I'm not talking Big and Pac.

I'm not talking Big L getting killed before he signed to the Roc or Pun eating one too many Philly Cheesesteaks.

Basically, it's not as serious as death because I think we'd all agree those are tragedies that are bigger than the music.

The Wu-Forever post reminded me of the tragedy that brought this post to mind.

and I'll put up that Deck's official solo getting ruined in the flood leading to him never getting a proper RZA-produced solo during the first string of classics is one of the, if not the biggest tragedy in hip-hop.

Deck gets very little love when talking about the all-time best and that is largely due to the fact that he never dropped an album worthy of more than 3 mics.

There was very little to go wrong for the Wu between 93-97 so I'm sure all Deck would've had to do was show up and do what he does best and leave the rest to RZA.

instead, his album get ruined, he gets pushed back, doesn't drop a solo until 99 and the rest is history.

I mean, I don't think this man has ever spit a bad verse and has NEVER been out-shined on a track he was featured on. not to mention, he has the best verse, without question, on the 2 biggest Wu songs of all-time.

CREAM - killed

Triumph - killed

Guillotine - killed

Duel of the Iron Mic - killed

Assassination Day - killed

Tru Master - killed

Above The Clouds - killed

Tres Leches - killed

the list goes on.

so what are some other Hip-Hop tragedies that got in the way of Hip-Hop greatness?