How Sean Price Stole Christmas (Animated Video Short)

As Hip-Hop Heads collectively reflect on the year that has been, Sean Price’s gargantuan absence is easily felt. In August, the world lost the father, husband, and 20-plus-year veteran MC from Brooklyn, New York. Throughout all of the changes in Hip-Hop and the world around it, the rapper formerly known as Ruck was a constant. He was highly lyrical, deeply witty, and always accessible to culture, whether it was mentoring a new crop of MCs, or being somebody Jay Z reportedly courted to sign to Def Jam Records. Despite suitors, Sean remained loyal to Buckshot, Dru Ha, and the Duck Down Music family that he’d known since the earliest days of Boot Camp Clik and Heltah Skeltah. There, after a mid-2000s career renaissance, Sean found a family that understood his sense of humor, and refusal to conform. Part of that came in thinking beyond the box, and making content (videos, mixtapes, and special programming) that only a thriving indie label could think of.

Related: Hip-Hop’s Shining Moments of 2015: The Big, The Small, & The Revolutionary

Nearly five months after his death, Sean Price’s spirit leaves us all with a fitting holiday gift. In an animated short Price and Duck Down made in late 2012, “How Sean Price Stole Christmas.” The Rap song adaptation and visual theme is an homage to the 1966 Dr. Seuss-inspired, Chuck Jones-directed television special. Price (and producer Khrysis) kept Thurl Ravenscoft’s unforgettable voice in tact on the not-for-sale song, but threw in his own raps, crying a Brooklyn-style bah-humbug on the holiday. In the video, the Brownsvillain sneaks in to rob, steal, and brutalize—in a way Heads knew that the fun-loving Price found joy. Like The Grinch himself, Sean Price’s tough exterior and bully-mouthed humor always gave way in the end:

Rest in Peace to the great Sean Price.

#BonusBeat Read: The Making Of “How Sean Price Stole Christmas” by Jerry Barrow at Watch Loud.

Related: DJ Premier & DJ Eclipse Honor Sean Price With A 3 Hour Tribute (Mix)