Gang Starr MC Guru Passed Away

[JumpinJack AJ]

This "letter" has me really annoyed. As a HUGE Guru and Gang Starr fan, I just can't take it. I popped in "Guru letter" on Yahoo and came across these 3 articles. One of them had a link to a Solar radio interview. It was from right after he went into the coma. Solar is talking about how Guru was recovering but wouldn't say that he was fully awake. He also talked about people Guru separated himself from and denied that people and family were having problems visiting him in the hospital. The radio DJ called him out for having the same Twitter status as Guru while Guru was supposed to be in a coma. Solar just kept nervously rambling so that he couldn't even talk to the radio DJ. I think it's clear that Solar has some kind of crazy motive but that he's simply too stupid to pull something like this off. He's been planning this since the coma.

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Did Producer Fake Rapper Guru’s Deathbed Letter?

Post by EZ Street in National on Apr 20, 2010 at 12:54 pm

When news spread of Gang Starr’s Guru dying of Cancer the shock of his passing was only surpassed by the skepticism towards his final statement. Do you think he wrote it?

The letter published on Allhiphop.com began respecfully enough:

I, Guru, am writing this letter to my fans, friends and loved ones around the world. I have had a long battle with cancer and have succumbed to the disease. I have suffered with this illness for over a year. I have exhausted all medical options.

The letter goes on to inform us of his non-profit foundation for abused children, and that he was filled with tears of joy for the wonderful life that he lived.

Then the note takes an ugly turn. Rather than focusing on his legacy and reflecting on the life he’s lived it becomes a commercial for producer Solar and his disdain for his longtime Gang Starr partner DJ Premier:

My loyal best friend, partner and brother, Solar, has been at my side through it all and has been made my health proxy by myself on all matters relating to myself. He has been with me by my side on my many hospital stays, operations, doctors visits and stayed with me at my home and cared for me when I could not care for myself…

I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this. I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ.

Upon reading those lines most friends and fans were taken aback and have gone so far as to speculate that Guru did not write those words, rather that it was Solar.

As stinging as the words are there is SOME foundation for it being from Guru. In an interview with Allhiphop.com in June 2009 entitled “Never Going Back” Guru repeatedly referred to DJ Premier as his “ex-DJ.”

“People ask me about my ex-DJ (DJ Premier) and all that. We were never all that close. We hooked up in the studio and did great music, but we were never hanging and all that cool. Solar and I, we got tight before we even started doing music.”

This still runs contrary to the conversation I had personally with Guru back in 1998 when he described how he and DJ Premier were roommates (read here) and that he would “never perform without him.”

So what happened between then and now? Only Guru and Premier know for certain and neither speaks on the break-up at length. Regardless, it still doesn’t make sense for a man to throw darts on his deathbed. Especially a recovering alcoholic who went out of his way to make peace with people while he was getting healthy years ago.

Here are some reactions from peers and friends on Twitter:

DJ Scratch "I don't believe Guru wrote that letter. Guru was a poet. Anything he wrote with DJ Premier's name in it was classic."

Guru didn't write that letter. He's been in a coma for over 2 months."

?uestlove "not trying to bring negativity into the situation. but i do NOT believe he wrote that letter. 1) he was in a coma. 2) HE WAS IN A COMA!

Freddie Foxx "The More You Read It The More Insulting it is. WOW."

"Guru was a teacher. Check The Grammar. A Real Teacher.

"How Can Guru Say 'I have succumd2 this disease' So He Past Thn Wrote it? Or He Wrote It In Feb. Just B# he WentN2 A Coma & never Cameout? NOT"

"With ALl That Guru Was Dealing With, The Main Premise Of His Letter Is To Respect Solars Wishes? FOH!!!

Statik Selektah "Lets not make this about the evil person we know is behind the statements, and instead celebrate Gurus life and work. R.I.P. to a LEGEND

As expected, Solar came to his own defense on Twitter:

Solar_7Grand "Guru made this statement from his own mouth and anybody saying different is insane with Hate!

Quite frankly, there has been a suspicious tone to many of the recent statements issued by Solar on behalf of Guru but this one takes the cake.

What do you think? Is this how Guru would choose to use his last words?

Check out this interview the Solar conducted with with Hot 97’s morning show when the news of Guru’s illness first broke:

Who’s gonna take the weight?

