My brother never did anything small. Hozea "Big Apple" Massiah moved through this city — and every city he touched, from Toronto to New York, Miami, Atlanta, and LA — like a man who already knew his story was going to outlast him. He didn't wait for a green light. He built. Swaggnews. Drügs. Big Apples World Records. "I'm Not A Rapper." Four different lanes, one mindset: stay organic, stay real, and let the work do the talking.
I'm Rich Massiah, his brother. And this website — this brand — is how I'm making sure that mindset doesn't stop just because he's not physically here to push it forward himself.
Big Apples World isn't a memorial page. It's a working brand. Every "I'm Not A Rapper" piece you see, every drop, every collaboration, is us doing exactly what he'd be doing right now if he were still in the room calling the shots. My partner Darren — who Hozea handpicked himself to help build Swaggnews and Drügs — and I run this thing day to day backed by the Massiah family but this belongs to everyone who ever rocked with Big Apple. His friends. His fans. His city.
Here's what's coming: new drops, a mural going up in Toronto in his honor, a mixtape pulling together the voices of the people who actually knew him, and an award in his name recognizing the next generation of movers and shakers in entertainment, fashion, art, and music industry — the exact lanes he lived in.
This is just the beginning. Legends never die. They just get louder.
— Rich Massiah CEO, Hozea Massiah Founder, Big Apples World
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