Guru’s highly influential Jazzmatazz series were his brainchild and he was the main producer behind the first three Jazzmatazz albums. He and DJ Premier reached out to many members of the GangStarr Foundation directly during their time in Brooklyn and East New York. Jeru Tha Damaja once told me flat out at the 2010 Boston Hip-Hop Unity Fest “Guru saved my life. Without his intervention and guidance I wouldn’t be alive speaking to you today. I’m not the only person who can say that, either”
Guru spit countless classic bars and quotable lines over his illustrious career. He produced and penned both underground classics and radio hits. He helped to discover and put on numerous people we regard as legends in Hip-Hop today. Even when I heard him big up Brooklyn on records as a youth I knew that Boston, his home, could never leave his heart. In his memory we must make an effort to focus on the true essence of Hip-Hop culture and aspire to inspire others that follow. Make Guru proud. Make Boston proud. RIP Keith “Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal” Elam (1961-2010)