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Solar Releases "Final" Statement From Guru As Many Speculate Its Origin

» by tffhthewriter April 20, 2010, 17:17pm

Hours after the legendary Gangstarr artist Guru succumbed to cancer, the internet is blazing with speculation over the letter that was released to fans by friend and producer Solar.

The letter (see an excerpt below) explains the legendary rapper's bout with cancer and even details how the assets and his son's should be taken care of listing Solar as primary beneficiary and caregiver. The fact that this is Guru's "final letter" ,which reads more like a will, and Solar being placed to handle all of his estates' issues and finances including the care of his son has many questioning the legitimacy of the letter.

“My loyal best friend, partner and brother, Solar, has been at my side through it all and has been made my health proxy by myself on all matters relating to myself. He has been with me by my side on my many hospital stays, operations, doctors visits and stayed with me at my home and cared for me when I could not care for myself. Solar and his family is my family and I love them dearly and I expect my family, friends, and fans to respect that, regardless to anybody's feelings on the matter.

It is my wish that counts. This being said I am survived by the love of my life, my sun KC, who I trust will be looked after by Solar and his family as their own. Any awards or tributes should be accepted, organized approved by Solar on behalf myself and my son until he is of age to [accept] on his own.”

The real blow came to his partner in rhyme DJ Premier, who according to the letter can no longer use anything affiliated with Guru's name or likeness. Premier who co-founded the legendary Hip-Hop group Gangstarr with Guru is now prohibited from performing a concert to benefit or in memoriam of his former friend.

“I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events, tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this. I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death.

Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ. As the sole founder of GangStarr, I am very proud of what GangStarr has meant to the music world and fans. I equally am proud of my Jazzmatazz series and as the father of Hip-Hop/Jazz.”

Solar has decided to respond back to allegations that the letter was not written by Guru, by releasing a statement via Twitter letting fans know that he did not write the letter:

“Guru made this statement from his own mouth and anybody saying different is insane with hate!”

The artist, born Keith Elam, died on Monday April 19. He was 43 years old. Solar, Guru's partner, expressed sadness over the loss in a statement.

"The world has lost one of the best MCs and Hip-Hop icons of all-time -- my loyal best friend, partner, and brother, Guru. Guru has been battling cancer for well over a year and has lost his battle! This is a matter that Guru wanted private until he could beat it, but tragically, this did not happen. The cancer took him. Now the world has lost a great man and a true genius.”

This sounds more like a will than his last words but at this point in time only Solar can truthfully answer that.

Despite the drama, [sMH], DJ Premier offers his condolences to Guru's family and offers fans a way to leave their most memorable moments of the legendary MC on his blogsite: http://www.djpremierblog.com/guru/

Drama aside, the Hip-Hop world will never be the same, as we have truly lost a legend.

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Solar Responds To Skepticism About Guru's 'Farewell' Letter

'We knew there was going to have to be a statement,' Gang Starr MC's associate says.

by Shaheem Reid

>

Guru and Solar (Photo: 4sightmedia )

On a tremendously tough day for Gang Starr fans, the death of the duo's MC, Guru (real name: Keith Elam), from cancer was announced by his associate Solar early Tuesday (April 20), and

included a long "farewell" letter that Solar said was written by Guru in the weeks before his death. The tone of the letter was harsh toward DJ Premier, Guru's former partner in Gang Starr.

"I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name, likeness, events, tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this," the letter reads in part. "I had nothing to do with him in life for over seven years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ. ...

"The work I have done with Solar represents a legacy far beyond its time. And we as a team were not afraid to push the envelope. To me this is what true artists do! As men of honor we stood tall in the face of small-mindedness, greed, and ignorance. As we fought for music and integrity at the cost of not earning millions and for this I will always be happy and proud, and would like to thank the million fans who have seen us perform over the years from all over the world. The work I have done with Solar represents a legacy far beyond its time and is my most creative and experimental to date. I hope that our music will receive the attention it deserves as it is some of the best work I have done and represents some of the best years of my life."

In the wake of the letter, fans, journalists and even some of Guru's peers took to the Internet to question its authenticity. People close to Guru said it just didn't sound like him, and many questioned how he could write a letter in such a weakened medical condition.

Rapper Bumpy Knuckles (also known as Freddie Foxx), who worked extensively with Gang Starr, fumed on his Twitter page:

"It's an insult that websites would post a letter from a man who has been in a coma since Feb. R U serious? Do ur homework, journalist! Please," he wrote in part. "Guru& DJ Premier made real hip-hop 2gether. No1 will ever be able to cloud that with fake letters and phony statements. Sites shld know better."

