City Hip-Hop Pioneer ​“Stezo” Dies At 52

Steve ​“Stezo” Williams, the New Haven-born rapper, dancer, and producer who made his mark on hip hop history in the late 1980s, died Wednesday evening.

He was 52 years old.

His death was confirmed by his producer and DJ Chris Lowe the Thursday morning via Twitter: ​“Thanks for the love and when u can, play a Stezo joint for us.” The cause of death has not yet been determined.

Williams grew up in New Haven’s Brookside public-housing development. He got into DJing, breakdancing, and gymnastics as a teenager.

He was part of the crew, along with his cousin Allen ​“Dooley‑O” Jackson and Lowe, credited with unleashing the Skull Snaps drum break on the world. Jackson and Lowe had found it on a record in a neighbor’s basement. Williams used it for his song ​“It’s My Turn,” which turned out to be a hit. Other hip hop artists sampled the drum loop from Stezo — from Ol’ Dirty Bastard, to Digable Planets, to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. The drum loop has since circled the globe.

“Our clique was special. We had great rappers, lyricists. We had four or five beat makers that were really good as far as production was concerned. But the only one that really shined out was Stezo,” Jackson said. ​“He was the one dude who broke the barrier for Connecticut hip hop.”

Williams was already a dancer for the rap group EPMD when ​“It’s My Turn” came out. He appeared in the group’s 1989 video for ​“You Gots to Chill.” ​“It’s My Turn” was one of three singles — the others being ​“To The Max” and ​“Freak the Funk” — from Williams’s 1989 album Crazy Noise, for which he handled rapping and production.

In 1994 Williams released the single ​“Bop Ya Headz.” This was followed by two more albums, 1997’s Where’s the Funk At and 2005’s C.T. (The Lost State).

After leaving hip hop, Williams worked as a barber, first in West Haven and most recently in Charlotte, N.C. He opened a two-man barbershop called S&S two weeks before the pandemic began.

“We already ahead of the game,” he wrote on Instagram at the time of the shutdown. “Me and my partner Spencer didn’t know how important a 2 man shop would be in the future, we started off social distancing and didn’t even know it. It’s not about how many barbers you got, it’s about how safe you can keep your clients, social distancing at its best, god moved us at the right time and thanks to our loyal customers that keep us in business, see ya soon.”

Tributes from the hip hop world appeared all over social media as news of his death spread.

“Before Hammer’s pants, there was #Stezo,” Ahmir ​“Questlove” Thompson of the Roots wrote on Instagram. ​“Before we all abused that #SkullSnaps #ItsANewDay break…there was Stezo. Before #AtomicDog fed an ENTIRE GENRE….there was Stezo. While your favorite rapper was asking so & so & such & such to do some beats for em….Stezo was doing it all himself.” Thompson declared Williams to be ​“my fav dancer” from the late-80s era of hip hop. He recalled watching and thinking, ​“this dude is displaying ALL the moves that others will build empires on.”

“The first thing that comes to mind is how talented he was as a human being,” said Jackson about his cousin. ​“He would get on any machine and figure out how to make it work. He could take a pocketbook and make a pair of sneakers and a designer vest to match. He could cut your hair, make you an outfit, do a beat, and then redo the interior of your car. We called him the Black MacGyver.” He also recalled Williams’s drive and work ethic. ​“He was the type of person you couldn’t say no to,” Jackson said. ​“If there was something that needed doing, he said, ​‘we’re doing it now.’”

He last saw Williams around Thanksgiving, where he saw that Williams had lost none of his abilities for making music. ​“He gets on the DJ controls” of a piece of equipment he had never used before ​“and starts DJing like he’s been doing it for years,” Jackson said. ​“It’s a sad day for hip hop in this era of what’s going on in the world. He was actually doing music again.”

Williams had four children and was recently engaged.