Sean Duval Price (March 17, 1972August 8, 2015) was an American rapper and member of the
hip hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
collective
Boot Camp Clik.
He was one half of the duo
Heltah Skeltah, performing under the name Ruck, along with partner Rock.
Early life and education
Growing up in the borough of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, Price was a member of the
Decepticons in high school.
Career
A member of the underground hip hop collective
Boot Camp Clik, Price first appeared on
Smif-N-Wessun's 1995 album ''
Dah Shinin'''. He would soon resurface in 1996 as one half of the critically acclaimed Brooklyn duo
Heltah Skeltah, who released their debut album ''
Nocturnal
Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatur ...
'' on
Duck Down Records that year. Heltah Skeltah would go on to release two more albums: 1998's ''
Magnum Force'' and 2008's ''
D.I.R.T.''.
In the 2000s, Price established himself as a strong force in the underground hip hop community. He was featured on
Grand Theft Auto 3's GAME FM radio station in 2001. In 2005, Price released his first solo album ''
Monkey Barz'', to critical acclaim. He followed this in 2007 with ''
Jesus Price Supastar'' and ''
Mic Tyson'' in 2012.
Price was interviewed on the online series ''Grand Angel TV'' in 2008 and 2010, with
Paid Dues
Paid Dues was an annual hip hop festival that took place in California, until the summer of 2006, when it was announced that the festival would travel to multiple locations. The last festival took place in 2013.
Paid Dues was an event present ...
performance footage alongside Boot Camp Clik and
Dru Ha, respectively.
In 2011, Price was a judge on the ''Ultimate MC'' TV show alongside
Royce da 5'9",
Organik,
Planet Asia, and
Pharoahe Monch. Also in 2011, he formed the group
Random Axe with
Guilty Simpson and producer
Black Milk.
He had a planned collaborative album with rapper
Ill Bill in the works, called ''The Pill''. ''Songs in the Key of Price'', a mixtape recorded before Price's death, was released posthumously on August 21, 2015. The posthumous release of his fourth studio album, ''
Imperius Rex'', followed in August 2017.
Sean Price's last studio verse can be heard on Bronx New York rapper
Bruse Wane's song Venom . Venom featured Bruse Wane, Sean Price and
Big Pun's son
Chris Rivers.
Dj Premier featured Venom on his website Premier Wuz Here, and also acknowledged Sean Price's guest appearance on Venom as likely his last guest verse. The Song was declared an instant classic by
HIPHOPDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...
.
Death
On August 8, 2015, Price died at the age of 43. A statement from his label confirmed his death, while adding that he died in his sleep. "It is with beyond a heavy heart that Duck Down Music is sadly confirming that Sean Price passed away early this morning in his Brooklyn apartment, Saturday, August 8th, 2015," read the statement. "The cause of death is currently unknown, but it was reported that he died in his sleep. He's survived by his three children."
Personal life
Price was a cousin of
Roc-A-Fella Records rapper
Memphis Bleek and actor
Michael K. Williams. He was also close friends with actor
Ryan Phillippe.
Price lived in
Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was a
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
, having converted in 2009.
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Monkey Barz'' (2005)
*''
Jesus Price Supastar'' (2007)
*''
Mic Tyson'' (2012)
*''
Imperius Rex'' (2017)
References
External links
Duck Down Records website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Sean
1972 births
2015 deaths
African-American Muslims
African-American male rappers
20th-century American male rappers
Boot Camp Clik members
Converts to Islam
East Coast hip-hop musicians
Hardcore hip-hop artists
People from Brownsville, Brooklyn
Rappers from Brooklyn
Underground rappers
The Fab 5 members
Muslims from New York (state)