Two important figures in hip-hop music and culture passed away within the last two weeks. Before any more time goes by I wanted to sit down and take a moment to write about each of them and present the flowers which they so rightfully deserve for their contributions.

Oliver Grant b/k/a Oli ‘Power’ Grant was just 55 years old when he passed away on February 24th of this year. If you’re a fan of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan you already know his name and his importance; if not, then you’ll hear about it from me. Grant was born in Jamaica but grew up in Staten Island, where he was childhood friends with the older brother of Robert Diggs. You probably know him better as RZA, and if you do, you can already see where this is going. Grant wound up being the financial backer of Wu-Tang Clan’s first official single “Protect Ya Neck,” and when it launched the Clan to stardom they repaid his kindness in a variety of ways.

Grant would go on to be the executive producer of their full-length debut “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)” and with the Clan’s blessing would launch the successful Wu Wear line of clothing, opening stores coast to coast and pulling in the revenue they needed to self-finance their future projects. Grant himself was the older brother of rapper Killa Sin from Wu-affiliated rap group Killarmy, which coincidentally enough also includes RZA’s YOUNGER brother 9th Prince. As you can see the family connections run deep through Grant, Diggs, and their lucrative Wu-Tang endeavors in the 1990’s. It’s not to say the Wu wouldn’t have succeeded without Grant but it would’ve been much harder.

As families often do Grant and the Wu (two members of the Clan gave him the “Power” nickname) didn’t see eye to eye on every decision. Method Man even described Wu Wear as “shoddy” in an interview. That didn’t stop them from having respect and brotherly love for one another, and his passing from pancreatic cancer is deeply felt by every person who knew and worked with him from the 90’s to the 21st century. He made several film appearances outside of his Wu work, and was himself portrayed on screen by actor Marcus Callender for “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” on Hulu. After his passing the Wu released this statement.

“The Grant and Wu-Tang families are profoundly thankful for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from around the world. Power will always be loved, and his legacy will forever remain.”

By the most ironic of coincidences legendary music producer Bob Power passed away a few days later on March 1st at the age of 73. His early life would not have indicated that he’d be best known for engineering some rap’s greatest masterpieces. Born in Chicago, young Robert would not be there for long, bouncing between New York and Missouri as he grew up. During that time his music aspirations were accidentally inspired by his sister getting a guitar, and he wound up going to college to study music theory and composition. The path to greatness was set by Power’s post-collegiate life in San Francisco, both playing and studying jazz as he continued to pursue his musical ambitions.

“Bob Power’s the best engineer we’ve ever worked with period.” – Phife Dawg

It would be a little while before his name became synonymous with A Tribe Called Quest though let alone hip-hop in general. He scored music for a variety of commercial endeavors ranging from Coca-Cola to the United States Postal Service to pay the bills, but the happenstance of moving to New York City in 1982 so he could play more live venues would change his life. As the story goes a friend of Power’s from Calliope Studios requested he sit in on a session for Stetsasonic to help the group out, and they were so enamored with him they asked him to engineer their entire debut LP “On Fire.” From there the word spread and his phone line lit up. Before long he was the de facto session magician for the Native Tongues collective, the man requested to perfect the sound of hip-hop classics like “The Low End Theory.” Perfect he did. It’s not surprising that Tribe shouted him out many times on songs.

“Aiyyo y mic is sounding bugged, Bob Power you there? (Yeah)
Adjust the bass and treble, make my shit sound clear” – Q-Tip

Beloved in the rap AND R&B community, he’d go on to engineer No. 1 songs like Erykah Badu’s “On & On” and Grammy nominated releases like Me’shell Ndegeocello’s “Peace Beyond Passion.” It’s also ironic that just like Oli Grant, if you knew who he was you knew exactly how important he was, but he wasn’t a figure who hogged the limelight or asked you to pay more attention to him than the artists he worked with. One look at their posthumous credits will tell you all you need to know about their major contributions to the music and culture. Whether financing great records or producing them, both left us with timeless classics that made our lives richer, and I thank them for the gifts that they gave us.