Celebrated hip hop artist Biz Markie is being honored after his death.
The artist, best known for his 1989 single “Just a Friend,” died this week after more than a year of serious health complications. Markie’s brother, Diamond Shell, confirmed the news on Facebook on Friday. “To the baddest in the beats icon legend … my brother BIZ MARKIE,” he wrote. “I’LL miss you more than words ….”
In July 2020, news broke that Biz Markie had been hospitalized for several weeks due to complications from Type 2 diabetes. He later suffered a stroke while in the hospital, according to a report from HipHipDX in December.
Born Marcel Theo Hall in Harlem, New York, in 1964, Biz Markie grew up in Long Island and released his debut album, Goin’ Off, in 1988. His follow-up album, The Biz Never Sleeps, dropped the following year, and proved to be one of his biggest successes, featuring “Just a Friend.” The album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1990. Biz Markie released three other studio albums — 1991’s I Need a Haircut, 1993’s All Samples Cleared! and his final original album, Weekend Warrior, in 2003.
The artist also had numerous cameos and appearances in movies and TV shows, often playing fictionalized versions of himself, including Black-ish, Empire, Sharknado 2: The Second One and Men In Black II, among many others.
After news broke of his death famous friends like LL Cool J posted tribute to their social media. “Rest in power Biz..I love you bro,” he captioned the post.
Quest Love also posted a lengthy post about all the things Markie taught him, writing in part, “Biz built me man. In my early early stages it was Biz who taught me the REAL places to cop records….Biz taught me what cities had good digging…..Biz taught me where to collect 45s……Biz taught me where to collect 8TRACK TAPES!!”
“Rest In Power to one of my all time heroes. F**k. Nobody beats the Biz. ❤️,” Jonah Hill also posted.
