Guru and Premier, in happier times

​When erstwhile Gang Starr MC Guru passed away on April 19, the rap world mourned. Not just for the loss of one of the best to ever to do it, but also for the shadowy circumstances under which he died--alone, in a hospital bed, with his family forbidden to visit him. For months, if not years, the rapper's only link to the outside world had been a much loathed figure, John "Superproducer Solar" Mosher, who moved in on Guru in the waning days of Gang Starr, when tensions rose between the rapper and his longtime producer, DJ Premier. In the months following Guru's untimely death (he was 48), rumors began to spread about just how badly he'd been served by putting his trust in Solar. Then an anonymous hacker managed to find his way into Solar's email account and Twitter, using one to post damaging revelations from the other. So what exactly happened? This month's XXL has a story by Thomas Golianopoulos [print only, though excerpted here] recounting what exactly happened in Guru's last agonized days, according to people as diverse as Premier, Guru's sister, longtime Gang Starr affiliate Freddie Foxxx, and Solar himself. It's not a pretty picture. The ten most damaging revelations?

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​Excellent piece in this week's Phoenix summarizing the RIP Guru/Fuck Solar situation to date, tracing Guru's troubled ascent from rebellious Boston teenager to NYC-rap icon, and Solar's path from... whatever he was doing before to these halcyon days of hacked email accounts and fucksolar.com. Lots of ugly stuff, topped by several former Jazzmatazz collaborators' firsthand recollections of physical abuse. Yeah, and the "true evil" thing. Both Solar and Guru's family are keeping quiet lately, in advance of imminent tribute/memorial events; this is still likely to get much worse.

The above appears to be Solar momentarily wresting back control of his hacked Twitter account and attempting some damage control, though at this point, you'd have to think it's too late. (As it turns out, it wasn't Solar--just his tormentor, having some more fun at the producer's expense.) But the proof of the legitimacy of the leaked emails posted on that account (full original story here) over the last several days is only growing. For one, not only did we confirm that at least some of the emails posted on the hacked Twitter account are in fact real, but AllHipHop did us one better, and got a statement straight from the source. As Solar's own PR company told them, "Yo! Promotions, www.yo-pr.com, has learned from 7 Grand Records that Solar's official AOL e-mail account was hacked and that various e-mail communications between Solar and Yo! Promotions are currently circulating the internet." Which is to say, they heard that the emails were real from Solar's own record company, 7 Grand. Seems like pretty total confirmation to us. For another thing, the embarrassing revelations keep coming. The worst of them? That Solar masqueraded as Guru while the MC was in a coma in order to collect Guru's royalty checks:

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​In the wake of one-time Gang Starr rapper Guru's death at the young age of 47, his latter day producer and partner Solar emerged as hip-hop's most loathed villain, accused of everything from denying Guru's family access to their dying kin to fabricating a deathbed statement from the rapper to starting a bogus charity in Guru's name. This weekend, someone hacked into Solar's AOL email account and posted a selection of messages via his also-hacked Twitter account. The anonymous hacker made public emails sent between Solar and various parties, including documents that seem to indicate that Solar is more evil than anyone could have even guessed. The emails appear to show that Solar forced Guru to tour instead of seeking medical help; that he controlled Guru's access to his own email account and various other web presences; that Solar owed money to multiple parties; and, perhaps most chillingly, that Solar attempted to pimp out unreleased music from Guru after the rapper's death.

SOTC contacted some of the parties named in the messages, and the emails appear to be authentic. Jake Paine, editor-in-chief of the website www.hiphopdx.com, confirmed that an email addressed to him from Solar's PR agency, YO! Promotions, was legitimate. A contact at a Japanese company Solar suggested might be interested in some previously unreleased music also confirmed that the email involving him was accurate. Additionally, the email accredited to Guru in the leaked correspondence (guruler7@aol.com) checks out as the same email he was using back in 2008 to warn journalists ahead of interviews that "all interviews have to involve both myself and Solar as we are a label, a company and a new force in hip-hop." Whoever is behind the hacked email account has promised that more messages will be leaked over the coming days. Until then, here are the ten most appalling revelations from what's turning into 2010's biggest hip-hop soap opera.

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​And now this exists. Opening statement: "Welcome to FuckSolar.com, the site that Solar is going to hate. We will follow Solar till his ass gets in jail, because that's where he belongs. So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn and enjoy the ride (No Solar)." For now it seems to be compiling stuff from other sources (Vibe's Premier interview, etc.) and making "get ready to pick up the soap" jokes. (Also: Follow them on Twitter!) Suffice it to say this is all going to get worse before it gets better.

​Not surprising, but demoralizing nonetheless. When Guru, the erstwhile Gang Starr MC, passed last week, the news was accompanied by a very suspicious sounding letter. The missive, which began "I, Guru, am writing this letter to my fans, friends and loved ones around the world," purported to be written by the rapper on his deathbed, and directed mourners to a charity, 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."

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MTV has an extended chat with everyone's least-favorite hip-hop entity of the moment, calmly defending himself from myriad unpleasant accusations: that he kept Guru from his family, that he abused Guru physically, that he and Guru were in a romantic relationship, that he had an unnecessarily firm hand in Guru's post-mortem statement to his fans. This is probably not going to assuage the Bumpy Knuckles's of the world, but at least the dude ain't in hiding.