Hip-Hop Reacts to Death of Steely Dan Co-Founder Walter Becker
Walter Becker, legendary guitarist and co-founder of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-honored band Steely Dan, has passed away at the age of 67. Becker died Sunday (Sept. 2) with the musician's official website breaking the news to the public. The cause of Becker's death is still unknown.
Becker's band Steely Dan was known for blending jazz, R&B and rock music for a signature sound in the early 1970s. Though the lineup of Steely Dan changed quite often, Becker along with co-founder Donald Fagen remained constants in the band. The group is best known for 1970's hits like "Reelin' in the Years," "Dirty Work" and "Do It Again," but have been sampled by hip-hop artists over the years, giving new meaning to their classics. Ice Cube sampled their song "Green Earrings" for his 1992 song "Don't Trust 'Em" and Kanye West sampled the band's "Kid Charlemagne" in 2007 for his own track "Champion."
With Steely Dan and #RIPWalterBecker both trending on social media, members of the hip-hop community caught on to the news and reacted online. "rip #WalterBecker possibly one of my favorite architects of the 70s "FM" smooth sound," wrote ?uestlove on Instagram along with a throwback photo of Becker. "Thank you Mr. Becker for a lifetime of great music," commented Talib Kweli on Twitter.
Check out how hip-hop is reacting to the death of Steely Dan guitarist Walter Becker below. R.I.P. to Becker.
".....still holds the crown baby" rip #WalterBecker possibly one of my favorite architects of the 70s "FM" smooth sound. Took it for granted growing up ---before 10 I heard his music & Fagen's voice EVERYWHERE: supermarket, waiting rooms everywhere, cabs, offices, dentist chair, sporting events even (Sixers used to RUN "Peg" during Dr J's era) actually lol first time I got sent to principles office in 2nd grade was for "saying a bad word" (Hell, was a 4 letter word growing up & I didn't know who or what a "Peg" was but I knew someone in my class was going to "Helllllllllllllllllll" The first time we played w Michael McDonald a second after "man it's an honor" came "ok how long did Walt make you stack them vocals?" Walt was my first post "hey I dig these guys I wanna get em on a session" gig shortly after our Do you Want More album came out. I was all ready for him to make me do take after take after take like I heard he was notorious for---but uh shockingly he liked our loose playing and encouraged it. (Yeah I even tried to tune my drums Steely Dan low but he was like "I want you to sound like you, not like what we were doing way back then") This is a major loss man. An artist's artist. Someone who cared for the craft of music and pushing boundaries. They got a name for the winners in the world: his name is Becker