Give Big a hug, tell Aaliyah I said hi, til the next time I see her on the other side.

Hip-hop has always been about defining yourself as a person. Because it is a male dominated form, in a male dominated culture, more than anything it's been about asking and answering the question of what it means to be a man. What is a man willing to do for his money, or his respect, or his women, or his people? Among the legion of artists who have contributed to this repository of shared masculine experience, Joseph Simmons occupies a very special place.

Once known as The Son of Kurtis Blow, later Run of Run DMC, and now Rev Run, he is more than just an popular icon. He's a monument. The songs he made are classics, and the rapid "handoff" style that he and his partner Darryl McDaniels pioneered remains the blueprint for the way 2 MC's share 16 bars . He wore Kangols and track suits on stage, because thats what he wore in real life, and he understood that hip hop was nothing if not real life. When beats and rhymes first met cinema in the movie Krush Groove, Run was there to make the introduction . When Rap married Rock in the form of "Walk this Way" he performed the wedding (In fact , he chaperoned their first date on the on the old school gem "King of Rock"). In a culture where nothing counts more than your manhood, for many years, Joe Simmons was The Man.

Joseph, and his wife Justine, recently experienced the birth, and death, of their child Victoria Anne on the same tragic day. MTV was on hand to tape the delivery for an episode of his family- oriented reality show "Run's House". As the baby entered the world doctors discovered that many of her vital organs had developed outside of her body.Her life lasted only a few minutes. In the wake of what was surely a shattering experience he issued the following brief statement.

On Sept. 26, 2006, Victoria Anne Simmons for some unknown reason chose to come early and unfortunately did not survive...We must accept whatever is there and once you accept unconditionally, then everything is beautiful. Every pain has a purifying effect. So whatever comes your way, just be thankful. We see life in death and believe in the celebration of life in death."

In 5 simple sentences that dont even rhyme, Run has raised the bar for every other MC again. No bullet riddled drug tale, and no ribald recitation of conquests, ever spoke more to the strength of a man than those words do. A man is someone stands squarely by his family, humbly before his god, and resolute in the face of a world he knows will break his heart some days. So whatever comes your way, just be thankful.... I'm very sad for one the heroes of my generation today. The Son of Kurtis Blow, and the father of Victoria Anne. But more than that I'm thankful that we still have Run to teach usl how to walk this way.