Photo: Kid Capri attends the premieres of We TV's "Growing Up Hip Hop: New York" and "Untold Stories of Hip Hop" at New York's Paley Center, Aug. 19, 2019. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
The hip-hop world continues to be hit by covid including two legendary personalities in the culture — Kid Capri, 54, and DJ Kay Slay, 55.
DJ Kid Capri, a New York City hip-hop icon, recently announced he had tested positive for the virus and was battling major symptoms. On Jan. 6, the disc jockey and radio personality shared the news via Instagram Live and urged others to take the proper precautions as hospitalization spike nationwide, BET reported.
“I’m sick as hell. Stay home if it’s not important,” the Bronx native captioned in a repost of his initial Live. “I’m sick as s**t, man, y’all got to be careful out there, man. It’s bad out there man.” He continued, “My heart is pounding, my back hurts. I’m pretty far from good.”
He added, “Take care of yourselves. F**k the parties, f**k hanging out. If you ain’t got to be somewhere, then don’t go. Just relax, cos this s**t is no joke.”
Social media has been filled with requests for prayers for DJ Kay Slay, who was hospitalized with the virus. The mixtape legend had been put on a ventilator but as of Jan. 6, the East Harlem native no longer needed a ventilator to assist with his breathing, according to Kay Slay associate Wack 100.
“Spoke to his mom, he did better last night,” a social media message posted by Wack read.
“He’s definitely not going to die,” Slay’s brother Kwame Grayson told HipHopDX on Jan. 6. “That right there… I’m not going to lie, I was jumping around. I was definitely happy. Kay Slay is a private dude and he didn’t tell anybody in the hospital who he was, and we was kinda getting average treatment. When they found out who he was, that’s when everybody stepped up the treatment.”
“He was slowly fading away, but God didn’t let that happen,” Grayson continued. “Everything in time and when they found out who he was, they got him powered up again. So, he’s up and going. He’s like in a recovery state, but he’s definitely not going to die. You can trust me on that.”
Kay Slay was hospitalized in Englewood, New Jersey, while suffering from a two-week bout of covid-19, Revolt reported. At the time, Wack called for prayers for Slay on social media, saying, “It’s not looking good.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?
Hip-hop has lost several personalities to covid-19. In April 2020, Fred The Godson died at age 35 after being hospitalized with covid and reaching out via social media for prayers. In August 2021, Chucky Thompson, hip-hop and R&B producer, died at 53 of covid-19 complications. That same month, Steve “Zumbi” Gaines, a hip-hop artist in the Bay Area hip-hop group Zion I, died at age 49 from covid.
Photo: Kid Capri attends the premieres of We TV’s “Growing Up Hip Hop: New York” and “Untold Stories of Hip Hop” at New York’s Paley Center, Aug. 19, 2019. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
