, one of the first outfits that attempted to fuse jazz with rap. After three albums by
in 1993. The album featured guest appearances by the likes of
Despite his solo career,
Guru remained true to
Gang Starr as well, continuing to contribute to further albums such as 1994's
Hard to Earn and 1998's
Moment of Truth. In 2000, five years after his second solo outing appeared,
Streetsoul (the third in the
Jazzmatazz series) was issued, again featuring a stellar cast of supporting characters:
Herbie Hancock,
Isaac Hayes,
the Roots,
Erykah Badu, and
Macy Gray. Wasting little time,
Guru returned directly to the recording studio, issuing a follow-up one year later,
Baldhead Slick & da Click.
It took four years for the next
Guru release,
Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures, to come out, the first on his new label, 7 Grand Records, with beats by
Solar (who became a vital force on 7 Grand's subsequent releases). The MC used the same producer for his next installment of
Jazzmatazz,
Vol. 4, which, as always, included a number of guest vocalists and instrumentalists and was released in the summer of 2007, along with the "raw" companion disc Guru's Jazzmatazz - The Timebomb: Back to the Future Mixtape.
Guru 8.0: Lost and Found, the rapper's fourth full-length release on 7 Grand, followed in 2009. In addition to the aforementioned artists,
Guru collaborated with some of rap music's best-known producers, including fellow
Gang Starr member
DJ Premier,
Pete Rock,
Alchemist,
Ayatollah, and
DJ Spinna, as well as
Ice-T,
Naughty by Nature's
Treach,
Killah Priest, and
Ed O.G. After battling cancer,
Guru suffered a heart attack on February 28, 2010 and fell into a coma from which he later emerged; however, he died on April 19, 2010 at the age of 43.
–
Greg Prato, Rovi