DJ Roc Raida is dead

The summer of death continues to take another live.

X-Ecutioner member and Busta Rhymes’ personal deejay, Anthony “DJ Roc Raida” Williams has died.

He was only 37 year old.

We are still awaiting final confirmation of this news and details surrounding his death, but Busta tweeted a message earlier today announcing that his good friend is dead.

“I am sorry 2 say that on this day at 2:05 Sept 19th we lost another incredible life…Dj Roc Raida died 2day my personal Dj is gone… I just wanna thank everyone 4 ur love and support and ur prayers…We will never let ur name die Roc…We love u and will 4ever miss u…RIP.”

This was followed by a stream of ‘RIP’ tweets from from RZA, DJ Drama, N.O.R.E., Big Pooh, Talib Kweli and Kid Capri.

Roc Raida started DJ’ing at the age of 10, after being inspired by his father, who was a member of Sugar Hill Records group, Mean Machine. Raida was an original member of the X-Men turntable crew, who later became The X-Ecutioners, a DJ collective that helped innovate the art form of turntablism.

He became internationally known, after taking home the DMC World DJ Championship in 1995.

Grand Master Roc Raida released 12 albums total as a solo artist and as member of The X-Ecutioners. He also produced tracks for artists such as, Smif-N-Wessun, Fat Joe, Ghostface, Black Thought, Pink, Linkin Park and many others.

RIP Roc Raida!

UPDATE: The representatives of the DJ confirmed the news: “The legendary Grand Master Roc Raida has passed away this morning. Family and friends will miss him dearly. Please give the family their privacy.”

The rep refused to give details of Roc’s death, but did state that previous reports of an injury during karate class or a car accident were inaccurate.

The rep confirmed that Roc Raida was hospitalised last week after a freak car accident which injured his spine, but would only state that the DJ’s death was totally “unexpected.”

UPDATE #2: Here’s a statement from Roc Raida’s family: “Anthony Williams p/k to the world as The Legendary Grandmaster Roc Raida has passed away unexpectedly today September 19 2009. He is survived by his wife, three lovely daughters, mother and friends. Raida was recently in an mixed martial arts accident, something that he has been practicing for several years. Although he had under gone two surgeries with great success, was released to an inpatient physical therapy facility and was in great spirits the past few days. This morning he started to have complications and passed. The family asks for privacy at this time.”

Tagged as: anthony williams, roc raida