DOWNLOAD: DJ PREMIER'S GURU TRIBUTE MIX

As many of you may know, legendary MC Guru of Gang Starr passed away a few days ago after a lengthy battle with cancer. Guru, born Keith Elam was 43 at the time he passed. In March, Guru suffered a heart attack that left him in a coma for a brief period.
Here is a dope tribute mix that DJ Premier (the other half of Gang Starr) put together to pay his respect. You can download it here.

- Drew

DJ PREMIER'S OFFICIAL STATEMENT ON GURU

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.

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… 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

Legendary DJ Premier has a few words for his longtime friend Guru in the wake of his passing. This was in response to his death as well as the letter which surfaced yesterday.

- Jason

GURU X AKOMPLICE (R.I.P. GURU)

I was just peepin the homies blog from Akomplice and I wanted to re-post this dope little story about how Patrick and Mike from Akomplice got a chance to meet and chill with the legend Guru from Gangstarr before he passed. R.I.P.







Guru was an amazing artist, but also was one of the most warm, loving and humble people I have ever met. Losing him in our lives brings me a deep sadness. I had spoke to him a couple times in January about some projects we were planning, and he was also hoping to come out and perform at our X-Games party this year, but due to health issues he had to skip it. Even when the doctor had said he shouldn’t come, he still didn’t want to cancel until necessary, on the chance he might feel better and be able to come. He really liked coming to the valley and being a part of the X-Games. I will leave off on a memory of the last time I hung out with Guru and Solar. It was last years Winter X-Games and I get a call from Guru and Solar, “What up P?! It’s the gods Guru and Solar. We are in Snowmass, let’s go check these X-Games out!” They where excited like kids to go see the likes of Danny Kass and all the action sports peeps in full effect. So we met up, jumped in my ex-girlfriend’s beater car and drove up into a restricted area at the winter X-Games, where we were stopped quickly by a guard. He said, “You can’t be here with out a pass” and I promptly replied, “I am here with Guru of Gangstarr, he’s curious to check all this out.” The security guards jumped back with lots of excitement as he was a big fan of Gangstarr and quickly helped us out. Guru being the guy he was, got the guard’s name and his girl’s and put them on the list for his show that night. Now at the entrance, same story again. Guru being the humble guy he was, chopped it up with the door-man for a while and then put him on the guest list too. We got in the X-Games VIP tent, drank hot apple cider, had a nice dinner while waxing philosophically, and then cruised over to the VIP lounge above the super pipe and checked some snowboard finals which had Guru and Solar geeking. Then that night we all met up for their sold out show. We rolled in with honestly a group 50 people deep! The Belly Up security guard was like, “Oh no, this is not going to fly,” but Solar replied, “Let me speak to Mike (the owner).” Solar said, “Mike, we got a problem?,” Mike replied, “nope” and we all rolled in. Lord Jamars crew, Opio of Hieroglyphics crew, and a huge Akomplice crew! That day for me was just an overall great day, and was a great example of how great of a person, a legend can be. RIP Guru aka Kieth Elam we will miss you. Thanks for being a part of our lives, you inspired us! - Patrick.

- Jason