The 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards aired last night and, unlike the May 2010 MTV Awards, this show smartly featured a tribute to GURU, the legendary frontman of hip hop superduo Gang Starr and iconic bridge between Hip Hop and Jazz music. (Note: BET and MTV are owned by the same company, Viacom.)
To watch the full 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards GURU Tribute Trailer, click here.
I've been honoring GURU since I started listening to his music more than a decade ago. I copped all his albums — and I was once even told my own rap style resembled his. In 2006, I was honored to feature GURU (along with Canadian emcee Bless) on my first release, the compilation "the Sub-Way mixtape".
I, like Hip Hop itself, was devastated by the loss of GURU, as well as the shadiness surrounding his final days and death. (Fuck Solar.) And I was not alone.
His Gang Star Foundation brethren, Lil Dap and Melachi of Group Home, are honoring GURU with the release of their third studio album, aptly titled "G.U.R.U. (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal)". It features the Brooklyn duo's fallen mentor on three songs, including:
- "Legacy", reportedly the last song Group Home ever recorded with Gang Starr.
- "G.U.R.U.", featuring longtime Gang Starr affiliate Jeru the Damaja.
A portion of the proceeds from Group Home's "G.U.R.U." (the album) will go to a trust fund created to support GURU's son.
#FuckSolar:
Meanwhile, since GURU's untimely death in late April 2010, the website FuckSolar.com has honored GURU in another way — by tirelessly working to expose the truth about GURU's "business partner," the self-proclaimed "superproducer" Solar.
On September 29, 2010, FuckSolar.com published "the interview everybody has been waiting for," with Brownman, the acclaimed trumpet soloist hand-picked by GURU for his touring Jazzmatazz band. From 2006 through 2010, Brownman witnessed firsthand what GURU and Solar's relationship was really like. After declining countless requests for interviews, he spoke to The Boston Phoenix (note: Boston is GURU's hometown), revealing the startling details, with anecdotes.
FuckSolar.com copied and pasted the entire, harrowing 8,000-word feature, which, according to the site, "has led to continued investigation into Solar's more illegal dealings with GURU's estate and property." Good. #FuckSolar #RIPGURU
Click here to read the full interview.
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Don't forget to check back here regularly for GURU updates.
Post written by AWKWORD.
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