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‘This is what Guru wanted, not what Solar wanted,’ the Gang Starr MC’s friend tells MTV News about controversial statement. By Shaheem Reid, with reporting by Sway Calloway Solar and Sway Photo: MTV News The controversy over Guru’s last statement to the public continues. On Tuesday, after the Gang Starr MC’s death , his friend Solar put out a letter that he said Guru wrote in his final days. The letter had Guru distancing himself from his Gang Starr partner, DJ Premier. Fans, fellow MCs and even Guru’s family questioned whether the letter was authentic. Solar maintained the same stance he had on Tuesday afternoon when he talked with MTV News: The letter is real, and he had not doctored the words. “This is what Guru wanted, not what Solar wanted,” Solar told Sway on Wednesday (April 21). “Only thing I can say is, when he wrote his statements and we recorded his life story [Solar said that he and Guru also wrote the MC’s life story months ago], he recorded it the way he saw it. He didn’t record it to fit somebody else’s desires. He didn’t write his story or his records to fit what Gang Starr fans wanted or what Jazzmatazz fans wanted. He did his music and lived his life according to what Guru wanted. Guru is a man. He lived his own life. He was in no way, shape or form not living his life according to his own plans. He wasn’t being dictated to. He wasn’t being told what to do. He made his own decisions. He ate what he wanted to eat, lived where he wanted to live, dated who he wanted to date.” Solar said he and Guru put the letter together in January, one month prior to him being admitted in the hospital, where he would stay until he died Monday of myeloma cancer. When asked if the words were 100 percent Guru’s, Solar said: “To the most part. When it’s written, you put it in the proper framework. But yes, these are his words. “Guru wrote some of it himself,” Solar added. “The myeloma affected his hands, his coordination. So he sat down and talked to me. I made physical notes, and I made mental notes of his life, strategic events, songs, concepts. We realized over the last year these things had to be documented. His particular document had to be edited down from a larger statement, which was two statements combined. It was [originally] one statement: ‘If I’m in the hospital and things get to a certain point, what do I want to release to the fans?’ He had a statement that was released earlier, and people said, ‘Oh, it’s not Guru.’ Every major star, every major athlete who passes and releases a statement through their loved ones, this is standard. There’s nothing odd about this.” On Wednesday, Guru’s family released a statement refuting points in the letter Solar released, including mention of a charity organization. DJ Premier released his own statement expressing his love for his former music partner. Share your memories of Guru and Gang Starr in the comments below. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Solar Gang Starr’s Guru Passes Away Related Photos Gang Starr’s Guru: A Life In Photos Related Artists Gangstarr

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Solar Defends Guru’s Final Letter: ‘Those Are His Words’