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Gang Starr's Guru Dead At 43
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 20, 2010
Modified Apr 20, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 20, 2010
Modified Apr 20, 2010
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In early March rapper Guru of Gang Starr fame reportedly had a heart attack and was left in a coma; sadly, he has now passed away at the age of 43 from cancer, which he had been battling for a year.
There were a lot unusual things happening when Guru was in the hospital (including his Twitter being updated). Producer Solar released a letter that he says was written by the rapper, which said in part: "I am survived by the love of my life, my sun KC, who I trust will be looked after by Solar and his family as their own. Any awards or tributes should be accepted, organised, approved by Solar on behalf of myself and my son until he is of age to accept on his own. I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events tributes etc. I had nothing to do with him in life for over seven years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story."
Following that, Guru's nephew Justin Nicholas-Elam Ruff posted a video on YouTube saying that Solar wasn't allowing family to visit him in the hospital; he said, "Solar has completely cut us off. My family has no way of knowing what is going on with Guru's situation." He has continued to update with new videos regarding the situation, but not since Guru's death yesterday.
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Gang Starr
Guru
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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