Hip hop legend and Jazzmatazz founder Guru succumbed to cancer yesterday April 19, 2010.

A founding member of Gangstarr, of which he was the voice behind classics such as Step Into The Arena and Daily Operation, suffered from the deadly condition for over a year before exhausting all hope of recovery.

He wrote a letter (below), in which he wishes his son and Solar – his partner and co-producer of the Jazzmatazz series – to have sole control of his estate.

Guru also let it be known he wanted nothing to do with his former DJ, Premiere.

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Shame he had to die before he was cleared on this charge…

For the first time in a long time Mike Tyson seemed at peace with his life, himself, his place in society. He’d been out of the public eye, thankfully, as he was admittedly in his own way. Done with the Bunny Ranch, done with the excessive spending, he’d re-emerged in a documentary – Tyson -and was riding the success out with an appearance in the new movie, The Hangover.

And then it all went to shit… again, when his four year old daughter Exodus Tyson, while playing alone in a room on a treadmill, somehow found herself entangled in a chord which eventually acted as a noose and hanged her. We waited and prayed on our collective knees for precious Exodus Tyson to pull through, but He called her home a day after the incident.

I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how unstable society may perceive you to be. When you lose a loved one, your world turns upside down. Whether it’s an elderly family member or a childhood friend, if that relationship had ever been tested – and survived – your mind tends to escape you. And when your senses come back, your body seems to jump a few lengths at a time in an effort to keep you in mourning.

I can only imagine and hope that I never have to feel what Mike is feeling today. Broad as my shoulders are and as high as a tolerance I have for pain, I’m convinced I would lose it.

It goes without saying Mike Tyson is somewhere in the abyss. As tortured a soul as he has, it was inspiring to see him on Jimmy Kimmel, rationalizing how he crunched on Evander Holyfield’s ear and proudly disclosing that he’d finally figured things out. There he was taking ownership of his actions, accepting responsibility for himself and his family. No handlers, ho hangers on, just Mike. He’d come to terms with himself.

We’ll continue to pray for Mike and hope that he somehow grows stronger after this devastating, tragic loss. We’ll continue to pray for the people who might find some devilish way to suggest negligence and we’ll pray there is a silver lining somewhere that the Tyson’s can look toward for support.

R.I.P. Exodus

Various sources have reported that multi platinum selling producer Dr. Dre has lost his 20 year old son who bears the same name. Andre Romelle Young Jr., apparently went out on Friday night and returned at 5:30 in Saturday morning. His mother found him unresponsive approximately five hours later, after which he was rushed to the hospital. (continue reading…)