The most influential MC-and-DJ tandem of the 1990s, Gang Starr set new standards for East Coast rap with a pair of early-'90s touchstones,
Step in the Arena (1991) and
Daily Operation (1992), whose appeal has only grown over the decades. Beginning with these classic releases, both listeners and critics heaped mounds of praise upon
Guru and
DJ Premier — the former because of his socially conscious lyrics and no-nonsense stance, the latter because of his DJ-style beat-making and jazzy sound. Following
Step in the Arena and
Daily Operation,
Premier became one of New York's most demanded producers, crafting hits for the city's finest MCs, including
the Notorious B.I.G.,
Nas,
Jay-Z, and
KRS-One.
Guru likewise collaborated with plenty of well-known artists —
Roy Ayers,
Donald Byrd,
N'Dea Davenport — on his solo debut,
Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 (1993), and its series of follow-ups. Following
Hard to Earn (1994) — the duo's fourth Gang Starr collaboration overall —
Guru and
Premier began focusing primarily on their solo projects, reuniting infrequently —
too infrequently, many fans felt — for albums such as
Moment of Truth (1998) and
The Ownerz (2003). During this period of solo activity, Gang Starr became increasingly recognized as a touchstone, one that critics and hip-hop purists frequently cited as a standard-bearer for streetwise, socially conscious East Coast rap.
Guru (born
Keith Edward Elam on July 17, 1966, in Boston, MA) and
Premier (born
Christopher Edward Martin on March 21, 1966, in Houston, TX) began working together in 1989.
Guru had founded Gang Starr a couple years earlier, in 1987, and had already established a working relationship with Wild Pitch Records. The partnership of
Guru and
Premier as Gang Starr led to a formative debut album,
No More Mr. Nice Guy (1989), and its featured single, "Words I Manifest." The DJ-spotlight track "DJ Premier in Deep Concentration" is another highlight of the album, which spent years out of print. Between albums, in 1990,
Guru and
Premier contributed a song, "Jazz Thing," to the
Mo' Better Blues soundtrack. Gang Starr subsequently moved to Chrysalis Records for their second album,
Step in the Arena (1991), on which they perfected the approach of their debut, that is, a stark, hard-hitting jazz-rap production style, complete with
Premier's masterful DJ cutting, over which
Guru's battle-rap-hardened yet smoothly delivered lyrics — often thoughtful, sly, and streetsmart — take flight. Gang Starr's third album,
Daily Operation (1992), furthered the duo's approach stylistically; widely considered an East Coast rap classic, it's arguably
Guru and
Premier's finest work, along with its predecessor.
Beginning in 1993,
Guru and
Premier began working separately.
Guru's debut album,
Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 (1993), took the so-called jazz-rap style to a new level, featuring jazz musicians such as
Lonnie Liston Smith,
Branford Marsalis,
Ronny Jordan,
Donald Byrd, and
Roy Ayers, along with guest vocalists such as
N'Dea Davenport (of
the Brand New Heavies) and
MC Solaar (of French rap fame). Meanwhile,
Premier produced six tracks for
KRS-One's solo debut,
Return of the Boom Bap (1993); moreover, in 1994 he proceeded to produce three tracks for
Nas' debut,
Illmatic ("N.Y. State of Mind," "Memory Lane [Sittin' in da Park]," "Represent"); two for
the Notorious B.I.G.'s debut,
Ready to Die ("Unbelievable," an unreleased remix of "Machine Gun Funk"); five for the self-titled debut of
Branford Marsalis'
Buckshot LeFonque project; the entirety of
Jeru the Damaja's debut,
The Sun Rises in the East; and also a handful of remixes for various artists. Amid all of this activity,
Guru and
Premier found time to record their fourth album,
Hard to Earn (1994), which was more hardcore-fashioned — as was the style at the time, in the wake of Death Row's uprising — than past Gang Starr albums and, also unlike past efforts, featured guest rappers. The album spawned the duo's biggest hit to date, "Mass Appeal," their first to break the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (peaking at number 67).
