Guru

This interview was done in late 2004/early 2005. Guru was promoting and doing press for his solo album GURU Version 7.0. Rest in Peace Guru. Interview used courtesy of Urban America Newspaper.

WHO?MAG: How did you get into hip hop?
Guru: I was overly excited. I tried to go to every function that was involved in that. Whether it was breaking, DJs rock; I used to drive up from Boston to New York to see all the DJs rock: Cold Crush [Brothers], Funky Four Plus 1, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, Jimmy Spicer. When hip hop came to Boston it was a couple of weeks after it started in New York. We were having race riots growing up in Boston from the schools being integrated. When hip hop came it all came together: White, Black, Latinos, Asians. That was a real inspiration to me. At the time I was having conflicts with my family. The emcee aspect was basically a way to save my life. Hip hop really saved me from going the wrong way in life.

WHO?MAG: Talk about the new project you’re working on?
Guru: I moved to New York in late ’83/early ’84. Then in 1986 I met [DJ] Premier and became part of Gangstarr. On my first couple of projects we had 45 K