Today is a sad day for the Boston music community and for hip hop fans the word round. Keith Elam know to hip hop fans as Guru has passed away today.
His wikipedia page reports. On February 28 2010 Guru suffered a cardiac arrest and, following surgery days later, fell into a coma. He woke from the coma but died on April 19, 2010 after a long battle with cancer.
Gang Star was founded by Boston graffiti artists in 1985, only to split in 1989. Guru continued under the Gang Starr name and enlisted the help of DJ Premier in that same year they released their first single “Words I Manifest” from the disk “No More Mr. Nice Guy” .
Gang Star helped forge the east coast hip hop sound. Guru and Gang Starr were also pioneers of the acid jazz sound with their track “Jazz Thing”. “Jazz Thing was featured on the soundtrack to Mo’ Better Blues by director Spike Lee.
Guru continued on with his fusion of hip hop and jazz with his solo releases, Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1. And Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality. Both disks featured a who’s who of Jazz legends and featured the likes of Ramsey Lewis, Branford Marsalis and Jamiroquai.
