Legendary Blues musician B.B. King passed away May 14th, 2015 at age 89 in his home in Las Vegas. King, who holds the well deserved title “The King of Blues” revolutionized the genre, recording & producing over 40 studio albums, 16 live albums, and close to 140 singles. His legacy leaves a lasting impact not on rock & roll or blues artists only, but the entire culture and history of music as a whole. As Hip-Hop mourns his loss, one specific artist’s tribute, among many others’ caught my eye. Lupe Fiasco, a known poet, expressed his love for B.B. King on Instagram, in a way that read as a beautiful eulogy of sorts:
King Biscuit Time!
Way before the modern era. Deep in the past when folks slid around in suits and BBQ smoke on moonshine stained wooden floors deep in the backwoods of the Bible Belt. Way back deep when yo momma mama was 16 and the devil made men do it with a potato based process on a humid Memphis night when radio waves came in a black and white crackle. DEEP DEEP in the belly of the Delta on a Friday feeling Sunday night with a few chairs and an Upright in a slum like heaven people danced and professed they guilt and prophesied they next weeks. A man sat hugging strings and wood and lacquer with both hands with a crown on his head. He spoke to the Royal Bottom and the Heathen Preacher and the wicked women that took his last pair of shoes to the river in a world made out of thumb tacks. Black man Beethoven beat up love songs in the dark back alleys of a poor soul on a moonlit Chicago summer day. Who gave Mr. Jagger his swagger in the first place and spoke so good about yo worst case? King Biscuit Time southern fried magic on a fast paced race through KKK Kountry spittin out possessed and holy revelation to the down low shack sons and babies living they life before they was even born. Prussian, Cobalt And Navy too! All hail the King of that Baby Blue! The King is alive…Long Live The King!
