RIP Harry Belafonte: Iconic Singer And Activist

Harry Belafonte, who stormed the pop charts and smashed racial barriers in the 1950s with his highly personal brand of folk music, and who went on to become a dynamic force in the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 96. The cause was congestive heart failure, said Ken Sunshine, his longtime spokesman.
Amongst all the glorious things Mr. Belafonte accomplished in his lifetime, he was also a producer of one of Hip-Hop’s most important movies Beat Street.