Guru

Keith Elam, performing as Guru, first achieved visibility as the lyricist in Gang Starr, an early hip-hop duo known for merging jazz textures with rap. Following the release of the group’s initial three albums—No More Mr. Nice Guy in 1989, Step in the Arena in 1991, and Daily Operation in 1992—Guru began issuing solo material with Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 in 1993. That project included appearances by Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, and N’Dea Davenport of the Brand New Heavies. Two years later he delivered Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality, again drawing on an array of guests that encompassed Ramsey Lewis, Branford Marsalis, and Jamiroquai members.

Even while pursuing solo work, Guru stayed active with Gang Starr, contributing to Hard to Earn in 1994 and Moment of Truth in 1998. Five years after his second solo album, Streetsoul—the third Jazzmatazz installment—appeared in 2000 and featured Herbie Hancock, Isaac Hayes, the Roots, Erykah Badu, and Macy Gray. He returned to the studio without delay, releasing Baldhead Slick & da Click the following year.

Four years passed before Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures surfaced in 2005, marking his first album on the newly established 7 Grand Records and carrying beats by Solar, who would prove central to the label’s later output. Solar also supplied the music for Jazzmatazz, Vol. 4, which arrived in summer 2007 complete with its customary roster of guest vocalists and instrumentalists and was accompanied by the “raw” companion disc Guru’s Jazzmatazz - The Timebomb: Back to the Future Mixtape. Guru 8.0: Lost and Found, his fourth full-length release on 7 Grand, followed in 2009. In addition to the artists already cited, Guru recorded with several of rap’s leading producers—fellow Gang Starr member DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Alchemist, Ayatollah, and DJ Spinna—as well as Ice-T, Naughty by Nature’s Treach, Killah Priest, and Ed O.G. After battling cancer, Guru suffered a heart attack on February 28, 2010 and entered a coma from which he later emerged, yet he died on April 19, 2010 at the age of 43.