(photo by Gregg Delman/MTV.com)
On Monday, April 19 the hip-hop world lost another one of its favorite sons as Keith Elam, better known to us as Guru, passed away after his long battle with cancer. Guru, along with his partner in rhyme DJ Premiere made up the innovative hip-hop duo GangStarr, famous for essentially contradicting what their name would suggest, with their musical and lyrical content promoting for their listeners to live a more righteous life.
At a time where 70's soul and funk fueled Dre beats and violence heavy lyrics took over hip-hop radio stations across the country, GangStarr slipped into the background with a flow uniquely their own. Fusing laid back jazz and soul-esque groove melodies over gritty simplistic drum and bass beats, GangStarr gave New York hip-hop an official sound of their own, which had been lacking since N.W.A ang "Gangster Rap" had taken over both coasts (GangStarr helping to pioneer New York's late '80's/early 90's sound is funny considering neither member were actually from New York). Guru would go on to further his musical message with his "Jazzmatazz" series, starting in '93 going one step further than his GangStarr work spitting his high concept lyrical content, over a smooth jazz band. Along with two certified Gold records, Premiere and Guru would also garner respect in the film world as their song "Jazz Thing" was used in the Spike Lee joint, "Mo Betta Blues". The Gangstarr mash-up up of soul and street would help give birth to the grooves made famous the world over by acts like A Tribe Called Quest, Common Sense (aka Common), the Notorious B.I.G. and M.O.P. Guru's attention to lyrical greatness over production hype would help lead the way for content heavyweights such as Nas, Mobb Deep, Game and Lupe Fiasco.
I know this home-going shout out may seem a bit late, and to be 100 I wasn't even sure I was going to write this because IT wasn't like I was some life long Guru/GangStarr fan. But, as I was going through my Twitter timeline (follw @KAGe5242- shameless plug) upon the news of Guru's passing I saw ?uestlove retweet a message he got from a kid who said "Wait, Jay-Z's friend died" (alluding to Guru, the often "shouted out" audio engineer/producer for Jay-Z). It was with that tweet that I was brought back to the reality of the mass produced ringtone rappers currently invading the ears and minds of today's young hip-hop fans and their lack of knowledge regarding the history of the music and culture they long to claim to be a part of (don't worry this will be a whole post unto itself at a later date - TRUST!) And as with life, if we do not remember our Hip-Hop history, we will be doomed to repeat its wackness (I'm lookin at you Soulja Boy).
So while Guru may not have had the "Mass Appeal" to make it to most people's Hip-Hop Mount Rushmore, he damn sure had the "Skillz" to make honorable mention (see what I just did there?). Rest In Peace fam, you will be missed.
Peace Up, Peace Out
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