GURU: IN MEMORY OF


I spent all of Tuesday in a tizzy, trying to research and write that obituary for Guru (not to mention juggling that with teaching two classes). I’m especially grateful to all the folks who gave me testimonials, including Joe Schloss, Jeff Mao, Bob James, Jeru, Kurupt (even though I received it too late to get it into print) and especially Harry Elam Jr. who was extremely gracious to speak to me on such a difficult day for the family.

I’ve been running on adrenaline this whole week since, besides the LA Times, obit, I also [...]

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April 24th, 2010 | Tags: | Category: hip-hop, in memoriam | 11 comments

INTERVIEWING GURU IN 2003


I wrote a cover story on Gang Starr for URB in 2003, in anticipation for The Ownerz, the group’s first album in five years. I flew out to NYC and interviewed the two men, separately, in Studio B of D&D Studios. People had asked if I wouldn’t mind printing some of it so I went back to my transcripts; unfortunately, much of what I had actually transcribed was specific to the album or my piece. There were long parts of our conversation I taped but didn’t transcribe because I assumed it wasn’t immediately relevant to the story. [...]

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April 21st, 2010 | Tags: | Category: hip-hop, in memoriam, interviews | 2 comments

GURU: YOU STILL HERE THOUGH

RIP G.U.R.U., gone but never to be forgotten.

I’ll try to get up an appreciation later but in the meanwhile, check out Matthew Africa’s excellent Gang Starr mix from March.

Update: Here’s my LA Times obit. I took no pleasure in writing it.

April 20th, 2010 | Tags: | Category: hip-hop, in memoriam | 8 comments