MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Michel Martin. Hip-hop has lost a founding father. DJ Edward Sturgis, known as Eddie Cheeba, died earlier this week at 67. Cheeba was part of a DJ trio in the 1970s that's credited with laying the foundation for recorded hip-hop. Def Jam founder Russell Simmons has praised Cheeba over the years and on social media this week, saying seeing him rap over recorded tracks at a Harlem club made him feel like he just witnessed the invention of the wheel.
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