People who actually LIKE Gang Starr and Guru, defend them here against the barbarians

Oh wait, Gang Starr are fucking MONOTONOUS, that's right.

-Adam on the "cash money vs. rawkus" thread.

I love them, and "Hard to Earn" is one of my favorite albums ever..."The Planet" and "Mass Appeal" and "Suckas Need Bodyguards" and "Code of the Streets" - that's some banging breakbeat funk and I like how guru's rasp sounds simultaneously smoked out and conciencious (sp)

Concinecious is the best word for Guru's voice, it's got conscious and conscientious going on at the same time plus a bunch of other weird phonemes I can't draw out yet. I don't believe in soul, but that's what his voice is full of, thick and marmalade-y and just right.

This about sums it up. Why Premier would choose to devote so much of his time and attention to such a boring MC is eternally beyond me.

truer words have never been spoken. i have never understood why this album doesn't get more love/canonization. it is easily their best album and a top ten in my books. its also really funky, along the lines of EPMD's strictly business and brand nubian's one for all.

I think "wow, that's a clever Chi Ali reference."

especially when "I'm getttin' more iller than the Zodiac killer"

seriously,Living Proof is one of my personal favorite hip hop albums ever, maybe that makes me weird or dated but I don't care, so there

OTM. but i don't really hate Guru, he's just an average mc with a decent voice. not much personality to him though, and you'd expect someone called Guru to live up to such a name.

Oh man:

so Primo confirmed on sirius radio that Guru had heart attack & is in a coma and will undergo surgery tomorrow.

noooooo! i hope he recovers.

how did i know that would be a link to a ?uestlove tweet

Gang Starr has never made a bad album. Get well soon, Guru!

What's the worst, then?

Anything by MC Paul Barman surely?

oh no, don't get the Geirbot going on this subject ...

http://www.megomuseum.com/teevee/images/robot.jpg

what a bummer...RIP

can we plz not turn this into (yet another) Geir hates rap thread

hey, that pre-premier gang starr track is kind of great. who knew?

mister cee tribute on hot97 from earlier today:

http://rapradar.com/2010/04/20/mister-cees-guru-tribute-mix/ "> http://rapradar.com/2010/04/20/mister-cees-guru-tribute-mix/

I'm so out of touch I was thinking Solar might be MC Solaar.

― Chris L, Tuesday, April 20, 2010 3:45 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

so did MTV News

― dmr, Tuesday, April 20, 2010 4:00 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

so did i, disappointed tbh

RIP Guru.

:-( RIP guru <3 u

Guru is horrible. So monotonous, and he never actually says anything interesting. Premier and Jeru would've made a better Gangstarr team. I can't listen to more than two Gangstarr tracks in a row. Too samey.
― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, October 8, 2004 7:00 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

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sorry dude is dead. never heard of him.

http://www.nkeppol.com/files/gimgs/33_lemonade1.jpg

RIP

if you don't like gang starr...you just don't get it

I was raised like a muslim, praying to the East

Fat Lace dedication to Guru:

http://fatlacemagazine.com/2010/04/mostly-tha-voice-the-fat-lace-dedication-to-guru/

Guru is horrible. So monotonous, and he never actually says anything interesting. Premier and Jeru would've made a better Gangstarr team. I can't listen to more than two Gangstarr tracks in a row. Too samey.
― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, October 8, 2004 7:00 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

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― The BoyBoy Big HOO$ (deej), Wednesday, April 21, 2010 1:35 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

c&ping negative things someone said about a dead person before they died is a dick move imo, chill out

sorry i didnt think to bump this thread before he died but dead or alive, suggest ban

http://livefromheadqcourterz.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/official-statement-from-dj-premier-on-the-death-of-keith-elam-guru/

IT WAS A SAD DAY FOR ME TO GET CONFIRMATION ON THE DEATH OF A MAN WHO I WILL CONTINUE TO CALL MY BROTHER, KEITH ELAM, BETTER KNOWN AS GURU OF THE LEGENDARY GANG STARR.

FROM 1988-2004, WE EXPERIENCED SO MUCH SUCCESS TOGETHER THAT WE WERE ABLE TO EXPAND OUR BUSINESSES INDEPENDENTLY AND GIVE EACH OTHER WHAT GURU CALLED “CREATIVE SPACE”, BEFORE PLANNING TO REUNITE FOR OUR 7TH LP WHEN THE TIME WAS RIGHT. TRAGICALLY, WE WILL NEVER REACH THAT DAY.

I’VE BEEN ASKED TO COMMENT ON A LETTER SPEAKING ILL OF ME WHICH WAS SUPPOSEDLY WRITTEN BY GURU IN HIS DYING DAYS. ALL I WILL SAY ABOUT IT IS THAT OUR TIME TOGETHER WAS BEAUTIFUL, WE BUILT A HIP HOP LEGACY TOGETHER, AND NO ONE CAN RE-WRITE HISTORY OR TAKE AWAY MY LOVE FOR HIM. ONE THING I WOULD NEVER DO IS PLAY AROUND WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS LIFE.

