He performed on Guru's 1993 jazz-rap album, "Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1, " and his recordings were sampled on more than 100 hip-hop songs by such performers as Black Moon, Nas, Ludacris and A Tribe Called Quest.

WSJ: Innovative jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd dies at 80

Little did they know that come April 20, 2012, there would be all kinds of wild changes in the world, like a manned spaceship to the moon, a black man in the White House and a woman maybe even being considered for membership at Augusta National.

CNN: Fenway at 100: Love it, revere it, blow it up

At that point, the imprisoned moon lost what little light it had left: it became a black, shapeless rock.

NEWYORKER: The Daughters of the Moon