Goodbye Guru

By Ayomide Tayo

Every man wins some, and loses some.Yesterday must have been Guru’s day of final loss. The hip hop legend, aged 43, one-half of the iconic group, Gangstarr, passed away due to complications from cancer yesterday morning (April 19).

Last month he suffered a heart attack and was briefly in coma. It’s a shame to see such a talented wordsmith pass on, especially at a time when Hip-Hop music is facing a dearth of top notch lyrics from most of its premier artistes.

Guru (real name Keith Elam) teamed up with legendary DJ/producer DJ Premier to form the group known as Gangstarr in 1987. Backed by DJ Premier’s sonic scratches, Guru’s voice fast became one of Hip-Hop’s patent voices which represented conscious rap music which was at its prime at that time. Their combination spawned classic albums such as Step in the Arena (1991) and Daily Operation (1992). The duo finally fell out in 2003 which saw Guru working with a new producer called Solar.  

As earlier mentioned, Guru’s passing couldn’t have been more untimely. Hip-Hop is now at a crossroad with many of its fans debating on the relevance of lyrics in the rap genre and with him gone; a part of Hip- Hop’s lyrical side has just disappeared tipping the scale in favour of rap’s less lyrical side. Also Guru (which stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal) represents what is considered the golden era of Hip-Hop, a time when the love for the art was placed over commercial benefits, a time when it was fashionable to be intelligent than ignorant.

With Guru gone, rap has lost its innocence, some of its soul, and intelligence. And speaking of soul, Guru was one of the pioneers of the Hip-Hop soul genre. His Jazzmatazz solo albums got him critical appraise for perfectly blending jazz, soul and hip-hop.

Guru is as rare as they come. Acknowledged as a good lyricist and mostly underrated as a great MC, he served the rap genre more than devoutly. Even when his type of rap music was no longer making inroads into the Billboard charts, Guru stuck by his guns and never wavered in delivering his style of Hip-Hop in which many of us have forgotten and the new Hip-Hop generation ignore and discard. Not many New Jack rappers can lay claim to that.

Good night Guru, for you will be sorely missed.