No. 39: Heavy D

I wrestled with Dwight "Heavy D" Myers and his inclusion on this list, both before and after his untimely passing earlier this week. If rap was college basketball, Waterbed Heav was the consummate major-conference bubble team — a pioneer who was always respected but never really at the top of the game during what was the most loaded era in hip-hop history.

When he died, I wanted to revisit his place on the countdown, trying to resist the urge to bump him up just because he died. (I believe I resisted that urge fairly in the other cases of deceased rappers — something I'm sure I'll take heat for in at least two particular instances later.) But it was an opportune time to go through some of the better parts of his catalog, because songs I hadn't heard for a while were getting some play.

As it turns out, Heavy might've been a little better than I was giving him credit for.

The other night, I heard "Peaceful Journey" for the first time since the year that the album of the same name came out. It wasn't full of complex rhyme schemes, but I had forgotten that the overweight lover had such an overtly conscious side. In a sense, he was the male version of Queen Latifah — capable of either being serious or cranking out a dance record.

RIP, big man. Thanks for the bag of blue funk.

He'll be remembered mostly for the latter, particularly "Now That We Found Love," a new-jack Teddy Riley remake of a Third World reggae classic. The video, which shows a surprisingly nimble Heavy and his crew clad in rain suits and dancing in an alley, is the most lasting image I have of him.

But it's certainly not all he's got. Heavy was respected enough throughout the music industry to get a guest spot on a Michael Jackson record ("Jam"), the first rapper to score a collab with the greatest entertainer of all time. He was also respected enough in hip-hop circles that he could get anyone on a track, and "Don't Curse" remains one of the most impressive collections of talent on a single posse cut (Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Grand Puba, Q-Tip, and Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth). That almost worked to his detriment in this case — everyone but Pete Rock, a producer by trade, outshines him on this track, and all but one of those emcees is ranked ahead of him on this list.

Being outshined by that group, though, is not exactly shameful, and being able to organize it in the first place is impressive (or at least was, given that it happened in an era where rappers won't just take top dollar to drop a verse for anybody). He even managed to find room in the video to let Puffy play himself...again.

Unlike many of the other deceased rappers on this list, Heavy D at least lived long enough to build a full career, even branching out into TV and movies (see? Latifah!). He was a little soft around the edges at time, a bit crossover'ish at a time when crossovers weren't accepted — and yet he never lost his credibility. That speaks to his level of talent.

We've got nothing but love for you, Heavy.