Not much respect is given to rap artists here like Dirty Old Bastard. He lived up to his name.
In contrast, numerous times I've seen effusive posts about Jimmy Hendrix who lead a good life but also took a lot of drugs and died from them. So it's not just being black. White artists get strongly criticized here when they open their loud mouths to help elect John Kerry.
Laughing.
I play blues guitar, and trust me when I say that Jimi is my number one hero in that refard as a mucisian, but as person the myth just isn't true. He wasn't the fun loving, peaceful, non-materialistic guy that the media has revised him to be.
In his last year on earth, he beat two women with a brick in front of on lookers (including his own body guards) in front of his hotel . What for, you may ask? For wanting to have sex with Noel Redding instead of him, while on tour.
It still doesn't mean that I go to the other extreme and call him an ass%^le either, but you have to consider the whole measure of a man. Not just what suits preconcieved notions of stereotypes.
Jimi had his good and his bad, He was young and talented, and his death was a tradgedy for that. Same goes for Mr. Jones (ODB).
Actually, Hendrix was taken to the hospital in Denmark suffering from a survivable o'dose of liquor and sedatives. The ambulance attendants laid him on his back, he vomited and choked. The certificate lists cause of death as aspiration of vomit...or something like that. It's copied in a book I once read...and prolly available on the net.
If it happened today,, hes heirs would be fighting over the wrongful death settlement.
He was a pretty good guitar player...an early inspiration...but his stuff with Billy Cox and Beddy Miles is wailin'. The addition of time and funk discipline really pumped Jimi's jam, IMHO. "Dolly.....DAGGER!"