Today, at around 2pm, our dear friend, family member and musical collaborator Tero “CAMU TAO” Smith passed away in his home town of Columbus, Ohio. Tero had been quietly fighting for his life for the last year and a half after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
To those who knew Tero, he was an almost uncategorizable force of nature. Wild, hilarious, proud, loving, tough, outspoken, spontaneous and brilliant. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he dripped creativity, leaving inspiration and awe in the hearts and minds of anyone who was fortunate enough to see him work.
We, his friends and family, have truly had our collective hearts broken by his passing. Not only because of the loss of our friend, but because of the loss of his contribution to those who never knew what we knew about his talent and his potential. He was the secret that no one wanted to keep and we always knew that one day his vision and his heart could change music forever the way he changed all of our lives.
His departure from us all 1 month away from his 31st birthday is nothing less than a tragedy… nothing less than a crime. he was a gift to us all and he is irreplaceable. Rest in peace, Mu. We will love you forever. May god bless you and your family.
R.I.P.
Tero “CAMU TAO” Smith
born 6/26/77, passed 5/25/08
wm/cc
sincerely,
jaime “el-p” meline (on behalf of many, many wonderful and broken hearted friends)
37 Comments
RIP
RIP
RIP
The New Left Should Be Dedicated To Him…WM Wont Be The Same…L.I.P. Camu…
Peace to Camu.
Without question Camu will be missed. Camu was easily one of the most talented emcees ever to be groomed in Columbus Ohio. From Opium Prodigy to the Funk Friends, to the MHZ his style of word play was all his own. Im glad he got to share it with the world to some extent and Im glad to have been apart of that. From the old basement days where the first version of “CKCAMAAU” was born and rocked over the Gangstarr instrumental to “the question remains” to the times we used to find ways of freaking crazy word syllable patters and odd measured verses.
From “Camu The Mic” To “Camu The Inanimate Object” to finally Camu*TAO
You’ll be greatly missed but never forgotten. I’ll make sure of that.
lakeem
Opium Prodigy (original heads crew)
Funk Friends
Thoughts and prayers to all of Tero’s family and friends.
God bless your soul and may you never be forgotten.
R.I.P. Camu. I don’t know what to say. My sympathy goes out to all family and friends. I wish I had a chance to see him live, no doubt it would have been an amazing show. He will be missed.
hold tight.
plot for a little…
death of chris palko.
two of my favorite jux joints in recent memory. he’ll be missed.
HE ALWAYS BE IMMORTAL IN OUR EARS AND HEARTS… RIP CAMU…
R.I.P Mu!
Words will never be able to express what that man meant to me and many. So many good times. No more pain and no more suffering. You are a legend that will never die because you will forever live through us all.
i love you, my brother
Rest In Paradise
Let’s get some people in the White House who believe in evolution & science. Cancer needs to be completely eliminated from society. I want my grandchildren to talk about Cancer like it was a myth. Let the drug companies make money off of every other disease. Camu should still be here…..
R.I.P. Mu.
R.I.P. Camu your will be sorely missed….The Good Die Young!!!!
love you mu.
You’re a Legend.
rip camu
Rest In Peace Mu.
Your musical presence will be missed by many.
REST IN PEACE BRO.
you will be missed.
“the first step to immortality is living a life worth remembering”
r.i.p Camu a trully gifted man.
Rest in peace Camu Tao, so many classic songs, and he definitely had his own style that he took the next level, will always remember him for that.
An incredible MC and a good dude…RIP
Wow. This sucks. RIP.
R.I.P.
PS: on front page write: June 26,1977 - MARCH 25 2008
R.I.P
remember
R.I.P.
RIP…
Your music always put a huge smile on my face. If your musical presence is just a small indication of your personality in the flesh, then I know you will be truly missed. Thank you!!!
I cant believe this. I was looking forward to hearing more grittyness from this man. Please tell me he has more material to be heard. By far one of the most underrated unheard unbelievable underground mc. one love to his family and friends
I wanted to add on to the heartfelt sentiments shared here with some of my own: I met this brother back in 2001 when the Time Travel show traveled from Evanston/Chicago out to Columbus for the Weightless/Atoms Fam show at Bernie’s. That was the primary focus, but we also were checkin’ for Mhz, who at the time were killin’ it with their ‘World Premier b/w Camu’ single on Fondle ‘Em. I always dug both sides, but the B-side, Camu’s solo was just too dope NOT to be the favorite for me. From then on, I developed friendships with these Columbus cats, particularly PRZM, POS2 & Spitball, Jakki and Mu from MHz and Weathermen. All these dudes had real talent, from killing it on rhymes to DJing and production. I feel they were and are some of the best ever. Even some of their demo tapes that I got my hands on were doper than much of the label messes out today.
Last year we lost PRZM, this year Camu. Both of these brothers were taken from us before their time should have been over. It’s a sad week for all; for the music, Camu’s family and friends, and fans. Please keep his memory and his music alive. I’m planning on doing a retrospective of his music and PRZM’s music next on a show I do out here in Chicago. If you have old demos that you feel are worth checking out, contact me. I’d love to let the listeners in on what we all already knew. Peace
Camu Tao - R.I.P
fuck. my thoughts are with his fam. camu was too ill.
R.I.P
Much respect due, that’s one of the best rappers I ever heard…and that’s only like 10% of what he did amazingly well. I had no idea he was ill and I send my love to all his family and friends for whatever that’s worth.
RIP.
I always loved “Hold the Floor”, one of my top def jux 12″ ever. That is to say nothing of the man, the person whom I didnt know. My thoughts are with his family. Much respect and hope.
=- miles
Although I only got to see him perform live a fewy years ago, I thought of him as a wild, crazy, talented musician. Take care man! All your fans and friends will miss you!
LaterZzzzZ!
ALF
REST IN POWER CAMU!
My condolences to Camu’s peoples and family. I met dude a few times nice cat we chopped it up one drunken evening at the Fish in NY he had good snaps. It always sucks when someone leaves the earth before his time and for me I had a bout with Cancer in my late 20’s and fourtently beat it due to early detection and a biopsy so for me or anybody who has dealt with this type of stuff losing someone to it makes you feel really mortal and vunerable. I feel his peoples pain in a vicarious way and I send all of you once more my deepest condolences.
Remember Camu is with the angels now smiling upon his friends and family knowing you all love and miss him. Keep your heads up , this is just the physical plane of existience his soul is still with all of you and yours with his.
Peace and blessings
Dante Ross
I just remember the fucking mosh pit Hold The Floor made of the Bowery a couple years back. One of my favorite memories of a DJX show. You killed it while you were here, Camu. Absolutely fucking destroyed it. Missed is a word that misses the point. Your leaving leaves a hole. Leaves a scar. It might heal, but it won’t ever let us forget. We’ll wear your memory proudly.
Be well, homie
Yeah he was pretty good.