MC Guru of GangStarr has passed away at the age of 43 after a long battle with cancer.

As much of a shock to some of his fans is the apparent beef with his former partner DJ Premier, that he held onto for the past 7 years. Something that he felt was worth taking to the grave, according to a letter he wrote that is now posted on Premo’s blog…

“I do not wish my ex-DJ to have anything to do with my name likeness, events tributes etc. connected in anyway to my situation including any use of my name or circumstance for any reason and I have instructed my lawyers to enforce this. I had nothing to do with him in life for over 7 years and want nothing to do with him in death. Solar has my life story and is well informed on my family situation, as well as the real reason for separating from my ex-DJ. As the sole founder of GangStarr, I am very proud of what GangStarr has meant to the music world and fans. ”

RIP Guru, one of the best yet…

I saw someone on youtube refer to this song as “heartbreakingly beautiful.”

This is powerful poetry…especially when one can relate so directly…or perhaps not…?. Perhaps what makes it so great is that one can feel his hurt and the power of the emotion, even if they cannot directly relate to the lyrics…

Cocaine flame in my bloodstream
sold my coat when I hit Spokane
Bought my self a hard pack of cigarettes
in the early morning rain

Jolene

Check out this video of Common visiting Syracuse University.

In the middle of his lecture he asked the audience to start calling out random words. He then would drop a freestyle incorporating that word. Pretty impressive.

Did any of you Syracuse poets out there catch this lecture?

Let us know!

Not only is today the fourth day of 2010′s national poetry month, but it is also tha birth date of one of poetry’s living legends… Maya Angelou !!

Visit Dr. Angelou’s website by clicking here

Oh yeah, and it’s Easter, too…so I’ll come back with “a Verse a Day” update after i go get my eat on with tha fam…

see ya soon
mtp

OK so maybe we wouldn’t mind seeing any of these doctors…

It’s DAY 3 of Nat’l Poetry Month & tha best way i know to remind you, is for me to write at least ”a Verse a Day” from here on out, throughout all of APRIL…this one was inspired by listening to Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World“…

What a world this would be,
if we all
could live in peace.
We walk common streets
but march to unique beats;
We hustle through tha struggle
cause us people have to eat,
and act too much like animals -
too quick to show our teeth;
But it seems whatever’s clever
when we are after that treasure
So how could tha world ever be free?

I was out at Sophistications last night, where my man World B. Free was holdin it down like he do. Of course he gave a shout out, so I did my thing & performed Wake Up To Daylight with tha whole damn band – I think i’m getting better at working with live musicians – admittedly, i’ve learned a bit from some of tha other performers i’ve paid attention to lately…& i had a good chat with an old poet/new friend…

While undeniably unique in his own right, this dude Antonio struck a chord with me last night- instantly – by inadvertently reminding me of one of my favortite hip-hop philospohers from my youth: Jeru The Damaja…and the Black Cowboys track…number 3 on Wrath of The Math, c’mon now. I don’t have time to get into all the reasons why i may or may not have been able to relate to all of Jeru’s themes, but let’s just say i was feelin it. That whole CD definitely deserves recognition in my ongoing list of inspirational credits. I’ve never actually seen Jeru, but a good friend actually had him sign a CD for me once – so if u out there Jeru – thanx for tha inspiration my friend.

mtp