S. Samuel
Cindy Campbell, sister of hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc, has given further details on her brother's weekend hospital scare, which left rap fans worried over the music legend's fate.
According to Herc’s sibling, the weekend hospital stay related to his fall 2010 kidney stone ailment.
Herc’s sister, Cindy Campbell, said that her brother sought treatment at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx in October for kidney stones. As part of the procedure, a stent was temporarily inserted to alleviate the pressure. She said that Herc had to reschedule several appointments to remove the stent due to bad weather and not feeling well. She said the last time he spoke with the hospital, a little over a week ago, he was told that he needed to place a deposit. “He told me he asked them to give him a figure,” she said. “But nobody has given him any solid information.” (New York Times)
Campbell also warned hip-hop artists of the dangers of not acquiring health insurance.
Fans, promoters and D.J.’s have rallied to Herc’s side, vowing to raise funds to help him pay his bills. In the meantime, Ms. Campbell said, her brother was at home and taking painkillers to alleviate the discomfort. The larger issue, she said, was how Herc’s generation of graying rappers and D.J.’s would cope with the medical issues bound to come their way. “There isn’t any type of medical program for these artists,” she said. “Maybe it takes a visible person like Herc for people to pay attention. Maybe we can help set something up. My brother and I were trailblazers. We tried to save the building. Now we’re going to advocate for plenty of other artists and have a program to assist them.” (New York Times)
Reports of Herc’s health complications emerged online last weekend.
DJ Premier shared some terrible news today on the health condition of DJ Kool Herc. According to Premo’s site, “It’s doesn’t look positive as Kool Herc doesn’t have a health insurance and the billings go higher and higher. No more details were given but he is in need of some financial help as soon as possible. We at DJPremierBlog.com pray for the best…” DJ Kool Herc has helped launch the genre of hip-hop to where it is today. Anything helps! (The Source)
In 2009, Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon talked to SOHH about the importance of health care.
“[You should] always have health care benefits when you a rapper or whatever,” Raekwon told SOHH. “But a lot of times we [paid medical bills] with cash. We them kinda dudes ‘Yo, how much, put it on the table.’ You know what I mean? That’s ill that this conversation came up because, you know, I had to get a good plan, you know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, you wanna make sure when you’re getting older you stay healthy and do the right thing for your body. And definitely, I was thinking about going to a city that carries free health care and put my moms there because she’s getting older and she has to get in that frame of mind to know what it really is to be all right. If you see your moms getting older and her body getting weaker, you thinking of them. We still on some rebel sh*t, you know what I mean? We feel like, boom, knock a little cold out whatever, whatever. But it’s important to have them things and far as rap is concerned, I never took advantage of them situations, knock on wood I haven’t got sick or fell out or had to utilize that, you know, I had a few scares though but it was more less family scares, you see your moms or your girl going through something, automatically, you want them to be covered. And that’s a must right there. For me, I have a little policy but I’m working on getting a bigger one. [laughs] And writing a will out too.” (SOHH)
Check out some past Kool Herc footage down below:
