Get Well, Guru

Guru, the gruff but smooth emcee of the seminal Hip Hop group Gang Starr and his subsequent Jazzmatazz albums, has suffered a heart attack, is in a coma, and is undergoing surgery today.  I’m uncertain which is scarier, that Guru is so laid-up, or that he is only 43 for frack’s sack, 6 years older than me.  It’s not like he’s Big Pun, nearing 700 lbs., whom you might expect to go out like John Candy.

Whereas the 90’s were a dangerous time for emcees avoiding manufactured beefs with bullets, this century seems to be taking out our Hip Hop greats through lackluster health care — Jay Dilla, Slum Village, Roc Raida, and no doubt others.

Here is one of my favorite Gang Starr songs, “Just to Get a Rep,” from 1991’s Step In The Arena.