Through the Gang Starr Foundation collective, Elam mentored up-and-coming rap acts, including New York’s Group Home and Philadelphia’s Bahamadia. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to characterize Gang Starr as saviors of an underground sound that was lost at the time,” said Jeff Mao, former editor at ego trip and Vibe magazines.Įlam was a highly sought-after collaborator and worked with artists as diverse as rapper-rocker Everlast, singer-songwriter Sade and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. “Moment of Truth was their most impactful album. Longtime critical favorites, the group’s most successful album came in 1998: “Moment of Truth.” “Just to Get a Rep” in 1990 dramatized the doomed fate of a small-time hoodlum, while 1993’s “Tonz ‘O’ Gunz” decried the proliferation of firearms. Despite the connotations of their name, Gang Starr often spoke against urban violence through the use of evocative narratives illustrating the perils of city life.
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4.īetween 19, Gang Starr released six studio albums, plus a 1999 retrospective anthology, and cemented a reputation for powerful, minimalist beats from Martin and street-inspired braggadocio from Elam. “I was proud to be included in that project, and really appreciated his efforts to bring the world of hip-hop and jazz together,” said pianist Bob James, who appeared on 2007’s Jazzmatazz Vol. These albums paired Elam with jazz musicians and singers such as Branford Marsalis, Ronnie Foster and Me’Shell NdegéOcello.
“They weren’t just sampling jazz, they were approaching hip-hop like it was jazz,” said Joseph Schloss, author of “Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop.”Īs a solo artist, Elam pursued jazz/hip-hop fusion even further through his four-volume Jazzmatazz series, started in 1993. Built around a sample of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia,” the song propelled the group during a popular era for jazz/hip-hop cross-fertilization. Their first single together, 1989’s “Words That I Manifest,” became a hit.
DJ Premier, a producer from Houston, who, like Elam, relocated to Brooklyn in the late 1980s. An earlier incarnation of the group included Big Shug, Damo-D Ski and DJ 12B Down but Elam’s long-term partner became Chris Martin, a.k.a. before changing it to Guru (Gifted Unlimited, Rhymes Universal). He originally formed Gang Starr in the mid-1980s under the name Keithy E.M.C. More casual fans can probably start their collections with Step in the Arena, which is a required purchase.He was born July 17, 1962, and raised in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. Indicative or not, fans of the group will want this album, as will those with a jones for the original new-school revolution. The most conspicuous attempt in this direction is the fine "Jazz Music," which was, nevertheless, reworked to much better effect a few years later for the soundtrack to Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues as "Jazz Thing." The scratching showcase "DJ Premier in Deep Concentration" is an antiquated delight that dips into jazz as well, while the conscientious "Cause and Effect," the steely "2 Steps Ahead," and the uncharacteristic guest production from DJ Mark the 45 King on "Gusto" are all classics waiting to be rediscovered. Approach this album on its own terms, though, and it has a lot to offer, namely its early, tentative steps into the sampling of jazz. In fact, it's quite good in its own way, but it's also safe to say that the recording is not representative of the Chrysalis-era Gang Starr that devotees would eventually come to revere. In 1866 the James-Younger Gang robbed their first bank in Liberty, Missouri, and fled with 6,000 in cash and bonds.
That is not the same thing, however, as saying that No More Mr. As a result, Premier's beats are quite a bit simpler and sometimes cruder than fans have come to expect (though they are still several cuts above the rest of the class), and Guru spends considerable energy talking up his own microphone skills and tearing down the next MC's (sometimes electrifying, as on "Gotch U"). Nice Guy still has a leg knee-deep in the old-school aesthetic. In fact, aside from some scrupulous lyrical stances by Guru ("Manifest," "Positivity") and some of DJ Premier's hallmark brilliance behind the turntables, this Gang Starr isn't instantly recognizable as the duo who would soon become one of the most respected rap groups of the 1990s. You don't hear much of Step in the Arena on Gang Starr's first album.
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