Guru: Rest in Peace my brother by Chris Wallace

As a huge fan of hip-hop music and it's rightful place amongst society, I was honestly absolutely saddened by the death of one-half of my fave hip-hop duos of all time. Guru, the sole founder of Gang Starr and forever linked to D.J. Premier, succumbed to cancer on Monday at age 43 and shortly thereafter, the tributes were running rampant. Guru, who helped pioneer hip-hop and merge jazz and hip-hop music, brought a different sound and flair to hip-hop that had not been matched during his time. Hits such as "You Know my Steez, Mass Appeal, Full Clip, Moment of Truth and Discipline" are just a few of the pieces that this musical genius helped put together.

Guru partnered with D.J. Premier to form the duo Gang Starr in the late 80's and released "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Step in the Arena," classic albums in their own right. In 1993, Guru released his first solo album, Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 and it featured collaborations with notable jazz musicians as Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers. After reuniting with D.J. Premier to release several more albums, with the last being released in 2003, Guru and D.J. Premier had a falling out that led to a farewell letter before his death that sadly and oddly asked that he NOT be linked to D.J. Premier in any way.

Despite the request, its hard for any fan of Gang Starr not to link the two together. It's almost like asking brothers not to be linked together..sort of like Brett Favre asking not to be linked to the Green Bay Packers or Karl Malone asking not to be linked to John Stockton. I don't know what beef actually went down. Quite honestly, no one probably really knows the TRUE story but I DO know that Guru will be missed in the world of hip-hop and D.J. Premier was fortunate to partner with such a crafty cat. Rest in peace Guru.