Before passing too soon, Heavy D performed at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards—his first time taking the stage in 15 years—and took the audience back to the '90s as he rapped some of his chart-topping hits (and showed off some killer dance moves), including "Now That We Found Love," with surprise guest Tyrese Gibson.
Now, almost a month later, the R&B singer talks to E! News about the untimely death of his friend.
Gibson, of course, had nothing but kind words to say about the man he considered "a class act."
"Heavy D will forever be known as a spiritual man who loved God, who has always graced his fan and gave us good energy," Tyrese tells us.
The late rapper was one of the few people in the industry who had a clean slate and never had bad publicity surrounding them, which is far from what we see in today's hip-hop heads. So why is that?
According to the Sweet Ladies singer, many of today's artists feel they need to be controversial in order to generate buzz when in reality, it's all about the music, not the "antics" or "media moments."
And when it came to that famous performance in Atlanta last month, one of the few things Gibson could clearly remember was, "Everybody was on their feet…and everybody was happy to see Heavy D back on stage."
Check out the clip to hear more about what the Grammy Award winner had to say about the late and great Heavy D.
—Reporting by James Sullivan