WATCH AND LISTEN: GURU AND GANG STARR VIDEOS

Still bummed about the death of Guru. If you're a fan, try not to let the controversy bug you: listen to the music. And if you're not that familar, check out Gang Starr's music. This blog, Slang Rap Democracy, posted all of Gang Starr's and Guru's videos.  Enjoy.

MORE ON GURU AND A CLARIFICATION

Well, a search of #guru on twitter shows the love and respect from hip-hop toward the late Gang Starr MC Guru.  And a search of #fucksolar shows that nearly no one believes that Guru wrote that "death letter" that Solar circulated to the press. No Expiration certainly isn't the place for "continuing coverage" of an event like this: but I did want to clarify that I was wrong about something: "Solar" is in fact NOT MC Solaar, the French hip-hop artist who Guru collaborated with on one of his Jazzamatazz albums.  Totally different guy. Meanwhile, Gang Starr's DJ Premier has remained a class act throughout the entire ordeal, and posted this note about Guru. I know people who know Premier, and I was lucky enough to have conducted an email interview with him once - he is a cool guy who doesn't need to talk shit.  He knew what the deal was with Guru/Solar back then, but didn't speak on it. His list of credits (which, outside of Gang Starr, includes KRS-One, Rakim, Nas, Notorious B.I.G. and even Christina Aguilera) allows him to have the confidence not to have to lower himself. Stay strong, Priemer. The fans know the deal.

R.I.P. GURU

So sad to hear that Guru, the legendary MC from the great Gang Starr, died today. Making things worse, a "letter" from Guru pretty much dissed his Gang Starr partner, DJ Premier, saying "I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name, likeness, events, tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this." Of course, there's lots of skepticism about whether or not he even wrote this: people think that MC Solar is behind the letter, as he seemed to control communications with Guru when he was ill a few months back. MTV News has a quote from Solar addressing this, he of course says that Guru wrote the letter. Questlove of The Roots rarely has a bad thing to say about anyone, but he ripped on this letter and on Guru's post-Gang Starr material with Solar in an extended tweet.

But you know what?  What's done is done.  If you are a fan, or if you are wondering why people care, check out MTV's post Guru's Best and listen to all of them. Longtime No Expiration readers know that I'm not a big fan of current hip-hop, listen to this and you'll know why.  Great MCing, great beats and tracks, no b.s.

GURU: RECOVERING

Allhiphop.com reports that Guru released a statement saying that he has recovered from surgery following his heart attack this weekend. There's some controversy about this, because he mentions that "Solar is the only person who has the accurate info on my situation. Any info from anybody else is false!" "Solar," I think, is MC Solaar, who he has collaborated with for years. "Anybody else" probably refers to his family, who have reportedly said that Solaar is blocking thier access to Guru, and Guru's former bandmate in Gang Starr, DJ Premier, who has been tweeting about Guru (mainly just saying that everyone should pray for him). Weird situation, but I'm glad he's ok.

GURU FROM GANG STARR IN THE HOSPITAL

Just read that Gang Starr's MC, Guru, is in the hospital. He was in a coma after a cardiac arrest.  Here's hoping he pulls through and gets back on the mic. True hip-hop heads know that Gang Starr was one of the best, but they were always difficult to market for some reason, and  I felt that commercially, they never got their due. The other member, DJ Premier, is one of the great hip-hop producers, having worked with KRS-One, Rakim, Nas, Notorious B.I.G. and many others. If you're unfamiliar with them, pick up Full Clip, their greatest hits album.  They are way better than a lot of more famous hip-hop artists.  My opinion, but there you go, it's my blog. Get well Guru.

GREAT SONGS FROM 2007 - part 1

So, I've already written about my favorite albums of 2007, but there are a lot of songs that I love that were one-offs, or just come from albums that didn't make my list (I don't get albums for free as much as I used to, and I can't buy everything!).

Kanye West, Nas, KRS-One and Rakim: "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" This song was actually comissioned by Nike to celebrate their anniversary. But to me, it's about how age ain't nothin' but a number. I don't know what new MCs are considered hot, but I doubt many of them would hold a candle to KRS or Rakim. The original version of this song, by the way, was produced by Rick Rubin, and didn't feature Rakim. But the version I like is the remix, done by the legendary DJ Premier. I love Rick, but Premier killed it. Premier is one of the great producers ever, and hip-hop heads know it, but since he doesn't throw his name into every song he works on, and he doesn't show up in videos, he doesn't really get his due. But he was a member of Gang Starr, and also produced Rakim, KRS-One, Nas and lots of other great hip-hop artists. He expanded into pop recently by working on Christina Aguilera's album, cooking up some really cool tracks for that one.

Mick Jagger: "Too Many Cooks (Spoil The Soup)" I wrote about this one last year: it's a lost track from the '70s, was produced by John Lennon, and features Jack Bruce of Cream on bass. Kind of unfair to even rate anything from 2007 against a Jagger/Lennon collab. It's a great, funky song.

Rilo Kiley: "Silver Lining" I wrote a bit about this one also: great song. I've read some writers compare them to Fleetwood Mac, due to the fact that the singer has had a relationship with someone in the band? That doesn't sound as tangled as the Mac, it's more like No Doubt. Whatever, I really like this song, and I'm also digging the rest of the album, Under The Blacklight.

Prince - "F.U.N.K." This was a one-off single he released on iTunes. One of his funkiest, most rocking jams in years. I think it was a dis to his fansites. Prince also released a pretty good album, Planet Earth, which had at least two cool songs: "Guitar" and "Chelsea Rogers." Prince also gets points for his cover of "A Case Of You" from a Joni Mitchell tribute that came out in '07.

Patti Scialfa - "Town Called Heartbreak" From her latest, Play It As It Lays, her best yet. This song is so good, Bruce Springsteen added it to his sets on this tour (which he hadn't done with any of the songs on her previous two albums).

I've got more songs to write about - from Green Day, Rush, The Dropkick Murphys, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Wyclef Jean, Social Distortion, Ray Davies, The Hives, The Arctic Monkeys and more.