rapper Guru in coma

This sad story just came to me from my friend Paul, with whom I share a great deal of musical tastes.

Guru, who may be best remembered for teaming up with MC Solaar on “Le Bien, Le Mal,” had a SEVERE HEART ATTACK yesterday and is now in a coma, with surgery coming.

There’s a great deal of hip-hop I can’t stand: basically, the loud and boasting stuff. But when softened slightly, there’s a real magic to it, and the Guru of the first two Jazzmatazz albums and the MC Solaar of Prose Combat (before he became a sort of beefcake pop star going shirtless on the covers of his albums) did it better than anyone. Many musical fusion movements go nowhere, but I’ve always regretted that the hip-hop/jazz fusion of around 1993 didn’t last a bit longer than it did.

In any case, I’m really sorry to hear about Guru, who must be only 43 or so.