RIP, Eric B....You Will Be Missed

Man killed in barber shop shooting
28 August 2005

One man died and another was seriously injured during a shooting at a barber's shop, police said.

Two men, aged 24 and 39, were taken to hospital following the incident in Long Island on Saturday afternoon.

The 39-year-old, Eric Barrier also known as Eric B. who lived locally, died from his injuries. The 24-year-old, also from Long Island, is said to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

West Camden Police were called to reports of several shots being fired in and around the barber's shop at the junction of Lozells Road and Wheeler Street. A force spokeswoman said no arrests had been made and appealed to anyone who witnessed the incident or had any information about it to contact police.
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One of my friends just sent this article to me. I am, of course quite upset b/c Eric B. & Rakim is my #1, most-loved rap duo, and I am shocked and saddened by the tragic, senseless death of another rap/DJ icon...the same as when Jam Master Jay was killed. Then, she emails me that it was a fckng HOAX!! My girl, btw, is not the hoaxster, just so that's clear. (At least she'd better not be, lol!) Someone had sent it to her, and she had passed it along.

Now, while I was definitely relieved (I was feeling as though my heart was being crushed to pieces), I couldn't help but feel outraged and angry that someone would actually take time out of his/her life that cannot be recouped to do some horrible mess like this. It's sad, and it's sick. And though I'm pissed off that someone would do this, I'm hoping like hell that it's really not true! I wished they'd just get back together and call it day. Don't you just love this photo? :)

A quick exerpt from their bio:
Eric B. was born Eric Barrier in 1965 in Elmhurst, Queens; his future partner, William Griffin, Jr., was born in 1968 and also hailed from the suburbs of New York, specifically Wyandanch, Long Island. At age 16, Griffin converted to Islam and adopted the name Rakim Allah. Barrier played trumpet and guitar early on, but switched to the turntables in high school, and eventually landed a job as the mobile DJ for radio station WBLS. It was there that he met Rakim, and the two officially formed a partnership in 1985. Their first single -- "Eric B. Is President" (an ode to Barrier's DJ skills) b/w "My Melody" -- was released on the tiny Harlem-based indie label Zakia. It was a street-level sensation during the summer of 1986, and the duo was picked up by the larger 4th & Broadway imprint. The equally monumental singles "I Ain't No Joke" and "I Know You Got Soul" sampled James Brown and his cohort Bobby Byrd, respectively, and their utter funkiness began to revolutionize the sound of hip-hop. Moreover, Rakim's line "pump up the volume" on the latter track was in turn sampled itself, becoming the basis for M/A/R/R/S' hit of the same name.