I WILL CELEBRATE GURU’S LIFE… I WILL HONOR HIS MEMORY… I WILL GRIEVE WITH THE ELAM FAMILY OVER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH… I WILL REMEMBER THE GANG STARR FOUNDATION AND ALL OF THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF GANG STARR WHO CAME BEFORE ME – WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER… MOSTLY, I WILL CHERISH EVERYTHING WE CREATED TOGETHER AS GANG STARR, FOREVER. I’M GONNA MISS HEARING HIS SIGNATURE MONOTONE VOICE WHEN HE WALKS IN THE ROOM, BUT THE SONGS WILL ALWAYS BRING IT BACK TO ME….HIS RHYME FLOWS WERE INSANE, AND I WILL NEVER REMOVE HIM FROM MY HEART AND SOUL…….REST IN PEACE TO THE MAN WHO FELT “SATISFACTION FROM THE STREET CROWD REACTION” … I LOVE YOU GOO…….DJ PREMIER

http://twitter.com/FINALLEVEL/status/12586059508

http://www.djpremierblog.com/2010/03/11/the-man-who-calls-himself-a-superproducer/

lol at even premo having mixed up solar/solaar, but mostly sad

that premier post above is classy

classy but sb for all caps. jeez, learn to not hurt my eyes fav producer of all time.

Snoop Dogg: "420 gonna be in honor of the big homie Guru.. respect the foundation... light one up for the legend"

"I’M GONNA MISS HEARING HIS SIGNATURE MONOTONE VOICE WHEN HE WALKS IN THE ROOM"

lolzors.

@BumpyKnuckles: #FUCKSOLAR YOU WANNA BE FAMOUS? I GOT U. LET GURU's BODY GO TO HIS FAMILY YOU SICK FUCKIN WEIRDO!!

lol at even premo having mixed up solar/solaar, but mostly sad

that "DJ Premier blog" is a fansite, not Premo blogging

ha, my bad

Bio
ICE T AKA ICEBERG
Leader of the FINAL LEVEL
TWITTER GANG. If you don't
know, now you know! SMG is
the click! Final Level is the
label!

thx 4 clearin that up

TWITTER GANG

power by icet is totally proto gangstarr sound btw, its rad

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2010/04/23/my_brother_gang_starrs_guru/

dj premier tribute mix
http://www.mixcloud.com/WorksOfMart/keith-guru-elam-tribute-mix/

http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2010/04/23/Dad%2C-Keiith-and-Me-for-Glob__1272065737_0012.jpg

damn, you can definitely tell he was his father's son, if not in that picture

so he never did come out of the coma...

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.1535/title.tasha-denham-just-to-get-a-rep

Interview with an employee of Seven Grand Records:

DX: As a close associate, an employee, all these things. When was the first time you started to notice that things were not normal or healthy?

Tasha Denham: I think it came pretty early on, really. One of the defining moments to me when I knew something was...it was the way Solar spoke to Guru. It was always down to him. He really belittled him, and would do it in front of other people. This wasn't something he just did in private. He is a member of The Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths, as is Guru. He would use that against him, to bring him down. It was important to both of them, very important. I believe Guru's a pleaser; he liked to make people happy. Solar would tell him that the Nation of Gods and Earths are ashamed of him, they're disappointed in him. That he doesn't live up to their teachings. I can't think of the word that they used. There was a lot of times they'd get into arguments over it. He'd sit, and Guru would try to defend himself, and Solar would just get more and more irate over it.

There was one night we were at Guru's house. I was about three months pregnant at the time. Guru kept defending himself. Guru actually stood up and kind of got in Solar's face about it. Next thing I know, Solar punched him in the face. From that point in time, he just started kicking him and hitting him. Guru was fighting back, he wasn't just sitting there being a punk, but at the same time, Guru had severe asthma. He didn't have his inhaler. He started really hyper-ventalating and really having a hard time, and Solar kept beating him. It wasn't a fight anymore, it was beating him. I felt that it was so bad that I got in between the two of them and broke it up, because I knew he wouldn't hit me of course. At that point in time, I was pregnant with his child.

Instead of stopping and making sure his partner, friend, "brother" - as he calls him was okay, Guru was sitting there saying, "I'm having an asthma attack. I need to go to the hospital. I think I'm gonna have a heart attack." He's bleeding, really shaking. Instead of stopping and calming himself down, Solar told me, "We're leaving," and goes and gets in the car and drives me back to the city. He didn't call and check on Guru, didn't make sure he was alright. That's probably one of the first times I was like, "Wow, this relationship is really unhealthy. It's a really sick relationship." After that, if I didn't physically see it myself...I saw Guru punched in the face numerous times with no provocation. It would just be that he'd get upset with something Guru would say and punch him in the face. I know he knocked a tooth out of Guru's. I know he gave him a black eye so Guru would have to wear glasses for photo-shoots and concerts.

holy shit

why would guru have to defend himself? what 'negative' things did he ever do? this is turning surprisingly weird.

that dj premier tribute to guru from his show is ok, but youd think premier would be a bit more sensitive. i think i liked premier more before i heard him speak.

that interview makes it sound like gurus last few years were really sad and hellish. poor guy. i always wonder in these sorts of situations why family/other people dont intervene more (as with odb) but who knows.

Premier speaks to Vibe:

http://www.vibe.com/content/dj-premier-opens-about-gurus-death-solar-gang-starr-reunion-more

jesus this is all so sad

Good interview.

this all really makes me wonder if guru was even able to seek proper medical attention for his sickness

yeah, a lot of this is weird and sad, especially how large contractual shit loomed over him right till the end.

For anyone who thinks that Guru just wasn't THAT good of a rapper, check out this one-verse story rap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv0lOAbdbik

So...did any 'expert' ever comment on the authenticity of the alleged Guru deathbed letter? Based on family comments, it seems pretty obvious Guru didn't write it, because he reportedly never actually came out of his coma. Since it wasn't a will, I guess there was no need to seek legal attention, but I still would think this grounds for fraud/libel? Can't find any articles after April 2010, so maybe the family just decided to let it go?