Today I woke up to some news that messed me up. We lost the homie Naj Murph. Full disclosure, I struggled writing this. Death is not something that I tend to ever understand. While I know its inevitable, there’s still times when I have to figure out how to truly deal. Add that to the fact that my goal was to make this about Naj, his life and music and not about my relationship with him. So pardon me if this at all sounds selfish or self serving, but I can only write off of personal experiences.

Naj Murph was an artist I met back in 2014. He submitted music just like any other artist, but something stood out. To be honest, I didn’t know what it was exactly, today I realized it was passion. Naj was an artist who left it all on the record every time.

A true wordsmith, the Student Union member and myself started to build a relationship after asking him to perform at PAG Lounge back in July 2014 for our Say What You Say Saturdays. It was a good night with plenty of dope artists in the city, however Naj was different. He made it a point to talk with me after the show and said a simple “thank you” and that he “appreciated what I was doing for the hip-hop in the city”. That was important to me because it showed humility and that brings me to the character of Naj Murph.

No we didn’t hang out at all, but the times when we were around each other it was always respect. Our conversations were about music and how he wanted to put his city of Newburgh, New York on the map. He would say things like “man I hope all of this was worth it” and “bruh how do you keep going in this industry”. All I could offer were words of encouragement to keep going and run your own race.

While I don’t know for sure, I believe Naj came to realize that he put his city on the map and his legacy will forever live on through his music. For those of you who is hearing of Naj Murph for the first time reading this, know that he was a beast inside and outside the booth.

Much love and respect to you brother. May God bless you and your family.