Combat Jack: What’s Really The Deal With Guru and Solar?

14 years ago view-show 2,984,553

gurusolar3A whole lot has happened since last week, when I last posted on the legendary homie Guru. I only found out that my boy who 1st told me about Guru them years back, Coles B. Ruff, was the father of Guru’s nephew Justin Nicholas Elam-Ruff through Justin’s bombshell of a video. That video is also where I found out that Coles passed away 2 years ago (last time I saw him was when he was here in New York, from DC on a business trip). The way this whole thing is playing out is very disturbing, especially to fans like me that wish to have a positive memory of the legendary group Gang Starr and of course, Guru’s legacy.

When Justin dropped his video last week, me, along with everybody else wanted to crucify Solar for strangely speaking out on Guru’s behalf, cold heartedly blocking his family access to visit him in his hospital room. That, along with rumors as to the true nature of Guru’s relationship with Solar began to surface. Incidentally, Solar is a producer from Brooklyn who is not to be confused with French rapper MC Solaar, a former colleague of Guru.

Shortly after the Justin story hit, Twitter was all aflame with tweets about #FuckSolar. Over night, dude became the most hated person in Hip Hop since Suge Knight. It must have been a rough week for dude. Earlier today, Solar finally broke his silence and spoke with my new friend Peter Rosenberg on famed New York radio station Hot 97.  Amongst other things, Solar stated that Guru doesn’t want his health problems to be public.  Fingers continue to be pointed. And as much as this Solar cat makes himself a very easy target, I have a feeling that Solar’s not necessarily the bad guy we’d all like him to be. Walk with a blogger.

Right after the first Guru story broke last week, I got a call from a close friend of mine, a former street cat whose since turned his life around for the better. Dude shared a story with me, about when he was growing up in the mean streets of Oakland, where his family members were all either drug dealers or pimps. He told me about his favorite uncle, who was a very proud man, and how tight they were. How, even after he left the Bay area for Brooklyn, New York, he remained very close to said uncle. Whenever he’d fly back, his uncle would be waiting for him at the airport, ready to drive off to shop for kicks, or meet chicks. Until one day, he stopped receiving calls from said uncle.  He found it more strange that when he took trips back to Oakland, his uncle refused to see him. The way the whole thing played out tripped my dude out. Was there beef between him and Uncle that he didn’t know about?

A couple of years went by, and he eventually got a call from a family member sharing that his uncle was in a bad way physically and was hospitalized. Family members rushed to the hospital only to be told that said uncle and his wife specifically made it a point to let hospital personnel know that no one except for her was allowed to visit uncle. No one. It didn’t help that my dude’s aunt wasn’t the nicest person. “She’s out for uncle’s money” or “she’s always been a bitch” is what they said about her. She stayed poisonous in family’s mouths. Shortly after, news spread that Uncle went into a coma induced by cardiac arrest. A heart attack.  My dude and his people’s forced their way into the hospital, not taking no for an answer. When they saw Uncle, he was beyond being recognizable. Uncle was known for his habit of injecting heroin. Eventually his drug use led him to be infected with the HIV virus, apparently from a dirty needle. His condition worsen as the HIV progressed to AIDS. The disease ravaged Uncle, and when they eventually saw him, they saw a man who once weighed well into the 200’s, now reduced to weighing close to 100 pounds. A shell of the man he was. At that point did my boy and family understand the need for privacy. Uncle was a proud man. And no way would he allow anyone to see him in that condition, regardless what the situation was.

My boy said the whole Solar/ Guru scenario was playing out in exactly the same way. And that Solar might really be protecting all involved, Guru, family, friends, former colleagues and fans alike from whatever his condition may currently be. It’s very possible that Guru, upon him being admitted, strictly instructed hospital personnel that no one other than Solar had visiting rights, especially since Solar has no apparent authority to institute such a strict lock-out himself. Now please be clear, I’m not saying that Guru has HIV, AIDS or was strung out on heroin. I respect the man that much to not put out careless rumors like that, especially here on these Internets. But over the years, and once again, I will not confirm this, I’ve heard that Guru has had experience with strong drug use.  Assume what you will.

I get how it’s easy to paint Solar as evil, like I said before, the way he moves isn’t the smartest, especially if it’s him posting them tweets on Guru’s twitter page. But I’m imagining, if he and Guru are that tight, and the last marching orders he received from Guru was to keep anything dealing with his medical condition absolutely top secret private, than Solar now has one of the hardest jobs to maintain. I wouldn’t want to be him.

Like they used to say on them Apple ads, we all need to Think Different.

R.I.P. Coles B. Ruff and my late condolences to the entire Elam, Ruff family.

Comments

  1. you made it up son, didn'tcha? to push through your speculations about the origin of Guru's health problems and making reservation while you're at it
    i don't believe two diferent events being coincidental to the point of identical kinship ties and the nephew's place of residence, i.e. Cali

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