PH aka Pumpkinhead, reminds me of what real Hip Hop emcees used to be. He was a lyricist and speaker of refined, well thought out verses of rhythmic poetry. He could also use those words well in an Emcee Challenge or battle rap scenario. If you were ever able to move through underground NY/NJ circles from the late 1990’s til today, you would have seen PH at show; spittin bars on stage, battling, selling merchandise or just standing next to you feeling the same vibes. Although I had seen him and chilled with him on the underground scene on numerous occasions, I didn’t know him personally. I knew him, not by his government name Robert Diaz, but like many in the underground, I only knew him as how he referred to himself, PH or Pumpkinhead, an Emcee who was nice on the mic. There is footage of PH in the video archives which I will transfer onto digital at some point, as well as audio from an EOW MC Challenge he competed in around 2008-2009. I’m sure there’s hours of PH footage out there in the ether, on-line or on video tapes somewhere in a storage bin, so people will always be able to listen back on what he offered.
It is also good to see the acknowledgements from various media outlets for an “underground” legend who many mainstreamers never ever heard or saw. PH died June 9, 2015 at the age of 39. He was married with 2 boys. Rest in Peace, my Brother, One Love!
Kurt Nice
Kurt Nice aka Kurtiss Jackson is a behind the scenes pioneer in the Hip Hop Kulture, creating the first nationally distributed video mix tape series, Shades of Hip Hop, in the late 1990s. Since touring the country with the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop as KRS-ONE’s National Marketing Director, Kurt Nice has been a constant commentator on conscious Hip Hop and its relevance to the new rap music of today, through radio and cable appearances. contact Kurt at info@hiphoplives.net
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Kurt Nice aka Kurtiss Jackson is a behind the scenes pioneer in the Hip Hop Kulture, creating the first nationally distributed video mix tape series, Shades of Hip Hop, in the late 1990s. Since touring the country with the Stop the Violence Movement and the Temple of Hip Hop as KRS-ONE's National Marketing Director, Kurt Nice has been a constant commentator on conscious Hip Hop and its relevance to the new rap music of today, through radio and cable appearances. contact Kurt at info@hiphoplives.net
