Born in Jamaica as Dwight Arrington Myers, Heavy D moved with his family to Mount Vernon when he was 2.
Wes Jackson, the founder of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, credits Heavy D, who saw success in the 1980s and ’90s, with opening the door for other Mount Vernon hip-hop artists like Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“He didn’t curse,” Jackson told me. “He was the rapper your mother liked.”
Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives , via Getty Images