The Roots' ?uestlove took to Twitter as well, referencing French MC Solaar, who worked with Guru on the Jazzmatazz project. "Only Solaar I wanna hear w/Guru is the remix Primo did from France's MC Solaar back in 92 when he KILT (flipped) Miles' 'So What.' ... Not trying to bring negativity into the situation. But I do NOT believe he wrote that letter. 1) he was in a coma. 2) HE WAS IN A COMA!"

"Just confused," radio personality Miss Info wrote on Tuesday. "If Solar wrote this letter in Guru's name to push agenda, it does Guru's legacy a disservice (and their friendship too). All that Solar did in life for Guru, he undid in his passing if the words 'I, Guru, am writing this letter' are untrue..."

Reader Rob sounded off on MTVNews.com on Tuesday: "The Guru 'farewell' letter reeks of fakeness."

On Tuesday afternoon, Solar spoke with MTV News about the controversy, saying that he and Guru had prepared the statement quite some time ago.

"In some ways, I've been prepared for this," Solar said about Guru's death. "We got the news that it was terminal at the beginning of the year, that the cancer wasn't turning around. So we knew.

"He died yesterday. We both had hoped he would beat it," Solar added. "It was a very inspirational, inspiring fight we fought."

He vehemently denied that the letter was not written by Guru.

"I mean, it's ridiculous," he said. "Guru knew this time would come. The great artist he is, us being intelligent people, we knew there was going to have to be a statement relating to this. Unfortunately, there are those who have the wicked agenda, and just can't accept that Guru and I have handled this thing as men and not children, and this is how men of honor handle their business. He arranged his press release. I'm the repository of Guru's life story. I recorded his life story for book and for movies. We're not foolish. He was diagnosed with cancer well over a year ago. It's been operations and so forth. It would be ridiculous for him to not be prepared."

At press time, representatives for DJ Premier and Guru's family had not responded to MTV News' requests for comment.

[JumpinJack AJ]

One more article ...DJ Premier's take...

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Gang Starr's DJ Premier Comments On Guru's Death

Premier does not comment on harsh statements directed at him in 'farewell' letter reportedly written by MC.

by MTV News staff

In the statement announcing the death of Gang Starr's Guru on Monday, a letter was included that found the MC directing some harsh words at his longtime partner in the group, DJ Premier.

Some have questioned the validity of the letter — claims that Guru's recent partner, Solar, has refuted.

"I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name, likeness, events, tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this," the letter reads. "I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ."

In a statement issued Wednesday (April 21) on a DJ Premier fan blog that his manager had earlier told MTV News is legitimate, the Gang Starr DJ chose not to address the comments in the letter and instead remember his longtime collaborator.

"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," the statement reads. "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 seventh 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."

Share your memories of Guru and Gang Starr in the comments below.

This report is from MTV News.

[bigted]

Thanks for those articles AJ, that was a fitting statement DJ Premier made

[VIsqo]

Aww man, I thought he was going to recover and make a comeback, this is really sad news.. RIP

[Turntable]

check this out ya'll, it's a 25 minute dj set dedicated to guru done by one of the best european dj's

that dude also did a sick LL set

Edited April 22, 2010 by Turntable

[bigted]

I found this 1994 Interview From The Source:
http://www.thesource.com/articles/9484/The-Definitive-GangStarr-Story-%28Part-1%29/?thesource-prod=ngfkgltcodvkjt74iec568l2r1

[bigted]

I found this on SOHH.com

DJ Premier has opened up on the recent passing of Guru and revealed his hopes for the future of Gang Starr.

From Premier hopes their past works will financially provide for the late rapper's son.

"I want the name to stay alive... but the right way. I don't have a hidden agenda. His son should get that money. Of course I'll get my half and that's not on no selfish ****. That's just off of what we built together. Nothing can take away from what Gang Starr did. That's what I was stressing to Guru before he passed. We have tons of footage and DVD material that could have been sold. This is way before he was sick. I plan to discuss what can be done with Guru's family. I don't care if it's from a lawyer's standpoint. The main thing is we never dissolved our Gang Starr contract. We are still signed to each other. We never disbanded the group. If Guru really wanted to super dead it he would have said, 'Yo, I want out.' And I still would have tried to convince him to stay. We are still Gang Starr." (VIBE)
Last week, Premier revealed his final hospital visit with Guru.

