The brilliant rapper Guru, who also recorded as Gang Starr (with his music partner, the equally talented DJ Premier) and known for his series of “Jazzmatazz’’ albums released between 1993 to 2007, died this early week of cancer at the age of 48.

Good obituaries by first Guru’s brother in The Boston Globe, then by music writer Jon Caramanica in The New York Times and by Oliver Wang in The LA Times.

Rest in peace.

The best way to get a sense of this man’s oeuvre is to download DJ Matthew Africa’s quickly assembled Gang Starr Mixtape, here.