins included the names of Sony Music's Chairman/CEO Doug Morris and Doug E. Fresh. Three Mount Vernon police officers sat down the row from BET President Stephen Hill. A woman and her daughter held a VIP pass from a concert Heavy D must have performed years ago, just as a cab driver had shown off photos of himself and Heavy from their shared high school days. "There's stories on every corner of this city, of people he helped," said the pastor, without exaggeration.
[RS]
