Keith Elam aka Guru (1966-2010)
After a year long battle with cancer, 43-year-old rapper Guru passed away on April 19, 2010. Keith Elam tried to keep his illness a secret but on March 2nd he suffered a cardiac arrest following surgery and had been in a coma since.
The news of Guru’s passing was announced on the DJ Premier Blog site. MC Guru and DJ Premier were the hip-hop duo of Gang Starr from 1989-2003, releasing six albums.
Another partner of Guru, producer Solar was given a letter that the rapper wrote while ill and he passed a copy to Premier, who published it on the blog. In the letter he addressed his illness, his music career, family and loved one.
It seems that there was still bad blood between Guru and Premier at the time of his death. Read the full letter here.
“I can’t believe it…RIP Guru,” was posted by Premier on his Twitter page.
Listen to audio of Gang Starr’s song “Above the Clouds” below: