Live data from Hacker News

A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

theatlantic.com

11–20 of 81 posts

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#11

I was a breaker all throughout highschool, and I loved it. I felt a strong sense of community I hadn't felt anywhere. Someone new could come in, willing to learn, and pretty much just get accepted to the group. My group of friends from that time were by far the most diverse (Chinese, Phillipino, Black, Australian, Native American, Mexican). And I'm from Utah-- Not a place known for diversity. We all knew each other's…

Makes me happy there is a bboy/bgirl on here. The good ol days for sure!

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#12
> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.”

> “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage.

I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking not to be a health threat. There is just so much evidence out there that sleep deprivation has similar health effects as alcohol consumption, both in terms of impaired cognitive abilities and long term health effects.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#13
post #12

> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” > “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage. I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking…

It's probably exaggeration for effect.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#14
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats how you know its all fabricated.

Interesting that you're postulating a ~19 year conspiracy to fabricate a man across at least two LA Times articles from 2000 and this Atlantic piece in 2019. And I guess celebrity rapper KRS One, quoted in the Atlantic, would have to be in on the fabrication too. And the LA Times photographer who sold his images to the Atlantic.

You mean celebrity rapper KRS-1, who (a long time since he was a success, and when he was trying to start a weird hip-hop religion) met Dr. Rapp, gave him "rap lessons" and planned to write a book or do a record with him (neither of which came to fruition.)

This also all happened in 1999, right before the LA Times articles in 2000. This was a KRS-1 publicity project that didn't end up working.

BTW, it's a straw man to pretend that this story being a fabrication means that the man himself was fabricated. I'm sure some retired white guy after having a stroke went to a rap open mic battle, got noticed by KRS-1 who thought he might be able to use him, which gave him the social capital to attend events regularly and make friends. I also don't doubt that once or twice during the period of his "rap lessons," KRS-1 trained him like a parrot to have a good minute on stage. Especially with the novelty, I'm sure people gave him a break, and there's no indication he wasn't trying hard, and people like when you try hard.

Those lyrics are horrific, though. Also, shit features like this remind me that if the media wasn't 24-hour Trump, it still wouldn't be covering anything important, it would just have to find 10x more stories about waterskiing dogs and rapping grandpas.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#16
post #12

> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” > “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage. I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking…

Many experts feel they have the right to ignore other experts in their field. It's scary how some doctors pick and choose the research findings to reinforce their perspectives, regardless if it's fact based.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#17
post #12

> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” > “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage. I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking…

Some doctors don't have a choice.

My brother was on call this weekend and got called in Friday night at 10 P.M. and Saturday night at 2 A.M., then had to be back to work at 7 A.M. Sunday. Obviously sleep deprived, but there's nothing he specifically could do. This needs to change at an institutional level.

Re: A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend

#20
post #12

> He was tall and lean, ran six miles a day, and was a strict vegetarian. “I believe a physician should provide exemplary motivation to patients,” he once wrote. “I don’t smoke and have cut out all alcohol.” > “Sometimes I worked from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.,” he recalled, adding that the pressures had cost him his first marriage. I don't understand how a medical doctor can fail to consider sleep deprivation and overworking…

I swear, a surgeon killed my dad. My dad's surgery was scheduled immediately after the surgeon returned from Australia -- he drove straight from a 30-hour flight to the surgery ward. His scalpel slipped and nicked a chyle duct, which took another half-dozen surgeries to correct. Sure, the cancer was gonna kill him, but spending 3 months in ICU probably took years away from us. I can't imagine the surgeon's hubris in that -- the medical profession seems to know so much, but individual practitioners think they're immune to sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and other simple well-understood aspects of the human condition. It's appalling and tragic
Post reply on HN