Artist-in-residence Young Guru profiled by Wall Street Journal

USC Thornton artist-in-residence Gimel “Young Guru” Keaton was profiled in a Wall Street Journal article about his technical contributions to hip hop music. The Grammy Award-nominated engineer, DJ and producer, best known for his collaborations with rapper Jay-Z, has also worked artists such as Eminem, Notorious BIG, Beyonce, Mariah Carey and Rihanna. Young Guru has been artist-in-residence with the USC Thornton Contemporary Music division since 2013 and has been instrumental in the development of the Music Industry curriculum.

Chris Sampson, Vice Dean of Contemporary Music and Founding Director of the Popular Music program was quoted in the article about Young Guru’s contributions. “He’s made a huge impact across our school,” Sampson said. “He’s been featured in our music history classes, our songwriting classes, our production classes and general education, because he has that depth of knowledge and flexibility. He went from being a guest speaker to a vital colleague.”