Guru

Guru (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal), real name Keith Elam, born July 17, 1966 and died April 19, 2010, is a New York rapper originally from Boston. He was the MC of the group GangStarr that he founded with DJ Premier in 1989.

Alongside GangStarr, Guru has also embarked on solo projects grouped under the name Jazzmatazz, which see rap and more jazzy sounds mixed together, and on which he also gets into production a bit and invites other artists for featurings (like MC Solaar, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, Lonnie Liston Smith on Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 or even the singer of Jamiroquai, Jay Kay, or Lucien Révolucien “Papalu” for Jazzmatazz Vol. 2).

We appreciate that a rapper like Guru was interested in French rap, to the point of inviting Solaar on his project. Especially since the song is very successful, a beautiful fusion between jazz and hip hop, the two MCs having always been comfortable in these two atmospheres. A final flight a little more danceable, before ending the album on a slightly more melancholic note in "Slights in the city", where Guru once again dons his storyteller costume to tell us the adventures of Renee, Emmitt and Mr. Fillmore. The MC will then return to Primo to give Gangstarr the place they deserve in the hip hop pantheon.

Since the last album The Ownerz released by GangStarr in 2003, DJ Premier and Guru have each followed their own path. Guru is now free to create his own style and this perspective seems to have given him wings since he follows up with Solar the Jazzmatazz Vol. 4 and a Version 7.0.

After months of battling cancer, Guru died on April 19, 2010.