"If you love him, and you're taking care of him, why the f**k did his nails look longer than a f*cking ruler?!" Premier directed toward Guru's partner Solar during a Sirius broadcast. "[And] a clump Afro?! I've taken care of people in the hospital [before]. You can wash their hair and cleantheir nails off. His feet were swollen and his toenails were really disgusting...I took the logo on my shirt and rubbed it against his whole body and told him a message from me about how much I loved him, and that we were for life and still were for life. Then I kissed him on his face and let him know that I was going to miss him because it seemed like he was already gone." (All Hip Hop)
Prior to speaking on Solar, Preem said he would resist talking about Guru's alleged final letter.

"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," he wrote. "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..." (Statement)
Guru's brother, Harry Elam, recently inked an editorial piece speaking on his condition.

"My brother Keith Elam, the hip-hop artist known as GURU--Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal--died this week at the too-young age of 48 because of complications from cancer. 'Positivity' was what he sought to bring to the music and to his life, and for me that will be a large part of his legacy," he wrote. "In February of this year, my brother went into a coma, and I traveled across the country from my home in California to see him. At his bedside, I stood and stared at his overly frail frame, his head that he had kept clean-shaven for the last 20 years uncommonly covered with hair, hisbody connected to a sea of tubes and wires. I listened to the whirl of machines around us and took his hand. As I did, my mind flashed back to now-distant times, so many memories..." (Boston Globe)

[JumpinJack AJ]

Premier has handled this whole thing with class. It's not like I know for sure that Solar wrote it, but it's obvious that it looks that way and that Solar is a total idiot. He's just ugly in my eyes. I watched the Mass Appeal:The Best of Gang Starr DVD the other night was was remembering the good times.

[bigted]

http://vibe.com/content/vibe-exclusive-dj-premier-breaks-down-gang-starr-page-1
Full Clip: DJ Premier Gives Backstory On Entire Gang Starr Catalog
VIBE.COM By: kmurphy Posted 5-27-2010 1:16 pm

As DJ Premier battles it out with fellow larger-than-life rap icon Dr. Dre in VIBE’s Greatest Hip-Hop Producer Of All-Time, the majestic beat visionary behind Gang Starr details the making of the entire studio album catalogue by the landmark duo—prominently fronted by venerable late lyricist Guru. Through groundbreaking musical statements, fist-fights, break-ups and unlikely commercial triumphs, the legacy of Gang Starr lives on. This is hip hop history.—Keith Murphy



No More Mr. Nice Guy (1989)

What comes to mind during that time was my amateur production skills [laughs]. I didn’t fully produce this album. Three of the songs The 45 King produced before even I joined the group. Then the ones I did produce, [including the single “Manifest”], I didn’t really have an understanding of how to make a record. So Guru and Slomo Sonnenfeld, who was the engineer at Such-A-Sound studios in Brooklyn, would help me put the SP-12 together. Guru and I would hit some snare sounds and Slomo would say, “Put the high hats like this.” And then I would throw in something and make it turn a certain way. Like Guru used to say, that was our early regiment because I wasn’t fully aware of the recording and production process. But those were some great times. Guru and I would catch the bus to the studio together.

I remember the day I walked into the studio to cut the first record with Gang Starr I tried to fist fight the engineer. I flew from Dallas to New York with my turntable coffin and I’m like, “Yeah, so where can I set up?” And Slomo said, “Oh, you’re not setting that up today.” And I’m like, “Mother****er, this is how I make my beats!” They had to chill me out like, “Yo, this is not how we make records. You can lay it down on tape.” To this day, I only do my scratches on the last day of recording.

Step In The Arena (1991)

On the first album, I brought in a demo with just me repeating the drums over-and-over on one record and then I would start cutting up the records. I didn’t know the process of using a drum machine and trimming it straight to tape. But Step In The Arena is where I started to do the production all by myself.

The music started sounding the way Guru and I really wanted it to sound. There was more sampling and more musical concepts. Once I learned the process vs. by way of doing demos on a four-track, I knew the concept of how to lay a beat and make songs. With arrangements, I always had that down, but Step In The Arena is really my first all-production…just straight beats. You could hear our confidence growing.



