The culture is devastated and shocked by Angie Stone’s passing. The beloved “No More Rain (In This Cloud)” and “Brotha” singer gifted us with sultry vocals and toe-tingling lyrics. But she also helped ground the entire rap industry.
In 1979, Angie Stone was a church girl. She started singing in church, but by the time she was a teenager she wasn’t interested in anyone’s choir. Sylvia Robinson, founder of Sugar Hill Records, was building a record label, and Stone, with two of her friends, wanted to be signed.
The trio called themselves The Sequence, and after sneaking backstage to perform for Robinson, they got exactly what they wanted. The group moved to New York and began recording.
The Sequence’s album “Sugar Hill Presents the Sequence,” went gold, inspiring Dr. Dre, Busta Rimes, and Ice Cube. Stone’s work also opened doors for Erykah Badu, Salt-N-Pepa, and every single women’s rap act that followed.
Hip-hop barely recognized Stone’s powerful contributions, but in our remembrances of her we can thank our lucky stars that one of the brightest made the culture richer in her time here with us.