Unbelievable. RIP to one of the all time greats. That "letter" is a fucking disgrace, I hope Solar gets what he deserves for doing that instead of respecting his "best friend" and his legacy.
He wrote the letter while in a coma? I don't know anything about the relationship between Guru/Solar/Premier but even if there is some explanation as to how/when this letter was written, it just screams .
Also, I read about his death on the daily beast, a political website, and half of the story was just portions of this letter. I can't imagine this is how Guru would have wanted this to be.
i still remember hearing "knowledge" on the radio and seeing the "manifest" video and bugging out.
i remember bumping "no more mister nice guy" while cruising vancouver bc for the first time.
i used to bump "step in the arena" so loud that "check the technique always blew a fuse in my amp.
when daily operation came out, i was at tower records on the ave at 9am to buy 1 cassette and 2 on vinyl. i did this for every gangstarr album that followed. when i first started smoking trees i was at a party in the woods and i smoked and listened to daily operation front to back and noticed lots of things i never heard in it before. i always killed an entire bag of cheddar ruffle potato chips.
hard to earn was my favorite as far as beats and sound quality.
moment of truth was the truth.
ownerz was cool.
rest in peace to one half of the greatest mc/dj team EVER. daily operation is about to be on the turntable.
Unbelievable. RIP to one of the all time greats. That "letter" is a fucking disgrace, I hope Solar gets what he deserves for doing that instead of respecting his "best friend" and his legacy.
He wrote the letter while in a coma? I don't know anything about the relationship between Guru/Solar/Premier but even if there is some explanation as to how/when this letter was written, it just screams .
Guru was in a medically induced coma. I'm not standing up for this bitch (Solar), but it's not impossible that Guru "dictated" the letter. RIP to GURU, I tip today's lemonade to thee!
I wish it wasn't timely for this reason, but I made a mix of Gang Starr favorites a few months ago. Enjoy.
You can stream it here, download it as a single file here or broken into individual tracks here.
1. Intro 2. You Know My Steez 3. Just to Get a Rep 4. Mass Appeal 5. Step in the Arena 6. Now You're Mine 7. The Militia feat. Freddie Foxxx 8. B.Y.S. 9. Take It Personal 10. The ? Remainz 11. Full Clip 12. DWYCK feat. Nice & Smooth 13. Who's Gonna Take the Weight? 14. Jazz Thing 15. Soliloquy of Chaos 16. Check the Technique 17. Credit Is Due 18. Speak Ya Clout feat. Jeru the Damaja & Lil Dap 19. It'z a Setup feat. Hannibal 20. Words I Manifest (Remix) 21. 2 Deep 22. The Place Where We Dwell 23. Suckas Need Bodyguards 24. Flip the Script 25. What You Want This Time? 26. Love Sick 27. Ex Girl to Next Girl 28. The Planet 29. Make 'em Pay 30. Execution of a Chump 31. DJ Premier Is In Deep Concentration 32. Take Two & Pass 33. Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot) 34. Rite Where You Stand feat. Jadakiss 35. I'm the Man feat. Lil Dap & Jeru the Damaja 36. Code of the Streets 37. Tonz 'o' Gunz 38. Next Time
For people who like touching things, I also have a handful of hard copies.
daily operation and hard to earn were both so unbelievably important to me as a young buck. met primo and guru in 1999 when they were promoting the full clip: a decade of gangstarr shit. they were both nice guys and i was totally on some fanboy " you guys are the fucking greatest... blahblahblah. they just laughed it off and were super humble and thankful. its so sad to see how shit turned out.
This shit has depressed the hell out of me today - but just seeing so many celebrating the man and his legacy everywhere today - it's a very real reminder and testament to Guru's impact. I will never forget the many hours bumping gangstarr with my bro and many friends - some of whom are gone and forgotten - times change - we all may have went our own way - but the music remains. I listen to those songs and im there again - from 89 on to 2010 - and beyond.
Damn, RIP. I did live sound for Gang Starr here in Auckland back in 02 or 03 at the St James, I was a big fan so was pretty stoked to get the gig. They slayed it, played everything I wanted to hear & Guru & Premier were both really nice dudes. Very sad news.