Daily Operation (1992)

By now I was establishing the Gang Starr sound. My confidence level was 100 percent to where I was like, bring on anybody. I’ll take them all on! Before this album, I was getting a few calls from other artists to work with me. KRS-One reached out, but I was like, “Nah, I’m not ready yet.” I thought Kris was too large of an icon for me to even think that I could pull off an album with him. I was too nervous. But when he reached out after Daily Operation I said, “Ok, I’ll do it.” I did so many songs with other artists after that album.

We blew up big after Daily Operation. But we wanted to please the audience that already loved us as we were. That was always a conscious effort on both of our parts. And that’s the reason why Guru started doing the Jazzmatazz albums to protect Gang Starr from being pigeonholed as jazz rap. Guru used to hate being called that so much [laughs].

Hard To Earn (1994)

By this time, people were saying that I only used jazz samples. And that was cool early on because I used a lot of the jazz records to be different. Everyone else was sampling James Brown and Parliament, including myself at times, so much so that we started running out of the ill funky beats. But people started to over-emphasize the jazz samples and not listen to how dope Gang Starr’s sound was and how we converted it to hard beats. So I said, “You know what? On Hard To Earn I’m going to completely strip it down and use space sounds, helicopters or whatever, just to show it doesn’t matter what I use. And it’s going to be hard.” That’s what I did purposely to prove a point on songs like “Tonz O’ Gonz” and “Mass Appeal.”

Moment Of Truth (1998)

As I said before, this was the most emotional album for both of us. I had actually left the group before Moment Of Truth came out. We were not getting along over stupid ****. I just pretty much said, “Yo, I’m out of here,” so we put the album on hold. But it never got out to the press that I had bounced. At that time Guru was going through his gun trial and he was facing a five-year bid, so we thought he was going away for a long time. That’s when I called Guru and said, “I want to do this.” After we made up, people were telling me that we weren’t going to be able to tour. They just wanted to get the album out there while he did his bid. I remember when they read all the [not-guilty] verdicts and everything…it was just crazy.

I also remember the day we recorded the [title track] for Moment of Truth. Just looking at the emotions in Guru’s eyes doing the vocals to “Moment of Truth”…he was really nervous that he would be found guilty. “JFK 2 LAX” was a true story. And with “The Next Time,” I made that record the day my accountant passed away. She was someone who was a major part of my life. When she died, that ****ed me up. The sample almost makes you want to cry because that was the mood I was in. It’s still an emotional song for me to this day. And it’s one of my favorite recordings, period. Moment of Truth ended up becoming our biggest album. Guru would say, “All I want is a gold album.” We finally got it with this one.

The Ownerz (2003)

We had one of the dopest staffs at our label Virgin, but they all got fired when Mariah Carey’s Glitter failed. That made them get rid of a lot of people. Before that, Virgin would always let us do whatever we wanted. We always picked our own singles and the sequence of the album. We always did the gutter street song first, followed by the radio record, a follow-up single and then the tour. That was our routine every year. But when it came down to The Ownerz, we had to switch over to an all-new staff. And the crazy thing is our new urban music president was the same guy who produced Rob Thomas and Matchbox 20. Dude was two years younger than me! He didn’t put his foot down and let Gang Starr do what we usually did.

We disagreed on the choice of singles and I started purposely being an asshole and not answering the phone. I would call up to the Virgin offices talking **** like, “Yo man, you better call me! [laughs].” Part of that was that I always held down Guru. His spirit knows that I’ve always been there to hold him down whatever we were dealing with. I didn’t mind being the spokesperson. We had to get out of that situation. But the legacy of Gang Starr was too big to destroy. We matter to the fans. We matter too much to hip hop.—As told to Keith Murphy

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

DJ Premier Opens Up About Guru's Death, Solar, Gang Starr Reunion & More
VIBE.COM By: Vibe Posted 4-28-2010 9:26 am

DJ Premier wants the truth to come out. After days of questions surrounding the death of his former Gang Starr partner Guru (who died after a long bout with cancer), the respected producer is setting the record straight. From his thoughts on Guru’s controversial associate Solar and rumors of his old friend’s sexuality to his strained relationship with the man born Keith Elam and the future of Gang Starr, a candid Premier didn't hold anything back. —Keith Murphy


VIBE: Do you feel like your relationship with Guru has been misrepresented by Solar?

