Guru and Solar on their tour and latest album

July 13, 5:32 PMColumbia Urban Music ExaminerGeorge Butler

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Although we won't see Guru and DJ Premier doing things together any time soon, apparently, but at least Guru's still on the mic, and he and Solar are doing tracks that meld hip-hop and jazz in a very esoteric fashion.

The duo's latest effort, Guru 8.0: Lost and Found, is far from the Gang Starr classics, but hopefully will pique the interest of Guru's old fans as well as people stumbling to this fusion of genres.

Here's Boston's own Ballhead Slick telling Ismael AbduSalaam of allhiphop.com about his and Solar's latest efforts:

"Every concert on the tour has been sold out. This is considerably the biggest world tour of any independent Hip-Hop act/label this year. Our killer Hip-Hop/Jazz set produced by Solar has consistently proven without a doubt that we have the best Hip-Hop/Jazz show on the planet."

No doubt about that. Remember: this is coming from a man who helped revolutionize hip-hop music ever since his days with Premier. The duo Gang Starr and the collective Jazzmatazz both featured Guru on lead vocals. Gang Starr were signed to Wild Pitch Records in 1988, then released their first major label album on EMI Records in 1989, entitled No More Mr. Nice Guy.

1991's Step In the Arena, 1992's Daily Operation, 1994's Hard to Earn, and 1998's Moment of Truth are considered to be hip-hop classics from Gang Starr. the group's last effort, 2003's The Ownerz, failed to receive critical and financial success, Currently the duo is on indefinite hiatus.

As for Jazzmatazz, this was Guru's first foray into hip-hop jazz fusion. He crafted four albums, all mostly comprised of live instrumentation (drums, horns, pianoes.... the whole nine). Solar produced the fourth and latest Jazzmatazz effort, released in 2007.

Solar tells AbduSalaam the following:

"Our goal with 7 Grand is to continue to be vital catalyst in keeping Real Hip-Hop alive for the future by bridging the generation gap and blending genres. My partner Guru is known for his groundbreaking Jazzmatazz album series where he collaborated with the likes of Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Isaac Hayes, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Macy Gray and David Sanborn, so we've raised the bar for Hip-Hop musically and we do that on-stage as well."

Guru and Solar are currently touring Europe, with three dates remaining on their tour: Haarlem, Netherlands on 7/16, Berlin on 7/17, and Stockholm on  7/18.

Keep on keepin' on, Guru. Nuff said.