Word Is Bond was deeply saddened to hear about the death of Praverb the Wyse yesterday. He was someone we wrote about many times, and in fact was about to be invited on to our podcast. His sudden death has shocked many of the underground hip-hop community, who knew him as a warm and wise individual who was generous with his time, knowledge and expertise. Here is a written tribute from Guillermo Antonini of the Collab Projekt. This has been reproduced with his permission, originally posted here.

The numbness I felt this afternoon after hearing about Earl McNease’s (aka @PTheWyse) unexpected passing was not the kind of numbness you feel after hearing about the passing of an acquaintance, or an “internet friend”.

The numbness I felt after hearing about the unexpected passing of Earl, whose artist name was Praverb, was the same kind of numbness you feel after the passing of a true friend; someone you knew cared about you on a genuine level.

I had never met Praverb in real life, but we initially established our relationship via Twitter, and since our first interaction, we shared many more mentions and messages on social media, as well speaking directly via Skype a couple of times. If you were working in any capacity in the independent hip-hop realm, it was almost undeniable that you had come across Praverb’s Twitter — @PTheWyse — or his ever so useful website. The man dedicated his very existence to not only creating music, but also to assisting young independent artists, managers, publicists in attaining, and conquering their goals.

Following him for some time, I could tell Praverb was a father, a husband, a lover, a friend… But the capacity I knew him most in was — a hip-hop head. He loved hip-hop, and he humbly dedicated himself to providing others with tools he felt would help them succeed. He did his job with pride, he did it with detail, he did it with research, he did it with love. Every single thing he did, he did it with his heart.

No matter who you were, P would take a second to interact with you to learn from you, or to share information with you — to help you. That is why he was much more than just an Internet acquaintance to me (and many others). He was a genuine friend that I made thanks to the internet, and somebody who actually cared about my progression and my development, as well as the progression and development of countless others.

I know I’m not alone in sharing these thoughts, so I encourage any body reading this to remember P’s mission:

Wake up every morning and dedicate your heart, and your life to doing what you love. Do things with passion, and do them with a humble soul. Most importantly, don’t be selfish and only worry about your own goals and successes — instead dedicate some of your energy to worrying about the goals and successes of those around you.

Now after hearing the passing of a friend, and someone who I admired very very much I can only offer this piece of advice to myself and to everybody reading this:

Live each moment like its your last; like it’s a blessed and given moment.
Love those around you, and try to make sure they always know so.
Always be the best that you can be.

P, may God bless your humble soul, and the souls of your family and friends. Hip-hop will miss you very, very much. Thank you.

One mic, one love.

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