DJ Premier: Well, I’ve always held down Guru… His spirit knows this. He used to get upset about so much stuff when we were dealing with the label all the time. We both would be upset. But I would take the calls because when he was upset he would flip [Laughs], where you might not be able to handle him when he’s wilding out. With me, although I had a temper, I was much calmer about it. But I always remember whenever I would tell him, “Yo Guru, don’t worry about it, they are going to take care of it,” he would be happy as ****. He would be like, “Yo, let’s go out for a drink.” He was the go-out king. That was his routine. He was definitely a celebratory guy. Anyone from our era knows that Guru was in every club and every bar and every spot. He could go all night, all day. And he would never be tired!

When was the last time you spoke to Guru?

It was March 30, 2004. April 1 was the last email I received from him and I just found it in my computer. We were pretty much going at it about him straightening his life up with the drinking and everything… just getting himself together. Because talent wise, drinking or sober, he was always on point in the lab. He could lay down his vocals with no problem and he always wrote his rhymes dope. When he wrote his rhymes on page they were so messy [Laughs]. I used to ask him, “How can you even recite the verses and flow?” He would be in the booth turning the paper upside down while he’s still rhyming and without having to punch in.

Was there ever a time when you felt Gang Starr was going to break up during your successful run in the ‘90s?

Yes. That was with the Moment of Truth album, which was the most emotional album for both of us. I had actually left the group before that album came out. I’ve never really told that story, but even Guru knew although he’s not here to defend that—but I had left the group. We were not getting along over stupid **** so I straight up said, “I’m out of here.” He was going through his gun trial and facing a five-year bid. I have to thank our tour manager who I went to college with and who is a major part of my life to this day. Even with his own problems with Guru, he was like, “Yo man, you need to go back to him. Y'all were meant to be a duo, man.” Then the trial was about to happen and I called Guru and said, “I want to do this.” We made up, everything was cool and I went to his trial everyday with his parents and our Gang Starr lawyer and our criminal lawyer. We were there every day. Guru was so scared that he could have gone to jail for five years, so that’s why that whole time was very emotional. I had just had a major death in my family. I was not really focused. I just remember our lawyer telling us, “If Guru goes to jail, you are going to have to promote the album by yourself.” That entire time was crazy.

How ironic was it that the Moment of Truth ended up becoming your first gold album?

Guru used to always say from every album, “All I want is a gold album…we deserve it; we are as hot as all these platinum artists.” So when we got that one he was the happiest guy in the world. He even designed the gold plaque. I remember we spent almost $10,000 on buying plaques for everybody that we knew deserved one [Laughs]. There was a DJ who taught me how to scratch—I brought him one; I brought my parents, my sisters, all my friends who was hanging with us from day one. That’s real talk. That’s why that album is so special.

What kind of sense did you get of the future of Gang Starr from your conversations with Guru?

It was pretty much stay focused on getting your life together. Everybody knows he had a history of drinking. That was no secret. But he had cut down some. He was getting it together, but he kept going back to it. His attitude could switch from being the funniest guy, joking around to just flipping out. But we were so used to him after all these years that we just dealt with it.

What are your favorite memories of Guru beyond the music?

Besides the music and the tours, I lived with him from ’88 to ’93. That’s a lot of years to live together. Everything would come through our house… wild parties every night. We lived that rock-and-roll lifestyle and weren’t even going platinum. We were making steady money because we did a lot of shows, but we lived that rock lifestyle to the fullest. You look at any rock group that had all the girls and the wildness, we did that. It was like college. There would be liquor bottles almost a mile long still in the house, some of them half empty. Guru was the type of dude who would get up, hold it up to the light to make sure there were no ashes in it and guzzle it the next day. [Group Home member] used to hide pizza in the dishwasher so no one would take his food. We used to be together in Brooklyn all the time. We would run around with guns and stuff, acting like we [were] fly. We were aiming the guns at each other like idiots [Laughs].

Now that’s crazy…

Yeah. It was dumb **** like that, but you laugh at it now because those were the ****ing days. We had the party house, which was Brandford Marsalis’ house on Washington Ave. Cypress Hill was at our house before they even came out with “How I Could Just Kill A Man” video. They had just come to New York to meet up with Ice Cube. Easy Mo B would tell you, RZA would tell you… He was there before the Wu-Tang Clan. We met Biggie around that time before he had a record deal. Puff used to come to Brooklyn to come scoop him up to go to the studio and BIG was frustrated because he was stressing to get money. We would be on the corner smoking and drinking with BIG everyday. It would be me, Guru, Big Shug and Dap, who I remember had the biggest crush on Lil’ Kim and this is before she was even rhyming. We used to trade porno flicks with BIG’s man Mr. Cee on the way to the weed spot. Everybody would be in there blazing, drinking and girls, girls, girls would be there all the time.

