Our close friend, James Murphy, and one of our biggest show supporters unexpectedly passed away on January 26. Just 3 days after his 44th birthday. James was great person who made it his purpose in life to bring joy to others. I first met him in gym class my freshman year while discussing Brand Nubian’s In God We Trust. It was hip-hop that brought us together. Hip-hop was his passion, as it is for many of us. I was fortunate to experience many great concerts with him: A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Run-DMC, Brand Nubian, Heltah Skeltah, all the Rock The Bell tours too, but the one I'll never forget was Gang Starr. Guru was his absolute favorite. After the show he walked up to Guru, called him by his real name (Keith) and Guru was like, "you don't know me like that cousin." Of course, Guru was smiling, signed an auto and we all had our moment- a special moment we never forgot. They called James "MC Murf," even though he was far from an emcee. He reminded a lot of us of MC Serch. James