The man behind some of Hip-Hop’s most instrumental music videos, Ric Menello, has died of a heart attack. He was 59 years old at the time of death.
Ric was a pioneer of hip-hop videos in the days of their inception with epic groups like Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys. He was the man behind the scenes on unforgettably timeless videos like the Beastie Boys’ 1987 hit, “Fight for Your Right to Party” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” LL Cool J’s “Going Back to Cali” and Slick Rick’s infamous “Children’s Story.”
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As a lifelong New Yorker, Ric came to the hip-hop world through Rick Rubin of Def Jam Records, whom he met when they were students at NYU in the early 1980s.
He was still directing smaller indie films until his untimely death.
Our thoughts and condolences are with the man who set the precedence for the visualization of hip-hop.
May he rest in heavenly peace.
SOURCE: New York Times
