[MrSmiley1]

This seems like a good place as any to say what I want to say.

I was speaking to my brother over the weekend about how I thought it was sort of bizarre that co-workers and friends were expressing their condolences to me about MCA passing like he was a close friend or a family member. He said in a way, he was. I was listening to them, as he put it, "since I was a little shit."

MCA and the Boys were about the only constant in my life for 25 years.

My brothers and I started listening to them together starting with the Cooky Puss EP. Of course, my older bros (10+ years) were the ones more into it than I was. I was 4 or 5. As new material came out, my brothers bought it and listened to it. Since I was around them so much, I heard a lot of LTL and PB growing up.

Their music still stuck with me. I grew up with them. For more than 25 years, I have been listening to them through good times and bad and it is weird to think that it is over. No more new material with current pop culture reference, no more live shows, no more wacky music videos, no more new singles to listen to all summer. A small part of who I am passed as well on May 4th.

To be truthful, thinking back on the last live show of their's I attended, it could not have been better "final" show. It was in a smaller venue than I had ever seen them before (Detroit's State Theater). My loving wife was there with me, though she was not entirely sure why I convinced her to go because, let's just say they aren't/weren't her favorite band. The show was as a Gala Event show. I made my wife dress up. She thought I was a little crazy making her dress up with me because she wasn't entirely sure anyone else was going to do it. We were going to rap show, so she thought. Out of the 3 or 4 thousand people there, there wasn't a single person who didn't dress up. With everyone there treating the event as equally special as me, it changed the entire vibe. It was much more low key but a very positive environment to be in. And in that time, my wife understood why I liked them so much. It brought us that much closer. She understood something that was a part of me and she probably never would have any other way.

I will always be thankful for that and everything they helped me though.

Rest in Peace, MCA.

You will be missed more than you will ever know.