Scott La Rock

Scott La Rock
Background information
Birth name	Scott Monroe Sterling
Born	March 2, 1962(1962-03-02)
Origin	South Bronx, New York, USA
Died	August 27, 1987(1987-08-27) (aged 25)
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Disc jockey, Producer
Years active	1985–1987
Labels	B-Boy Records
Associated acts	Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One, D-Nice, DJ Red Alert

Scott "La Rock" Sterling (March 2, 1962 – August 27, 1987) was the original DJ of the hip hop group Boogie Down Productions.

BDP

Sterling, a social worker, met rapper KRS-One in 1986 at the Franklin Men's Shelter in the Bronx where KRS lived. The pair, together with DJ D-Nice, formed Boogie Down Productions. The group's 1987 debut album, Criminal Minded, is considered a classic of hip-hop.^{[1] [2]}

Born March 2, 1962, in South Ozone Park, Queens, Scott Monroe Sterling was raised far from the grimy scene that he would later help to mold. His parents split when he was four, and he lived with his mother, Carolyn Morant, a career municipal employee. When Scott was young, they moved from Queens to the Morisania section of the Bronx, and then to Morris Heights. Scott excelled in both academics and sports at Our Savior Lutheran High School, graduating in 1980 and heading off to Vermont’s Castleton State College. He earned a varsity letter in basketball there, but as it became clear that his talent would never take him to the NBA, Scott switched his extracurricular focus from hoops to music.

“Our turntables were on our desks and our books were on the floor,” said La Rock’s four-year college roommate, Lee “The Mack” Smith Jr., to the Times back in ‘87. “I would come home and hear the bass before I opened the door.” At Castleton State, he used to DJ at Dugan's Bar on Friday nights with Lee Smith. He helped introduce the entire campus to music from New York City.

After graduating in 1984, Scott returned to New York in hopes of finding work and making in-roads to the music industry. Through a connection of his mother’s, Scott landed a jacket-and-tie nine-to-five as a social worker at the Franklin Armory Men’s Shelter on 166th St in the Bronx. At night, though, he’d lose the noose, spinning at the blossoming hip-hop hot spot, the Broadway Repertoire Theatre on 145th Street.^[3]

Shooting

Sterling met an untimely and violent death in 1987. His friend and BDP associate Derrick "D-Nice" Jones had been threatened by some local hoods, and asked Sterling to try to help defuse the situation. Later that day, Sterling, Scotty "Manager Moe" Morris, DJ McBooo, D-Nice and BDP Bodyguard Darrell, all riding in a red Jeep CJ-7 with a white fiberglass top on it, drove to the Highbridge Projects building where the offending parties lived on Morris Avenue in the South Bronx; Sterling’s intention, along with the rest of the crew, was to try to defuse the situation. As they were leaving, bullets ripped through the side and top of the Jeep. Sterling was hit in the neck. Critically wounded, he was driven in the Jeep to Lincoln Hospital which was less than a mile away. He was conscious and talking to the doctors as he was wheeled into the emergency room. Sterling then stated to the doctor that he was feeling cold, and tired. At first it was thought that his injuries were not life-threatening, and his friends saw him being wheeled away into the E.R. They went to the diner on Grand Concourse to wait while Sterling underwent surgery before they came back to check on him. Unfortunately, Sterling died in the operating room within one hour of being shot, leaving behind an infant son, Scott Sterling Jr. Two men were arrested and charged with Sterling's murder but were acquitted at the trial.^[3]

KRS-One decided to continue Boogie Down Productions, crediting subsequent releases as being overseen by Scott La Rock. The Stop the Violence Movement was in large part a result of his murder.

Discography

• Criminal Minded (1986)
• By All Means Necessary (La Rock was killed during the making of this album)
• Man & His Music (Remixes from Around the World) (1997)
• Best of B-Boy Records (2001)

Notes and references

1. ^ "500 CDs You Must Own: Hip-Hop". http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=126.  By the Blender magazine. URL accessed on September 11, 2007
2. ^ "The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/5.  URL accessed on September 11, 2007
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.xxlmag.com/features/2010/08/rip-scott-la-rock-remembering-the-bdp-legend-23-years-later/

External links

Persondata
Name	La Rock, Scott
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 2, 1962
Place of birth
Date of death	August 27, 1987
Place of death