First I'd like to send my heartfelt condolences to Xzibit and his family; last week, just over a week after his birth, X's newborn son, Xavier, passed away. Damn. RIP.
I'd also like to send my condolences to the family and friends of Tero Smith, known to the rap world as Camu TaoâMC/producer, member of the MHz crew, the Weathermen clique, the Cardboard City collective, one-half of S.A. Smash (with Metro), Central Services (with El-P), and the Nighthawks (with Cage). Camu succumbed to a two-year battle with lung cancer. "To those who knew Tero, he was an almost uncategorizable force of nature," El-P wrote in a MySpace blog. "Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous, and brilliant." All my peoples who knew him had universally described him as one of the funniest cats on the face of the earth, and regaled me with some stories that are not exactly fit for print.
Me, I didn't know Camu. But I knew his music very well; for some reason, he's been one of my favorite underdogs for years. I first heard his introductory single, 2002's "Hold the Floor," on a DJ Scene tape. I went from I-don't-know-if-I-like-this-dude to repeated-rewind status. I certainly wasn't alone in this eitherâ"Hold the Floor" quickly became a Seattle anthem. Its gutter-skronk beat (produced by the late great DJ PRZM, RIP) was known to induce riotous behavior on the floor of Chop Suey in the early days of Yo, Son!
Tao's flustered, rabid style made him one of my favorites out of the whole of the Def Jux/Weathermen roster. He was the unsung hero in a crew of indie heavyweights. But it was his last song that was the real goodsâthe chugging, anthemic "Plot Just a Little": a half-sung track that was as much David Bowie as it was Def Jukie. I'd been anxiously anticipating where his music was going, especially after he came to town with Cage and ripped a brilliant, crowd-stumping set that sounded like a complete departure from the jokey, druggy, brass-knucks East Coast indie rap he'd become known for.
I echo the words of a good friend of mine: "I sincerely feel shortchanged on all the music he had left to make." RIP. Camu lives on through the family and the music he left behind. I'm gonna go bump Smashy Trashy in his honor.
But first I gotta take the Roots' new Rising Down out the deck, which is yet another brilliant addition to their illustrious catalog. You'd better figure out a way to go see 'em play in gorgeous Marymoor Park with Erykah Badu on Thursday, June 5. Ms. Badu's brilliant New Amerykah is surely worth your hard-won shekels too, and she is a must-see live performer. As for those Roots dudes, if you don't go to this show, hit Neumo's later that night for a Rising Down listening party hosted by Black Thought and Brother ?âI mean Questlove. Will it be only "coffee-shop chicks and white dudes"? Really, who gives a fuck? 
