Rapper Guru, who attained fame with his conscious, jazz-inflected brand of hip-hop in the groups Gang Starr and Jazzmatazz, died Monday after a long battle with cancer. He was 43.

The rap performer had been hospitalized in February after suffering cardiac arrest and falling into a coma.

Born Keith Elam and raised in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, he founded Gang Starr in the ’90s in New York; his professional handle was an acronym for “Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal.”

Working in tandem with DJ Premier, Guru flexed a jazzy hip-hop style that eschewed gangsta rap clichés. Gang Starr released six albums between 1989 and 2000; the group’s bestseller, 1996’s “Moment of Truth,” climbed to No. 6 on the national charts.

After a bitter split with Premier, Guru founded Jazzmatazz, which took his fusion of jazz and hip-hop even further by employing such well-known instrumentalists as Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock and Ramsey Lewis. The unit’s fourth and final album was issued in 2007.

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I don’t have much to say other than I knew the man through his music from a early age, I respected and appreciated his originality, style and most of his messages to my generation.
Though I’m guilty of losing touch with him and Premiere after their anniversary album in 98, he will always have a place in my heart - and I’m glad to have known him and will cherish his legacy.

Friend was nice enough to host a 10 slot SHOUTcast server for me @ 128kbps.

You can tune in using any media player program such as; Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, etc - Any player that can open an address should work.

Stats:

Name: Crookedmind’s Private Stash
bitrate: 128 kbps / 44.1khz
slots: 10
location (url): http://76.169.35.171:8000

If you cannot connect using that url, try opening that address in your browser and clicking the listen link, followed by opening it in which ever media player you prefer.

*The radio will only be up when I’m streaming to it, so there may be times you cannot connect, so check that page often.