Good morning all.
Hope all of you are having a super Thanksgiving holiday.
I told a good friend the other night that I was thinking about writing on an article on Gang Starr's impact on hip hop, and that is what you're getting today.
I was just thinking that I named this blog Hip Hop Since 89, since 1989 is the year that Gang Starr's debut album No More Mr. Nice Guy dropped. Interesting huh?
Gang Starr's impact on New York hip hop cannot be understated. They really kept the scene alive in between the time that Public Enemy fell off and 1994 when a slew of East Coast classics dropped.
They are really sometimes overlooked, because they only had one gold album in their career, 1998's Moment of Truth.
In 1994, when Hard to Earn dropped, Premier also produced several tracks on as landmark debut. Illmatic, as well as sequencing the album which later got 5 mics in The Source. A truly amazing achievement if you know the backstory of The Source's refusal to give any album 5 mics. That included The Chronic, which is universally hailed as another landmark album.
Premier went on to produce songs for The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Jeru The Damaja, and many other prominent New York artists. He wasn't even originally from New York, but looking back you can honestly say that his boom bap beats defined the sound of New York rap in the 90s.
Premier recently got ahold of 30 unreleased and unheard Guru verses that he compiled into their latest album, One of The Best Yet. Listening to it now, nearly 10 years after Guru's death and over 15 years since the release of their final album The Ownerz, nothing has changed. In 2019, Premier's still got it.
If you look at Gang Starr's legacy in relation to their impact, you can say that they're not named a lot when it comes to the greatest artists of all time. A shame really, because no one did it like them. Guru may have rapped in a monotone voice, but his lyrics always gave you something to think about, whether it was speaking of many artists obsession with the dark side on Deadly Habitz or speaking of his gun case on JFK too LAX. Guru always kept it real, and while his drinking got really out of control in those final years, his pen game was always on point.
You look at One of the Best Yet, and a case could be made that it would have fit perfectly right after The Owners, but it's also a perfect representation of the boom bap sound of today. That's Premier's genius. He really loved Guru. That's why Gang Starr had an undeniable chemistry that few in the music game had. They really loved one another, and it shoes in the music they created.
I'm listening to One of the Best Yet in my headphones right now, and it's truly an amazing album. In my mind, at only 37 minutes and change, it nearly ranks right up there in time with Illmatic. It proves that you don't have to drop a 70 or 80 minute project if what you have to say is just right.
Around us true fans, Gang Starr is the greatest duo of New York hip hop, right up there with Eric B and Rakim, EPMD, and Mobb Deep. In my opinion, there's not a single album they've done that I can't listen to front to back. That's rare. Even as much as I love 2Pac and Ice Cube, there's still a few of their songs I can live without.
Guru may have passed nearly 10 years ago, but in the hearts and minds of us true heads, they will live on forever. Their legacy will never pass. They're still the realest in New York hip hop. Not one of the best yet, but the best yet.
Support Gang Starr
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