Eddie Cheeba

{{Short description|American rapper (1956–2024)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Eddie Cheeba

| image =

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| birth_name =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1956|10|18}}

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| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|2|13|1956|10|18}}

| genre = Hip hop

| occupation = DJ

| years_active =

| associated_acts = Lovebug Starski, DJ Hollywood

}}

Eddie Cheeba (October 18, 1956 – February 13, 2024) was an American DJ in New York in the 1970s, considered to be the number one club DJ.{{cite book|author=Mickey Hess|title=Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkCncJ7j744C&pg=PA33|date=November 25, 2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-34321-6|page=33}} Eddie, real name Edward Sturgis, was born in New York and grew up in the Douglas Projects of the Bronx where he attended Brandeis High School.{{Cite web|date=2020-12-08|title=Master of Ceremonies|url=https://magazine.waxpoetics.com/connections/ultimate-breaks-and-beats/article/eddie-cheba-master-of-ceremonies/|access-date=2024-02-16|website=WaxPoetics|language=en-US}}

Cheeba was a close friend of DJ Hollywood and they frequently influenced each other's styles.{{cite book |author1=Murray Forman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvYv0Sr05FAC&pg=PA43 |title=That's the Joint!: The Hip-hop Studies Reader |author2=Robert Ford, Jr. |date=January 2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-96919-2 |page=43 |author-link2=Robert Ford Jr.}}

Cheeba is credited with inspiring Def Jam Recordings founder, Russell Simmons to pursue a career in hip-hop when Simmons heard Cheeba perform in Harlem in 1977.{{cite book|author=Carrie Golus|title=Russell Simmons: From Def Jam to Super Rich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBpbEHD8qAQC&pg=PA21|date=January 1, 2012|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=978-0-7613-8157-0|page=21}}

Kurtis Blow took his name imitating Cheeba at the suggestion of Russell Simmons, copying the pattern from Eddie Cheeba as "blow" was a force of power as "cheeba" was slang for marijuana.{{cite book|author=Carrie Golus|title=Russell Simmons: From Def Jam to Super Rich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBpbEHD8qAQC&pg=PA21|date=January 1, 2012|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=978-0-7613-8157-0|page=23}}

Cheeba died on February 13, 2024, at the age of 67.{{cite news |title=Eddie Cheeba, Influential Early Hip Hop Dj, Dies |url=https://hiphopdx.com/news/eddie-cheeba-influential-dj-dies |access-date=14 February 2024 |publisher=Hip Hop DX |date=13 February 2024}}