Losing is never an easy thing to deal with. When we lose our love ones, it is always difficult as we deal with death, grief, and moving forward in various ways. What proves more difficult is what those losses truly indicate. The recent deaths of boxing great Joe Frazier and hip hop great Heavy D serve as somber signs of what is to come.

When word got out that Frazier was losing his battle with liver cancer about a week before his death last Monday, people already hit the social networks with their RIPs. You would think that in 2011 and the age of technology, people would learn by now to simply WAIT until all news is confirmed. Obviously the obsession of being the first to say something is so alluring that we write off people before they actually depart. Of course, with his death came the reminder that Frazier was not in the best condition financially, either. The good deeds of financial donations to cover his funeral yesterday were marred with the expected rumored infighting between the children over where he should be buried. [Source]

The death of Heavy D (born Dwight Errington Myers), who died after collapsing a week ago in his condo building, caught everyone by surprise. Many of us were still singing the praises on his performance on last month’s 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards (the best performance of the show, in my mind). Brother. Did. Not. Miss. A. Beat. Alas, another great artist will be laid to rest this week. And yes, this one hurts…[Source]

Both boxing and hip hop have waned for me in the ebb and flow of life’s natural changes, along with my age. These two events and the recent announcement of fellow rapper/producer Erick Sermon’s heart attack, symbolizes the reality and finality of illness and death in many of us who grew up reveling in their music and sports during hip hop’s “golden era.” Sadly enough, we now have to deal with what is left.  We are left with the reality of the question: Who is left to carry the torch? Many of today’s boxers and hip hop artists are less to be desired, physically, artistically, or otherwise. Boxing and hip hop were constants in my life that always symbolized growth, unity, and evolution. But all good things must come to an end. I guess this is the beginning.

Trying to rise above…