Giving props to the late, great Nirvana front-man, twenty years after his passing.
The grim anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death by shotgun blast is coming up tomorrow. It's hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the fateful day he took his own life at age 27, but he and his band left an enduring legacy.
After all this time, Nirvana's second and third albums, Nevermind and In Utero, stand as unqualified classics, while Cobain himself is still widely considered the "last real rock star." Part of this reputation is surely due to the power of the music he made with the pioneering grunge band Nirvana, while part of his reputation stems from public fascination with his tragic and mysterious demise. (His death was officially ruled a suicide, but some wild conspiracy theories circulate to this day.)
Not only is Cobain idolized by generations of aspiring rock musicians, but his live-fast-die-young biography has become the stuff of legend among many rap stars as well. Kurt may be gone but his memory lives on—through the words of these rappers who continue to draw inspiration from the former Nirvana front-man.