Guru (Gang Starr) dies of cancer

Why it matters

Keith Edward Elam, who recorded as Guru in Gang Starr with DJ Premier, died on April 19, 2010, of multiple myeloma. He was 48. He had been making records with Premier since 1989; their catalog (No More Mr. Nice Guy, Step in the Arena, Daily Operation, Hard to Earn, Moment of Truth) is one of the great producer-MC bodies of work in the history of New York rap. The circumstances around Guru's final illness became a long and ugly story. A figure named Solar (real name John Mosher), who had been managing Guru in the late 2000s, released a letter after Guru's death which Solar claimed Guru had signed from his hospital bed. The letter distanced Guru from Premier and named Solar as Guru's chosen partner. Premier and Guru's family disputed the letter's authenticity. The dispute has never been formally resolved. None of that diminishes the records Guru and Premier made together for two decades. Guru's voice (deep, deadpan, conversational, never raising) was one of the most distinctive in rap. The Jazzmatazz solo series, where he put rap on top of live jazz from Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers and Branford Marsalis, was a real argument for rap as part of the jazz tradition. You should hear all of it.