No. 34: Guru

Two qualifiers here before we discuss Keith "Guru" Elam in greater detail:

a) As is the case with the other deceased rappers on this list, I made every effort not to artificially inflate this ranking because he's dead...
b) I had to take into account that the quality of his rhymes may have been artificially inflated by the fact that he got to spit them over DJ Premier beats for almost his entire career.

That being said, it's impossible to front on Guru and his place in hip-hop history. While I disagree with at least one of my boys on him from a purely lyrical standpoint — in terms of straight-up rhyming, Guru is really just a slightly above-average emcee — I have to give him his due because of what he accomplished and what he stood for.

Unlike most of the rappers who have come after him, Guru didn't give a fuck about record sales, and he continued to call out the sellouts and fake thugs long after it became socially acceptable (in the mainstream) for rappers to become sellouts and fake thugs. His rhymes weren't particularly complex, but they were never, ever fake — and there's a lot to be said for that, especially in this day and age.

More than a decade of hits that'll live forever...

With the exception of his Jazzmatazz records, an experimental collection that was part inspired, part forced, Guru's mark on the world was left by his work with Gang Starr, a group made up of him and Premier, otherwise known as either the best or second-best beatmaker of all time. The duo spent more than a decade churning out quality material, and it's impossible to give Primo all of the credit after Group Home proved that not just anyone can make his beats into classic shit.

Beginning with 1989's No More Mr. Nice Guy, Gang Starr took the hip-hop world by storm, with Premier's signature scratch hooks and Guru's smoky monotone voice blessing such classic tracks as "Take It Personal" and "Mass Appeal." The duo got some long-overdue love from the mainstream with 1998's Moment Of Truth, and went gold for a second time with a greatest-hits album, Full Clip, that featured a new single by the same name.

Even after the turn of the century, when most old-school rappers were making ill-fated attempts to cross over, Guru and Premier stayed true to their roots — The Ownerz was one of their best all-around efforts and one of the most authentic hip-hop records of the last decade.

Tragically, Guru succumbed to cancer in April 2010 at the young age of 48. His life may have been cut short, but his legacy cannot be.