Funeral services set for Dayton music champion

Earlier: Dayton music champion dies: "He was Dayton hip hop"

"He was Dayton hip-hop," Ken-Yon Hardy, a former Dayton Daily News reporter said of his friend Mosses "Moe Beats" Montgomery. 

Montgomery died Sunday after a battle with cancer.

During an 2008 interview with Hardy, the Colonel White grad said he caught the "hip-hop bug" in the 1980s listening to Run D.M.C.

An audio engineer for more than 20 years, Montgomery owned Razdabar Sound Management at 7811 N. Dixie Dr. with his wife, Dawn Montgomery.

"I am one of Dayton's original [old] school hip-hoppers," he says in the video story Hardy created. "I actually create music and I take other people's music and make better music out of it."

He performed engineering work from groups ranging from gossip ensembles to small orchestras to acts who played 103.9 FM's X-Fest. About 8 percent of his work was in hip-hop.

"I guess it is just a part of me," Montgomery said about his work. "Some people have a gift. Some people can sing or play sports or they are mathematicians or whatever. This is what I've got."

Facebook is filled with comments about Montgomery's passing, including one from longtime friend Yvette "Diva" Williams.

Although he has worked with national acts including rappers MC Breed, Too Short, Gucci Mane, Scarface and Jim Jones, much of his work was done with Dayton area musicians.

Graduating Denison University senior Rob "Sarob" Tate considered Montgomery a mentor who was always respectful and willing to pass on his knowledge to young people.

Tate and Montgomery met in 2014 after being introduced by Tate's mother, media consultant and former WDTN anchor Marsha Bonhart.

Tate recorded at Montgomery's studio and bounced many ideas off of him.

"He was someone I could text at 1 in the morning: 'Hey, I am about to send you a link,'" Tate said.

Tate said Montgomery, a father of two sons, was passionate about Dayton's musicians and wanted to being an industry sound to the city.

"He cared about the actual Dayton community," Tate said. "He was involved in almost every aspect of Ohio hip hop."