Legendary DJ Clark Kent Has Passed Away
New York’s renowned Hip-Hop veteran, legendary DJ and producer, DJ Clark Kent has unfortunately passed away on Thursday, 24th of October, at the age of 58. Born Rodolfo Antonio Franklin, DJ Clark Kent’s monumental contribution to Hip-Hop is ingrained in the very essence of the culture. The abundance of timeless classics in his repertoire is still thumping through speakers all around the world.
His career began in the late eighties, when he started out as Dana Dane’s DJ. He soon went on to found a DJ Crew by the name of The Supermen. Throughout the 90’s and 2000’s, he produced a wide array of iconic tracks with incredible artists like Biggie Smalls and The J.U.N.I.O.R. Mafia, Rakim, Slick Rick, Queen Latifah, Ice Cube, Jay-Z, Keith Murray, Doug E. Fresh, and many more. For a detailed listing of the classics in his catalog, visit DJ Clark Kent’s Wikipedia page. More recently, he was a part of The Originals DJ crew, alongside Tony Touch, Stretch Armstrong, Rich Medina, and D-Nice.
Besides producing incredible music, DJ Clark Kent was prominent behind the scenes. Damon Dash has credited Clark for his initial introduction to Jay-Z, which directly led to the founding of Roc-A-Fella Records. He was a big part of Jay-Z’s early success, introducing him to artists like The Notorious B.I.G. and Foxy Brown, who is DJ Clark Kent’s cousin. In 1998, Clark discovered another New York artist, Shyne. He was also the host of the formerly-titled New Music Seminar for many years, on which he hosted legendary DJ battles, like the DJ Noize & DJ 8-Ball 1994 standoff.
DJ Clark Kent remains fondly remembered by the Hip-Hop culture.
May he rest in peace.