God is Universal, he is the Ruler Universal For those who can't follow that spells GURU when in my circle I see all sides of my culture Design my thoughts like a sculpture
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
Hey,
This is such sad news, as Guru and Gangstarr's music was a big part of my coming age and a strong influence on my own music. Guru has written and performed some of my favorite hip-hop songs ever, so this is a great loss to the hip-hop community. Rest in peace, Guru.
guru has said, in interviews after Gangstarr split, that he was never really friends with Primo and he was just a producer. so its possible that he could have indeed wrote that letter.
I've had a crazy day; LA Times wanted me to write his obit and I had to scramble to write, research, interview AND teach class today.
I did get to speak to Keith's older brother, Harry Jr., who was incredibly gracious to make time for me (I didn't know this but he's a theater professor at Stanford!)
A couple things - direct from him.
#1: Guru was 47. Not 43, not 44, as is being reported.
#2: Guru *never* recovered consciousness. If Harry is telling the truth (and there's no reason to assume he's not), then Solar's letter is a crock of shit. I didn't talk about this in the obit because I didn't think it needed to be in there but Harry made it clear that the Solar's letter was deeply fugazi.
#3: Guru was suffering from melanoma and undergoing treatment when he had his heart attack. Technically, what happened was that his lungs failed and in the process, he went into cardiac arrest. On Sunday, he went hypertensive, went into ICU, and never recovered.
#4: The Elam family is planning - tentatively - a public memorial on what would have been his 48th birthday: July 17th. There will likely be a public statement on this in the next few days.
#5: DJ Premier *may* make a statement tomorrow (I have this from his manager but who knows?)
#6: Guru was survived by one brother, two sisters, and his son. It depresses me to have to report that both his parents survived him; it is a terrible thing to have a child die before you do.
At the very end of the interview, he started talking about how Guru left school to pursue rap and how he, as the older brother headed towards academia, thought he was crazy for it but that Guru pursued his dream and achieved it. Then he started tearing up. I was fucking HUMBLED.
On a personal note, one of the best interviews in my career was with Guru and Premier back around "The Ownerz" (2003?) I flew out to NYC and met the two of them at D&D and spent the bulk of my time talking to Guru (Primo was cool but it was a more curt interview). For whatever reason, Guru was surprised I knew as much about the group as I did and we had a really good conversation about him, the group's history, etc. I've been fortunate to interview some of the people who've meant the most to me as a hip-hop fan but that convo with Guru was probably #1 in that regard.
Comments
He wrote the letter while in a coma? I don't know anything about the relationship between Guru/Solar/Premier but even if there is some explanation as to how/when this letter was written, it just screams
Also, I read about his death on the daily beast, a political website, and half of the story was just portions of this letter. I can't imagine this is how Guru would have wanted this to be.
RIP
Hell yeah he did. He kept it classy too, touching on the Solar thing, but never mentioning dudes name, and NEVER getting gossipy or disrespectful.
Obviously the set was murderous too, glad to have caught that all today..
i remember bumping "no more mister nice guy" while cruising vancouver bc for the first time.
i used to bump "step in the arena" so loud that "check the technique always blew a fuse in my amp.
when daily operation came out, i was at tower records on the ave at 9am to buy 1 cassette and 2 on vinyl. i did this for every gangstarr album that followed. when i first started smoking trees i was at a party in the woods and i smoked and listened to daily operation front to back and noticed lots of things i never heard in it before. i always killed an entire bag of cheddar ruffle potato chips.
hard to earn was my favorite as far as beats and sound quality.
moment of truth was the truth.
ownerz was cool.
rest in peace to one half of the greatest mc/dj team EVER. daily operation is about to be on the turntable.
I still remember going to buy "Step In The Arena" on tape and none of my friends knowing what the hell it was.Stayed in the walkman for months!!!
True Legend.
Guru was in a medically induced coma. I'm not standing up for this bitch (Solar), but it's not impossible that Guru "dictated" the letter.
RIP to GURU, I tip today's lemonade to thee!
I wish it wasn't timely for this reason, but I made a mix of Gang Starr favorites a few months ago. Enjoy.
You can stream it here, download it as a single file here or broken into individual tracks here.
