Mr. Magic

One of the first Hip-Hop compilations, no make that the first Hip-Hop compilation I ever bought was called Mr. Magic's Rap Attack Vol. 4 which came out in 1988. It had seminal songs like "Push It" and "It Takes Two", also Kool Moe Dee and Public Enemy classics.
I still have it, but at the time of its release Rap was just reaching a peak. This is pre-Gangsta stuff, when the genre was still vital.
Mr. Magic died on October 2 of a heart attack. He was a pioneer of the genre. Spinning the songs and promoting them via compilations.
His comps were early samples of what was to become a bigger boom. But when someone that close to it dies, you have to give respect.