LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "The world has lost one of the best MCs and hip-hop icons of all-time - my loyal best friend, partner, and brother, Guru," Guru's longtime collaborator and partner Solar said in a statement. "Guru has been battling cancer for well over a year and has lost his battle! This is a matter that Guru wanted private until he could beat it, but tragically, this did not happen. The cancer took him. Now the world has lost a great man and a true genius."
 
Guru first gained attention in the late 1980s as part of the duo Gang Starr with partner DJ Premier. Gang Starr leaned heavily on sampled jazz records and scratched vocals on the choruses, coupled Guru's uncompromising rhymes.

Although the pair would work as solo acts, Gang Starr continued to release critically acclaimed material throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

Guru found solo fame in 1993 when he released the first volume of his Jazzmatazz series, an all-star project that featured a number of collaborations with jazz greats such as Branford Marsalis, Donald Byrd, Roy Ayers and Ronny Jordan. Combining rap with jazz, the series generated the hit song "Trust Me."

Guru composed a farewell letter to friends and fans while he was in the hospital fighting the final stages of cancer. "I, Guru, am writing this letter to my fans, friends and loved ones around the world," it begins. "I have had a long battle with cancer and have succumbed to the disease. I have suffered with this illness for over a year. I have exhausted all medical options.

"I have a non-profit organization called Each One Counts dedicated to carrying on my charitable work on behalf of abused and disadvantaged children from around the world and also to educate and research a cure for this terrible disease that took my life. I write this with tears in my eyes, not of sorrow but of joy for what a wonderful life I have enjoyed and how many great people I have had the pleasure of meeting," the statement read.