
A Stroke Turned a 63-Year-Old into a Rap Legend - mtg
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/doctor-rapp/579634/
======
carlob
> 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.

~~~
klyrs
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

~~~
geoka9
I suspect in some professions hubris is so important that people who tend to
be humble simply don't make it in them. For example, Chuck Yeager complained
about the arrogance of test pilots and I've heard a couple of times surgeons
comparing themselves to fighter pilots. The difference, of course, is pilots
kill themselves while surgeons kill their patients.

I'm so sorry about your dad.

~~~
heyjudy
A _drunk, alcoholic_ US Navy surgeon gave my grandmother a radical
hysterectomy instead of an appendectomy, involuntarily sterilizing her. She
had my father first, at least.

It's also pertinent to recall that surgeons evolved with and into the medical
field from surgeon-barbers... yes, the people who give shaves and cut hair
also used to cut into people.

~~~
magic_beans
How could that have ever happened!? Did she sue? Did she ever get the
appendectomy?

That's horrific.

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mscasts
Interesting legend, tried to search for him on youtube and other places but
nothing showed up. I'm not saying this man can't rap, but how can you call
that being a legend if there isn't a single recording?

Nowhere in the article is there a link or an embed to an example of his
legendary rap.

~~~
kcon
> Like a true underground star, he shunned mainstream success. He did appear
> in a documentary about Leimert Park, not as a novelty act, but as a regular
> member of the crew.

I believe this is the documentary the article refers to:
[http://www.leimertparkmovie.com](http://www.leimertparkmovie.com)

There's a preview clip on that website that I believe shows him rapping as Dr.
Flow:
[http://www.leimertparkmovie.com/media/06RonCarringtononThurs...](http://www.leimertparkmovie.com/media/06RonCarringtononThursEvenings.mov)

~~~
mscasts
My browser can't even play that and whats me to download a .mov file. No ty.

------
knicholes
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 skills, but we still respected each other. It was a
pretty interesting dynamic. I love hip-hop culture, and, like the Dr., think
violence has no place in it. Ahhh, the good ol' days.

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

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nosequel
For all the people saying it is fake unless there is a video on Youtube, pay
attention to the dates in the article. Though clearly there were camcorders in
2000, not many people just carried them around. Some people did art, rap,
music, sports, etc. just to do it, they didn't need to record it to satisfy
their vanity for likes and comments.

~~~
Impossible
Yeah, all these comments about Youtube videos, etc. are people that have
either forgotten or are too young to remember a time before ubiquitous
smartphones. It sounds like he was never signed to a label or recorded in a
music studio so its completely reasonable that he was never recorded rapping.

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pacaro
There’s an article from 2005 with most of the same information

[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/going-with-dr-
flow/arti...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/going-with-dr-
flow/article991014/)

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xutopia
I wished we could actually hear him in action but no... this is just words
claiming he's a god of rhymes with nothing to show.

~~~
diminoten
Why are there multiple comments claiming the article calls him good at
rhyming?

~~~
hobgoblin1234
Rap legend means what?

~~~
diminoten
> an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.

Is probably the most useful definition here.

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elwell
> “There was a famous guy in Italy who had what they called ‘Pinocchio
> syndrome,’” said Alice Flaherty, a joint associate professor of neurology
> and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “When he told a lie, he would have
> a seizure. He was crippled as a businessman.”

------
RoutinePlayer
Such a nice title. Some rare YouTUBE video would have been perfect.

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aaron695
Just for the young ones who might be tempted to believe the trolls -

Pre internet we still had the AP (Associated Press), if this was real we would
have heard about it and seen it (Which we didn't)

There's more to it than "it's not on Youtube because camcorder footage is pre-
Youtube".

And the point is the "Rap Legend" bit.

Stokes will cause people to do strange things, maybe he might have chosen rap
when he never would have before.

But the concept it gives you superpowers it wrong and dangerous, it does not
ever happen. A 62 who suddenly raps will not be good.... but might be having
fun.

