Eminem and Jay-Z paid tribute to producer DJ Mark “The 45 King” James, who passed away at the age of 62.
JAY-Z and Eminem have joined the wider Hip Hop community in mourning the death of DJ Mark The 45 King, the accomplished producer and DJ behind “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” and “Stan,” among other Hip Hop classics. The 45 King (real name Mark Howard James) passed away on Thursday morning (October 19), DJ Premier announced on social media that day. The news was later confirmed by his manager, Paul Martinez.
After word of his death spread, JAY-Z’s longtime engineer Young Guru shared a message on Instagram from the Roc Nation mogul paying tribute to The 45 King:
In a tweet of his own, Eminem said:
Named for his ability to make beats using obscure 45 RPM records, DJ Mark The 45 King enjoyed breakout success with his 1987 song “The 900 Number,” as well as his work on Queen Latifah’s 1989 debut All Hail the Queen. The pair were groupmates in the Flavor Unit alongside Apache, Lakim Shabazz and Chill Rob G. The 45 King’s career continued to flourish in the late ’80s and early ’90s thanks to collaborations with the likes of Gang Starr, Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, Madonna and MC Lyte, while solo releases such as Straight Out Da Crate and The Lost Breakbeats series were some of the first instrumental projects in Hip Hop.