Heavy D documentary to premiere on Centric
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The life of the late Heavy D will be chronicled in a documentary, ‘Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D,’ set to be shown on the BET-owned network Centric on Sunday.
The film will include interviews with family and friends of the pioneering rapper, according to the network. Mary J. Blige, Will Smith, Cee Lo Green, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte and Queen Latifah, as well as the rapper’s family, were tapped for the documentary, which will explore the rapper’s rise as frontman for the New Jack Swing outfit Heavy D and the Boyz, to his thriving solo career that included acting in films, television and stage and a stint as president and chief executive of the very label that launched his career, Uptown Records.
Heavy D, who was born Dwight Arrington Myers, died in November after collapsing on the walkway outside his Beverly Hills home. The rapper’s death was caused by a blood clot in his leg that traveled to his lung. He was 44.
Centric didn’t have to look far for an appropriate title for the documentary. Myers, who won over audiences (especially the ladies) with his suave style and profanity-free raps, was prolific on Twitter, with his last message, which he tweeted shortly before he died, reading: ‘BE INSPIRED!’
When The Times sat down with Blige -- one of the artists he helped shape during his tenure at Uptown -- for an interview the day after Myers died, she reflected on the critical role he had played in her life.
“[His death] was really bad for me, because the Heavy I remember … every time I was about to do something stupid, or go get drunk, I would run into Heavy. It was like the voice of God,” she said. “He’d ask ‘What are you doing? Where are you going?,’ and he’d tell me I was better than that. And it was every time. I really miss him. If it wasn’t for him, Uptown wouldn’t be Uptown.”
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Heavy D dies at 44; singer who shaped rap music
Rapper Heavy D dies after collapsing outside his home
-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
