2011 is fast approaching, but before we wave goodbye to 2010, lets take a moment to remember a couple of artists from the world of hip hop who sadly passed away this year.
Firstly, the more high profile of the two. Keith Edward Elam, better known as Guru from the east coast hip hop duo Gang Starr, lost his battle with cancer, falling into a coma on the 19th of April from which he never awoke. His career spanned 25 years, leaving us at the age of 48.
In the early 1990's Guru became a founding father of a new form of hip hop. After noticing that a number of producers were sampling a lot of jazz tracks, he decided to take it further and approached a number of the artists that were being so widely sampled, recording them live in the studio to form a more authentic and original form of jazz hip hop. He will forever be known for his brand of jazz infused rap with lyrics that displayed smooth delivery and social awareness, it is this side of the man that should be remembered, not his apparent falling out with DJ Premier late in his career, or the controversy surrounding his questionable final wishes.
February 26th saw the death of Jun Seba, pseudonym; Nujabes. The Japanese hip hop DJ and producer passed away in a Tokyo traffic accident, he was 36 years old.
Another champion of jazz rap, his funky sound gained him much attention throughout the underground hip hop scene, going on to collaborate with a number of US artists. Nujabes was an active business man, he owned Shibuya record stores, Guiness Records and T Records, as well as founding independent label, Hydeout Productions, to which he signed the terrific up and coming producer, Emancipator. He also contributed to the soundtrack of popular Japanese anime, Samurai Champloo. The man was a true original, forever breaking moulds with a tremendous work ethic.
Happy new year,
Noodle