URBAN LEGEND: HIP-HOP'S 13 WILDEST CONSPIRACY THEORIES

What do you make of the rumors that Guru was gay because of the close relationship he had with Solar?

Like I just said, I don’t believe it. All these little rumors about Guru and some other ****… it can’t be. Because he had too many women.

How hurtful was it that one person could destroy someone’s legacy the way Solar has?

It hurts. But that’s based on the fact that none of the things being said are true. Just from the amount of work we have put in… We talking about almost 18 years. That’s a long time. If we didn’t make history, maybe I could deal with it a different way. But we made history together and he was alive to see it. Guru was able to get two gold albums; he was able to do the Jazzmatazz album. So everything that we gained makes you think, “You mean to tell me you are going to blow it all away and act like that’s not an important part of what made us who we are?” With a silly ass letter like that??? When you say ‘Ex-DJ’ where is my name at? Because there are two other DJ’s that was DJing with Guru besides me. There was Doo Wop and Shawn Ski, who was our backup DJ when I had to go back to college. He always held us down. Calling me the ex-DJ doesn’t mean anything to me. Why don’t you just say Christopher Martin?

Do you think the letter was written by Solar?

Well, I would love to see that letter. I would love to see the handwriting. Because I know Guru’s handwriting like the back of my hand with all the bills we had to pay together. I know it’s not him.

Have you been in touch with Guru’s family?

I talk to them all the time. His father, his sister Patricia; the only one I haven’t spoken to is his younger sister. But they all know me well. His brother Harry… They all know me. And they know this is all some bull****. They been a little separated from Guru once he decided to move off of Gang Starr. He got distant from everybody. It had been six years since I talked to him. I was trying to get the truth about whether he was in the hospital after he had the cardiac arrest. I called his parents. Guru’s mother and my mother were pen pals for a long time. I remember the day he had the cardiac arrest. I called the house and I heard Guru’s father’s voice like “Chris…Man, it’s good to hear your voice.” Now if he had some strange feeling about me he would have been like, “Son, I can’t talk to you right now.” But that wasn’t the case. It felt so good speaking to him. I was able to get the real deal of what was going on. They know me well enough to know that I’m not some stranger that needs information to be held back from me. Why do I have to make it up? I don’t have an agenda.

Who is handling the Gang Starr estate?

I have all kinds of Gang Starr ****, but you don’t see me putting nothing out. I’m not selling T-shirts and all that stuff. But I’ve seen Guru’s people sell stuff on their site. I didn’t violate any of that stuff. Even when we weren’t doing stuff I reached out and told Guru, “Yo, let’s still sell our Gang Starr stuff just like the way Kiss did all the years they weren’t together.” They were still putting out Kiss memorabilia and dolls. So let’s keep on selling Gang Starr merchandise. The logo and the fan base we have, we can eat off of that forever. He has a son now so I wanted his son to eat. We just never resolved to get any agreement on it. I left it alone pretty much.

Were there plans for another Gang Starr album?

That was the plan following the break he was taking. But I don’t dwell on stuff too long. I’m glad that I have made a name for myself where I still can survive. If I had to just depend on Gang Starr I would be jammed up right now. My father raised me to always find a way as a man. I’m going to be a provider no matter what.

What do you hope for the future of the Gang Starr legacy?

I want the name to stay alive… But the right way. I don’t have a hidden agenda. His son should get that money. Of course I’ll get my half and that’s not on no selfish ****. That’s just off of what we built together. Nothing can take away from what Gang Starr did. That’s what I was stressing to Guru before he passed. We have tons of footage and DVD material that could have been sold. This is way before he was sick. I plan to discuss what can be done with Guru’s family. I don’t care if it’s from a lawyer’s standpoint. The main thing is we never dissolved our Gang Starr contract. We are still signed to each other. We never disbanded the group. If Guru really wanted to super dead it he would have said, “Yo, I want out.” And I still would have tried to convince him to stay. We are still Gang Starr.

[JumpinJack AJ]

Excellent interview. To me, Gang Starr was always a hard group to really get to know outside of their music. This interview just showed another side of them to me....which is dope.

[VIsqo]

Its a really good interview!!

