Rapper Freeway, best known for his role in the golden era of 90’s hip-hop and Jay-Z’s Roc-a-Fella Records, is mourning with something no parent wants to deal with. The beloved MC from Philadelphia lost his 21-year-old daughter, Harmony, following her battle with cancer.
Born, Leslie Pridgen, Freeway shared the heartbreaking news on Instagram over the weekend, with a video of his daughter dancing to “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” by the Jackson 5.
“You know the saying sugar and spice and everything nice, well that’s my Harmony! ❤️ I promise y’all she was the sweetest most kind most caring generous loving adorable person I know. Allah Really blessed me putting her in my life. I love her so much and this hurts so bad 😢 this video was in February of this year on her 21st birthday. Even though she was fighting cancer she was always happy and always smiling and she always brightened up my day. The only thing that’s giving me comfort is I know 100% that she believes in Allah and she was a good person.”
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While it’s unclear what kind of cancer she had, Harmony was diagnosed in September of 2020. In January he asked for prayers as she faced the battle head on.
She would go on to have a tumor on her spine removed, and though doctors thought she wouldn’t be able to walk again, she did.
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About 202,260 new cancer cases and 73,030 cancer deaths occurred among Blacks in 2019. African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial and ethnic group in the US for most cancers. Since 1990, however, the overall cancer death rate has dropped faster in Blacks than whites among both men and women, largely driven by more rapid declines in Blacks for cancers of the lung, colorectum, and prostate.
Among African American females, three cancer types (breast, lung, and colorectal) made up more than half of all new cancer cases. Cancers of the uterus, pancreas, kidney, thyroid, ovary, cervix, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and myeloma made up a little less than a third.
Additional research shows that black women are at greater risk than white women of developing or dying from a handful of cancers, including those of the breast, colon/rectum, lungs, and cervix.
On the other hand, data from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) also show that black women are
less likely than white women to be diagnosed with other cancers that can be harder to detect, grow more rapidly and defy treatment, such as ovarian cancer, melanoma, and leukemia.
“I’m just so sad because I miss her so much 😢😢😢😢 have you ever been around a person that no matter what they’re going through they’re still always happy smiling and Hopeful, well that’s Harmony! Looking through my phone I can’t find a pic when she’s not smiling! Even in hospital beds! I Love her so much!!!!!”
Freeway’s loss of his daughter comes less than a year after his son, Jihad, died at age 20 in Philadelphia.
“God knows I try my best to be strong, but this right here is a pain like I never felt,” Freeway captioned a photo of himself standing next to Jihad dressed in a graduation cap and gown.
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