1. Intro
2. You Know My Steez
3. Just to Get a Rep
4. Mass Appeal
5. Step in the Arena
6. Now You're Mine
7. The Militia feat. Freddie Foxxx
8. B.Y.S.
9. Take It Personal
10. The ? Remainz
11. Full Clip
12. DWYCK feat. Nice & Smooth
13. Who's Gonna Take the Weight?
14. Jazz Thing
15. Soliloquy of Chaos
16. Check the Technique
17. Credit Is Due
18. Speak Ya Clout feat. Jeru the Damaja & Lil Dap
19. It'z a Setup feat. Hannibal
20. Words I Manifest (Remix)
21. 2 Deep
22. The Place Where We Dwell
23. Suckas Need Bodyguards
24. Flip the Script
25. What You Want This Time?
26. Love Sick
27. Ex Girl to Next Girl
28. The Planet
29. Make 'em Pay
30. Execution of a Chump
31. DJ Premier Is In Deep Concentration
32. Take Two & Pass
33. Gotta Get Over (Taking Loot)
34. Rite Where You Stand feat. Jadakiss
35. I'm the Man feat. Lil Dap & Jeru the Damaja
36. Code of the Streets
37. Tonz 'o' Gunz
38. Next Time
For people who like touching things, I also have a handful of hard copies.
R.I.P.
RIP guru!
goddamn cancer.
R.I.P. Guru
One of the best yet...
This shit has depressed the hell out of me today - but just seeing so many celebrating the man and his legacy everywhere today - it's a very real reminder and testament to Guru's impact. I will never forget the many hours bumping gangstarr with my bro and many friends - some of whom are gone and forgotten - times change - we all may have went our own way - but the music remains. I listen to those songs and im there again - from 89 on to 2010 - and beyond.
Peace to Guru AND[/b] DJ Premier
RIP Guru
Very sad news.
RIP GURU
God is Universal, he is the Ruler Universal
For those who can't follow that spells
GURU when in my circle
I see all sides of my culture
Design my thoughts like a sculpture
- GURU from Robin Hood Theory
This is such sad news, as Guru and Gangstarr's music was a big part of my coming age and a strong influence on my own music. Guru has written and performed some of my favorite hip-hop songs ever, so this is a great loss to the hip-hop community. Rest in peace, Guru.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
http://usershare.net/1z35xvqyqkcx
(not sure how to post an embedded version here)
I've had a crazy day; LA Times wanted me to write his obit and I had to scramble to write, research, interview AND teach class today.
I did get to speak to Keith's older brother, Harry Jr., who was incredibly gracious to make time for me (I didn't know this but he's a theater professor at Stanford!)
A couple things - direct from him.
#1: Guru was 47. Not 43, not 44, as is being reported.
#2: Guru *never* recovered consciousness. If Harry is telling the truth (and there's no reason to assume he's not), then Solar's letter is a crock of shit. I didn't talk about this in the obit because I didn't think it needed to be in there but Harry made it clear that the Solar's letter was deeply fugazi.
#3: Guru was suffering from melanoma and undergoing treatment when he had his heart attack. Technically, what happened was that his lungs failed and in the process, he went into cardiac arrest. On Sunday, he went hypertensive, went into ICU, and never recovered.
#4: The Elam family is planning - tentatively - a public memorial on what would have been his 48th birthday: July 17th. There will likely be a public statement on this in the next few days.
#5: DJ Premier *may* make a statement tomorrow (I have this from his manager but who knows?)
#6: Guru was survived by one brother, two sisters, and his son. It depresses me to have to report that both his parents survived him; it is a terrible thing to have a child die before you do.
At the very end of the interview, he started talking about how Guru left school to pursue rap and how he, as the older brother headed towards academia, thought he was crazy for it but that Guru pursued his dream and achieved it. Then he started tearing up. I was fucking HUMBLED.
On a personal note, one of the best interviews in my career was with Guru and Premier back around "The Ownerz" (2003?) I flew out to NYC and met the two of them at D&D and spent the bulk of my time talking to Guru (Primo was cool but it was a more curt interview). For whatever reason, Guru was surprised I knew as much about the group as I did and we had a really good conversation about him, the group's history, etc. I've been fortunate to interview some of the people who've meant the most to me as a hip-hop fan but that convo with Guru was probably #1 in that regard.