Guru’s Family Learned of His Death From Media

The sister of legendary rapper Guru, is breaking her silence on her brother's death and divulging details on both a private and public memorial.

Patricia Elam, the older sister of the Boston born emcee revealed that she and her family learned that her brother was deceased from the media, the day after his death. "[My son] Justin found out on the Internet and called me. I had to call my dad," Elam said in an interview. "[Guru's son] KC found out riding in the car, hearing it on the radio. That's not right if you care about someone. That's not how you treat them. My brother would never have wanted us to find out that way. Never in a million years. Especially his son. Come on, now."

According to Elam, Guru's longtime friend and musical partner MC Solar is to blame for shutting the family out. In recent months, several reports arose claiming that Solar sought to control Guru's likeness in both life and death. Following his passing the body of the former Gang Starr member was initially released to Solar then later turned over to the family which followed his wish to be cremated. "The hospital released the body in [Solar's] care. I don't know how it was determined what funeral home it would go to," Elam continued. "My son, Justin, was looking online and saw something that the body was going to be cremated. My father was calling the hospital looking for the body and they were like, 'we released it to the health-care proxy."

"Luckily my other brother happened to be in New York on something unrelated," she went on, "and he started calling funeral homes in the area, if you can imagine. Fortunately the third one he called was the right one. He said, 'Listen, I'm the brother of Keith Elam, do not release that body to anyone but me.' Thankfully he was able to get there in time. The cremation has already occurred. For our family, we'll have our own private memorial."

In addition to family services Elam is looking to hold a public memorial so that Guru's fans can pay their respects on what would have been his 49th birthday, July 17.

As previously reported the hip-hop pioneer, born Keith Elam, lost his battle with cancer at the age of 48. He is survived by his parents, three siblings and a 9-year-old son, Keith Casim.