Rapper Guru Loses Battle With Cancer
Rapper Guru Loses Battle With Cancer – Guru, the gravel-voiced rapper who as a member of the duo Gang Starr was one of the most expressive rappers of the 1990s and a major figure in bridging hip-hop and jazz, died Monday in New York. He was 47.
He learned he had multiple myeloma last summer and was hospitalized for related respiratory problems in February, his brother, Harry Elam Jr., said. Soon afterward he slipped into a coma, from which he did not recover, his brother said.
Though Guru came to be known as one of the formative rappers of the flourishing New York hip-hop scene of the late 1980s and early ’90s, he was not a native. Born Keith Elam in the Roxbury section of Boston on July 17, 1962, he began his career in the mid-1980s as MC Keithy E, but soon switched to Guru (which he later turned into an acronym, for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal).
In 1988, after an early version of Gang Starr splintered, Guru met DJ Premier — Christopher Martin, a Houston transplant to Brooklyn — forming a partnership that would lead to six influential and critically acclaimed albums, two of which, “Moment of Truth” and the hits collection “Full Clip,” were certified gold.
Tags: 1990s, Acronym, Brooklyn, Brother Harry, cancer, Dj Premier, Elam, Forming A Partnership, Gang Starr, Gravel, Guru, Hip Hop Scene, July 17, Mid 1980s, Moment Of Truth, Multiple Myeloma, Rappers, Respiratory Problems, Rhymes, Roxbury Section
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