Scott La Rock
DJ
Remembered best for his work with the New York-based hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions, this disc jockey and music producer was tragically shot and killed at the age of twenty-five. His first album, Criminal Minded (released in 1987), quickly became a hip-hop classic.
He played basketball at Vermont's Castleton State College and worked a side job as a Friday night DJ at a local bar. After graduating from college, he became a New York-based social worker by day and a hip-hop DJ by night.
His tragic death fueled the rap artist-sponsored Stop the Violence Movement.
Born Scott Monroe Sterling, he grew up in New York City's Bronx borough as the son of city employee Carolyn Morant. He later fathered one child, Scott Sterling, Jr.
He, DJ D-Nice Jones, and rapper KRS-One founded Boogie Down Productions in 1986.