[bigted]

Months after the passing of rap pioneer Guru, an ex-member of his Jazzmatazz band has come forward to speak out against the legend's producer, Solar, and accuse him of physical abuse.

Based on an archived interview, trumpet player Brownman recalled a past altercation involving Solar and Guru.

"To be honest, I didn't feel any fear about Solar until I actually saw him punch Guru in the face. Solar didn't know I had seen this go down. It happened in a back alley behind a club after a gig in Europe. I was heading back to the hotel post-gig, cutting through the backalley of the club as a shortcut. After a gig Guru and Solar often stayed behind, and the rest of the group would head back to the hotel. So I'm walking down the alley heading to the hotel, and suddenly the back door of the club flies open and Guru comes stumbling out like he had been shoved, Solar right on his heels yelling at him like a little boy. By now, this was a fairly common occurrence for me to see, but what happened next left me paralyzed. Guru seemed to be quietly arguing back. Clearly he felt that whatever had happened didn't merit such a response from Solar, and it seemed like he was trying to explain himself." (F*ck Solar)

Brownman elaborated and said Guru denied being abused by Solar.

"Solar swung on him... hit him in the mouth. And then again in the head. I was frozen. Far enough away that they couldn't see me, but frozen in my tracks. I took a step forward, but I didn't know what to do. And then Guru seemed to sort of shrug it off. Until that last year of his life, he was a tough, well-built guy, but I did think it was weird he didn't fight back. And I'm pretty much a peace-loving pacifist... not a fighter... and none of this was my business. I was hired as the Jazzmatazz trumpet player, not as the Jazzmatazz judge and jury - so I swallowed hard and left, disturbed by what I'd seen. The next day, in a moment when Guru and I were alone, I quietly asked him, "hey G... what happened to your mouth man?"... just to see what he'd say. He looked me right in the eye and said "aw, I dropped some weights in the gym. I gotta be more careful, right son?"... and he smiled and gently poked me in the ribs saying "skinny bookworm like you don't know nuffin 'bout the gym, right?" (I was always reading while on tour, and read about 3 books a week on average). He then winked at me and walked away... and if I hadn't seen what I'd seen, that charming response would have made perfect sense. But instead I felt sick. Sick that this man - one of my heros - had been abused... and now felt the need to lie to me about it... to cover-up the incident and protect his attacker. It was awful." (F*ck Solar)

Earlier this year, Brownman spoke on Solar verbally attacking Guru.

"It was like an abused wife relationship and he made all the same excuses: 'Why does he talk to you like that? It's my fault, Brown, he helps me get in shape.' He rationalized it." The trumpeter recalled times when Solar would "yell at Guru like a little boy" and physically strike Guru. (Birthplace Mag)

Following Guru's passing last April from medical complications, Solar denied claims of being romantically linked to the late emcee.

"That's untrue, completely unfounded," he said. "Guru is a familyman, I'm a family man. I don't want to say anything against anybody living a certain type of lifestyle -- everybody is free to live their life how they choose to live it -- but that's not my lifestyle or Guru's lifestyle. We're straight men. He dealt with women and family. I dealt with women and family. There's never been any blurring of the lines whatsoever." (MTV)

Brownman reportedly linked with Guru in 2006 and was his Jazzmatazz trumpet player through January 2010 and left due to internal issues with Solar

[JumpinJack AJ]

This angers me. I have such a strong dislike for Solar and this has me angered to the point that if I saw him walking down the street, I'd probably tackle him...which is completely out of my character. It's funny that you posted this because late last night I was visiting Guru's Myspace (I added another Guru page, not knowing if it's legit) and watched a 10 minute video of his nephew talking about how Solar had things set up at the hospital so that Guru's own family couldn't call or visit or be kept up to date on Guru's condition. Guru will always be one of the greatest It's unfortunate that a Gang Starr project wasn't completed during the last months of his life and that 8.0 Lost And Found was his last studio album (considering I think it's his weakest). But some average work never holds back a legend's impact on music and how their legacy is viewed. I remember thinking Guru just didn't look so healthy on Lost And Found. He's yet another artist I liked who kept the private details of his struggle from the public which left his passing a total shock to the fans...much like my man Rich Cronin.

After watching that video last night I looked at Solar's page. I giggled that someone left him a "F*** you fa**ot" comment. I hope Solar is separated from Guru's estate and legacy in every way. What an awful person.