DJ Premier Speaks on Guru's Death, Gay Rumors and Gang Starr's Legacy
Roughly a week after Guru's passing, DJ Premier, one half of the legendary Gang Starr, is finally opening up about the MC's death.
Speaking with Vibe.com, Preme revealed that he hadn't spoken to Guru in six years, shared his favorite memories with Guru outside of the music, addressed Guru and Solar gay rumors and touched on Gang Starr's legacy. See excerpts from the story below.
When was the last time you spoke to Guru?
It was March 30, 2004. April 1 was the last email I received from him and I just found it in my computer. We were pretty much going at it about him straightening his life up with the drinking and everything… just getting himself together. Because talent wise, drinking or sober, he was always on point in the lab. He could lay down his vocals with no problem and he always wrote his rhymes dope. When he wrote his rhymes on page they were so messy [Laughs]. I used to ask him, “How can you even recite the verses and flow?” He would be in the booth turning the paper upside down while he’s still rhyming and without having to punch in.
What are your favorite memories of Guru beyond the music?
Besides the music and the tours, I lived with him from ’88 to ’93. That’s a lot of years to live together. Everything would come through our house… wild parties every night. We lived that rock-and-roll lifestyle and weren’t even going platinum. We were making steady money because we did a lot of shows, but we lived that rock lifestyle to the fullest. You look at any rock group that had all the girls and the wildness, we did that. It was like college. There would be liquor bottles almost a mile long still in the house, some of them half empty. Guru was the type of dude who would get up, hold it up to the light to make sure there were no ashes in it and guzzle it the next day. [Group Home member] used to hide pizza in the dishwasher so no one would take his food. We used to be together in Brooklyn all the time. We would run around with guns and stuff, acting like we [were] fly. We were aiming the guns at each other like idiots [Laughs].
What do you make of the rumors that Guru was gay because of the close relationship he had with Solar?
Like I just said, I don’t believe it. All these little rumors about Guru and some other shit… it can’t be. Because he had too many women.
How hurtful was it that one person could destroy someone’s legacy the way Solar has?
It hurts. But that’s based on the fact that none of the things being said are true. Just from the amount of work we have put in… We talking about almost 18 years. That’s a long time. If we didn’t make history, maybe I could deal with it a different way. But we made history together and he was alive to see it. Guru was able to get two gold albums; he was able to do the Jazzmatazz album. So everything that we gained makes you think, “You mean to tell me you are going to blow it all away and act like that’s not an important part of what made us who we are?” With a silly ass letter like that??? When you say ‘Ex-DJ’ where is my name at? Because there are two other DJ’s that was DJing with Guru besides me. There was Doo Wop and Shawn Ski, who was our backup DJ when I had to go back to college. He always held us down. Calling me the ex-DJ doesn’t mean anything to me. Why don’t you just say Christopher Martin?
