Gone Too Soon

In April of 2010 Legendary Rapper Guru passed sadly passed away.

Here is an article commemorating his life successes written by Gil Kaufman

Gang Starr MC Guru (born Keith Elam) has died at age 48. According to a statement, Guru died of cancer-related causes on Monday after a long fight with the disease.

Born on July 17, 1966, near Boston, Guru rose to fame in the late 1980s as part of the duo Gang Starr with partner DJ Premier. The pair helped define the New York underground rap sound in the 1990s. Their unique sound combined Premier's production palette, which leaned heavily on sampled jazz records and scratched vocals on the choruses, with Guru's uncompromising rhymes. Their 1998 album Moment of Truth was among their most critically acclaimed collections and Gang Starr's biggest-selling project to date. Gang Starr's last group project, The Ownerz, was released in 2003.

Guru found solo fame in 1993 when he released the first volume of his Jazzmatazz series, an all-star project that featured a number of collaborations with jazz icons such as Branford Marsalis, Donald Byrd, Roy Ayers and Ronny Jordan, as well as vocals from French producer Solar and N'Dea Davenport of the Brand New Heavies. The album's mixture of jazz and rap was considered pioneering at the time, and the record spawned the hit "Trust Me." Guru would go on to make four volumes in the series.

If you have an opportunity to listen to this entire CD, we highly recommend checking it out! Here is one song to inspire you: