Gang Starr’s Guru, one of the smoothest and lyrically complex rappers to emerge during the last years of the Golden Age of Hip-Hop, passed away yesterday at the age of 43 following a battle with cancer. As Rolling Stone reported in late February, Guru suffered cardiac arrest after undergoing surgery to treat the disease, eventually lapsing into a brief coma.
Born Keith Elam in 1966, the Boston-bred Guru and producer DJ Premier comprised the duo Gang Starr. Together, they recorded six albums between 1989 and 2003, including a pair of hip-hop classics that rank among the genre’s best, 1991’s Step In the Arena and 1992’s Daily Operation. While never chart-toppers, the singles “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?,” “Step in the Arena” and “Ex Girl to Next Girl” serve as fine examples of Guru’s unique flow and lyrical street realism.
Guru also became a pioneer in the hip-hop/jazz fusion game with his four Jazzmatazz albums. After Gang Starr’s last album The Ownerz, Guru and DJ Premier ended their partnership, but Guru still toured Europe under the Gang Starr moniker. Guru also released two solo albums, produced by Solar, under his own name in the 2000s.
“The world has lost one of the best MCs and Hip-Hop icons of all-time - my loyal best friend, partner, and brother, Guru,” Solar said in a statement. “This is a matter that Guru wanted private until he could beat it, but tragically, this did not happen. The cancer took him. Now the world has lost a great man and a true genius.”
Aww man…why? Prayers go out to his family…we’ll miss his monotone style…
Folks…rumor has it Guru from Gang Starr has suffered a massive heart attack and is in a coma..let’s pray he pulls through and further fights on to give us fans his monotone style
Wow, 2009 sure was a shitty year for celebrity deaths. So many of our celebrity heroes kicked the bucket it felt like the Mayan calendar may have been misinterpreted to read all celebs must die by 2012. It seemed like at least 5 of ‘em died per day! Surprisingly it wasn’t always the most obvious choice. I mean all of us expected Mike Jackson to get caught again givin’ Jesus Juice to some unsuspecting pre-teen boy but I think we were all shocked when he took one Percocet too many and seized up his ticker. Since 2010 is upon us, let’s have some fun with this gruesome concept and start our own Dead Pool! Kids! Here’s a game that can be enjoyed by both alienated Goth Kids and Gangsta Muthafuckas in its universal appeal. We here at the AC and McTrees site think it would be fun to start a rock star death pool. Yeah, we don’t get any points for originality, but we certainly have chutzpah. Choose your order from the choices below, and leave them in the comments section. And because we at Armchair Culture and Smokey McTrees ain’t as cheap as our friends think we are we will award the top five such awesome prizes as free copies of Smokey’s new CD “Dirtbag Vampire” and Armchair Culture/ Love WIthout Nagel T-Shirts!!!! Awarded upon death, natch! So get on your sick, twisted thinking caps and get to it! You have until April Fool’s Day to submit entries and then we’ll move on to movie/tv star edition.
Gregg Allman
Wow this fuckers done a lot of drugs…he’s truly the barely living embodiment to that Southern-Rocker, hard-livin’ mentality! Plus he put his penis in Cher enough times that he sired a weird, shitty drummer-singer son. He’s been at Death’s door a couple of times, and Lord knows his fucking band’s cursed…unfortunately it seems like motorcycles kill off these fuckers more then heroin addiction, so Gregg might still be a long-shot…
“Dude! That’s the guy who sells fake Rolexes in the Applebee’s parking lot!”
Santana
This is a tricky choice, as Santana was near the top of this list twenty years ago because he had Hogdkin’s disease and has also admittedly done a lot of drugs. Thing is, he saw visions of the Virgin Mary and has been OK ever since.. And I don’t think his Madonna-visions were just some random acid flashback because we all know Hispanics see Ave Maria all the time. Hey, they tell you you’re not supposed to drink the water in Mexico…
Pete Doherty
"A bit of a racket foisting me twee ass in your gobs, ennit?"
This loser is unbelievable. He’s like Syd Barrett without the cool or talent. How people wo see Pete on the street just don’t randomly come up to this guy and punch him in the face is a true testament of the British “Stiff Upper-Lip” mentality. HAve you ever listened to the Libertines? Ugh, it’s like art-punk or something.
Amy Winehouse
Wow. Pete’s former scumbag partner-in-crime strikes folks as a bit more tragic. As she slowly ruins herself at levels Britney would be remiss to ignore, I cannot help but feel bad for her. I mean, she’s hideous. Even crazy Britney had fuckable potential. But since Wino has lost 100+ pounds she is more unattractive then ever. So you gotta feel a little bit for this wacko.
Scott Weiland
Yeah, Scott, when Slash and Duff McKagan kick you out of a band for getting wasted too much, you might just have a wee bit of a problem.
Courtney Love
Unlikeable, crazy, and pretty much ungrateful. These are descriptions for the many folks who disparage the talented Ms. Love’s career and personal life. Courtney is such a fine role-model for women everywhere that it would be a shame if she were to pass this year. Hang in there, kitty.
Bobby Brown
At least this guy admits he pretty much sucks. I mean he was the ugliest dude in New Edition and made “prerogative” a household word for a while.
Whitney Houston
Yeah, about that comeback…her voice, sinuses, and uterus are all shot to shit. She can’t sing anymore, and she still acts mad erratic if reports from backstage promoters arer to be believed. And if you can’t trust promoters, who can you trust?
DMX
Wow, DMX is kind of scary. Crackheads are usually more funny then scary, but this guy smokes crack then tortures his dogs, speeds around in parking garages and carjacks folks by telling them he’s FBI. Yeah, DMX is the kind of fun crazy folks like to read about but don’t necessarily want to invite over for chicken and waffles.
One of my childhood heroes was the famous wrestler-actor “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Some may ask why. I mean, Hulk Hogan played BASS. I liked to play the bass. Hulk Hogan was tall. I was tall. Yet Roddy did something that many stand-up comedians can’t do. The guy always made me LOL. Everyone else loved Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. I worshiped Roddy Piper and stomped around my grade-school playground ranting and raving. i also put on my mom’s plaid skirt and beat up the neighbor kids to emulate his kilt-wearing, bagpipe playing ass. Which in retrospect may explain some of the present-day issues I developed in my adult years…here he is being all trendy and stuff playing the electric bagpipes with Public Jones
I’m betting that unless you are lactose-intolerant or just a plain jerk you do in fact love cereal! So I’m gonna turn y’all on to this high-level, uncut shit over at www.armchairculture.com. We are having a cereal tournament, styled like the NCAA hoops championship! Voting has already begun, so try and get over there to vote for your favorite! BONUS: The reviews are performed by yours truly. Yep, my fat ass ate bowls upon bowls of cereal to give you an honest, frank opinon on every fucking cereal you can think of. And some shit you never did! So get over there! Vote! DO IT!
Smokey appeared at Mojo’s nightclub in Jamestown, NY for a suprise guest appearance for the legendary synth-rock band I AM ZEROS AND ONES and rocked the mic to a standing-room only crowd. Folks cheered like the roof was on fire! Pics and hopefully video to arrive soon!
Madge wants to add a new african kid to the collection…and they won’t let her! Why? Who gives a fuck? The kid has family but they stuck him in an orphanage! Fuck! If Skeletor wants her kid then by golly let that li’l fucker come to her new East Side townhouse. Why Africa? Why?
Maybe it’s because for every little Moglwi or whatever his fucking name is, there are what, a zillion other little babies who will be stuck there. I don’t know if going to Africa and picking up a cute baby like some pound puppy is exactly cool.
Smokey is a little late to the game but offers his useless opinion on last year’s big-time post-apocalyptic gorefest.
So while I’ve been away from the site I have spent a lot of time playing Fallout 3. Here are my thoughts:
A fun game. A little too drab sometimes, but overall interesting. I don’t get the hate from the Fallout “purists” who have been attacking the game. I think the game is more faithful to the series then they give it credit for. OK, so it’s not turn-based. Come on, how fun would that be in this day and age? OK, pretty fun, but still Bethesda “don’t Call Us Argonian” Softworks does a good job reworking the patented Elder Scrolls formula for the classic post-apocalyptic RPG series.
And it is extremely fun.
I have no idea why I’m posting screenshots from a six-month old game either…
While not exatcly a true first-person shooter, the violent content in the game makes it worthwhile and interesting to do everything from listening to scary recordings or haul off and totally lambaste fools with a plasma rifle. I hate the level cap, but again I know the Fallout die-hards would have cried. Hell, they still are anyways. But come on, man! Would you rather buy this game or yet another Tactics-like crapfest?
(AP) — Chris Brown, who was arrested a week ago in connection with a domestic violence investigation, says he is “sorry and saddened” over what happened.
Is he? Fuck Rihanna and her big ass forehead. You can just look at the bitch and see she is “Disturbia” (seewhatIdidthere?) all right. She sucks and so does her music.
Bitch better recognize
“But Smokey,” the more sensitive of you may cry out, “are you condoning beating women?” No, my good friends, I’m condoning beating up Rihanna. Look at her. I fail to see the hawtness. Instead I see a divalicious monster that even nice lil’ baby-faced Brown would smack the shit out of. OK, ok I kid a little. No muthafucka should hit a bitch. But I’m sayin…I understand…
