Remembering Guru’s Street Philosophies

I picked up a CD of Moment of Truth, the fifth full-length effort of NY duo Gang Starr, back in 1998. I was still a young hiphop fiend excited to sink my teeth into whatever beats and rhymes came my way. But even my immersion in Los Angeles during the apex of the G-Funk era and a swelling underground scene championing freestyle ciphers and heady rhymes hardly prepared me for Gang Starr. While it seemed as if both poles of Los Angeles hiphop were hinged on exaggeration, an aggressive hyperrealism on one side countered by boundless formal play on the other extreme, Gang Starr brought the mind’s eye to the street level. The name says it all; the people and the cosmos linked together.

In Moment’s self-titled song, Guru raps: Styles, smooth but rugged — you can’t push or shove it/ You dig it and you dug it cause like money you love it/ The king of monotone, with my own throne/ Righteously violent prone my words bring winds like cyclones. It was subliminal grime. Royal thinking and commercial desire merged together. Even the instrumental production propped up that balance. Guru’s partner and producer, DJ Premier, flipped horn samples from dusty jazz and funk crates (Donald Byrd to James Brown) over coarse boom bap percussion while Guru matched the tension holding those chest-rattling beats with both effortless delivery and strong minded lyricism. He was always in deep concentration, hiphop’s most memorable incarnation of the street philosopher.

Guru, known from birth as Keith Elam and in his later years as Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal, died Monday. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood, and was in a coma since a heart attack in mid-February. He was 47 years old.

I’ve been relistening to Guru’s heavy catalogue for the past few days, remembering his street philosophies and still learning from them. It’s not every day that you can listen to a rapper that is both a teacher and a spiritual adviser, a thug and a poet.

What made Guru standout as a lyricist was his rugged philosophical spirit, which he delivered in an iconic monotone flow. He carried himself with a disciplined stoicism, stylized with the melodic swaying of a saxophone and the swagger of a mafioso gangster. For Guru, hiphop was more of a practice of execution and self-knowledge than a vehicle to stardom. He stuck by his positions without hesitation but admittedly had a gentle approach. His only crime, he confessed in “Moment”, was that he was “too damn kind.”

In Gang Starr’s biggest pop hit, “Mass Appeal“, from ’94′s Hard to Earn, Guru disses wack emcees and affirms the purest of intentions in the quickness of 16 bars: A lot of rappers be like one time wonders/ Couldn’t say a fly rhyme if there was one right under/ Their noses, I hate those motherfuckin’ posers/ But I’m so real to them it’s scary. In “Check the Technique” off Gang Starr’s ’91 second effort, Step in The Arena, Guru reduces his opponents to “puny protozoa”, which he then dissects on a “petri dish” with a scientist’s zeal. Guru wasn’t satisfied with just crafting intricate criticisms, he applied the Black Panthers slogan of ‘each one teach one’ in an attempt to convert opponents to his side of the argument. It’s a rapper’s argument, orchestrated with the rhetorical powers of word play, delivery, and content — suggesting at the same time that his technique is smarter and stronger, more charismatic and effective, empowering and righteous.

Guru’s voice, a booming growl softened around the edges, told the whole story. That unadulterated voice made his narratives of urban despair and downfall believable, not just common tales of hood life. In “Just to Get a Rep”, Guru weaves a cautionary tale about the dangers of the street life, and more broadly, how the search for status and infamy so easily compromises us. For Guru, who closely followed the teachings of the Nation of Islam, sincerity reins, words manifest, and knowledge is king.

Guru didn’t just tell stories of corrupted characters, he illustrated the environments that shaped their decisions and values. “Tonz O’ Gunz” portrayed vitriolic cycles of violence. In “Code of the Streets” He was as much a psychologist as a sociologist, understanding the methods of street life, the temptations that lurk on every corner, and an ethics for empowerment.

Even Gang Starr’s party tracks — bent on that early 90s feel good flavor — have enough intelligence in them to oversaturate today’s radio airwaves. “DWYCK” sees Guru associating his elevated status to the popularity of lemonade and Bruce Willis in one verse and then comparing his lyrical abilities to Langston Hughes in the next.

After Gang Starr ended a 16 year partnership in 2004, Guru continued to develop as a solo artist. He channeled a jazzman’s sensibility for improv and personal reflection in the four-part jazz/hiphop fusion series, Jazmatazz, which gave Guru the opportunity to work with such luminaries as Bob James and Ronnie Foster. They created a sound to vibe out on, smooth and melodic, invoking both a tranquil and uplifting sound. It was full circle for a lyricist who began a career with a tribute to jazz in which he became possibly the first rapper to use the word “recondite.” When seeking to undermine his opponents rather than praise his musical muses, Guru also developed quite a vocabulary for insult: peons, numbskulls, pawns, among some other strategic diminutives.

Whatever Guru did musically, he carved out his own path with verve and thoughtfulness. He never uttered a wasteful rhyme and offered countless gems of wisdom — the sort of knowledge gained through personal experience, concentration, and triumph. It seems unlikely that such a thinker would ever write a vindictive deathbed letter – where he spouts vitriolic statements about his ex-DJ” – as purported by his right-hand man for the past few years, DJ Solar. Rap enthusiasts and journalists have already called into doubt the authenticity of the statement across the blogosphere, but nonetheless, the controversy lingers uncomfortably. Surely Guru’s words — as recorded permanently in his many efforts over the past 20 years — will outlast and overcome any final struggles that may come to pass.

Actions have reactions, don’t be quick to judge
You may not know the hardships people don’t speak of
It’s best to step back, and observe with couth
For we all must meet our moment of truth