Following
Hard to Earn,
Guru and
Premier resumed their solo activity.
Guru released
Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality (1995) and a various-artists compilation,
Guru Presents Ill Kid Records (1995), while
Premier produced the bulk of
Livin' Proof (1995), the debut of Gang Starr affiliates
Group Home (a duo comprised of
Lil' Dap and
Melachi the Nutcracker, who both had been featured on
Hard to Earn). Also in 1995,
Premier produced three tracks on
KRS-One, the rapper's second solo album; and two tracks on
Hold It Down, the third album by
Das EFX; as well as assorted remixes and one-off productions. While
Guru remained more or less inactive during 1996-1997, releasing no solo albums,
Premier stayed busy, producing the entirety of
Jeru the Damaja's second album,
Wrath of the Math (1996); five tracks on
Bahamadia's debut,
Kollage (1996); six on
M.O.P.'s second album,
Firing Squad (1996); three on
Jay-Z's debut,
Reasonable Doubt (1996) ("D'evils," "Friend or Foe," "Bring It On"); one on
Nas' second album,
It Was Written (1996) ("I Gave You Power"); two on
Jay-Z's second album,
In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997) ("A Million & One Questions," "Friend or Foe '98"); two on
the Notorious B.I.G.'s second album,
Life After Death (1997) ("Kick in the Door," "Ten Crack Commandments"); four on
O.C.'s second album,
Jewelz (1997); two on
Rakim's solo debut,
The 18th Letter (1997); two on
the Lady of Rage's debut,
Necessary Roughness (1997); and more.
In 1998, after four years between albums, Gang Starr returned with
Moment of Truth, their first album to chart number one (on the R&B/Hip-Hop album chart, that is; it peaked at number six overall, still their best showing commercially to date).
Moment of Truth was a significant departure from past Gang Starr efforts, very much contemporary in style; for example, the album features numerous guests (
Inspectah Deck,
Scarface,
G. Dep,
K-Ci & JoJo,
M.O.P.) and bore little trace of the duo's jazz-rap beginnings. The lead single, "You Know My Steez," became the second Gang Starr hit to break into the Billboard Hot 100 chart (peaking at number 76). A double-disc retrospective,
Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr (1999), subsequently marked the duo's ten-year anniversary. In the years that followed,
Guru and
Premier continued to focus on their own work.
Guru continued his
Jazzmatazz series, beginning with a third volume,
Streetsoul, in 2000; he also released solo rap albums, beginning with
Baldhead Slick & da Click (2001).
Premier continued his production activity, working with superstars such as
Jay-Z,
Nas, and
Common, as well as underground rappers such as
Royce da 5'9,
Termanology, and
NYG'z; he even dabbled in mainstream pop, most notably working extensively with
Christina Aguilera on her double-disc album
Back to Basics (2006). As for Gang Starr,
Guru and
Premier did reunite for
The Ownerz (2003), a celebrated return to form, but the reunion proved short-lived, leaving back-catalog collections such as
Mass Appeal: The Best of Gang Starr (2006) to fill the void.
As a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Ol' Dirty Bastard's bizarre, free-form rants added both comic relief and a dangerous unpredictability to the group's chemistry. ODB's RZA-produced solo debut Return to the 36 Chambers stretches his schtick over a full album, which if anything makes him sound even more unbalanced. Long before the album ends, it's clear that ODB has emptied his bag of tricks — loose, off-the-beat raps that sometimes don't even rhyme, unbelievably graphic vulgarity, gonzo off-key warbling (which sounds a little like Biz Markie as a mental patient), and general goofing off. Yet within that role as hardcore rap's clown prince of psychosis, ODB is pretty damned entertaining. His leaps in association are often as disturbing as they are funny, whether they're couched in scatological detail or not; they certainly don't make his widely publicized erratic behavior seem at all surprising. And, despite the unstructured feel dominating most of the album, there are a fair share of hooks, and two absolutely killer singles in "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "Brooklyn Zoo." Certainly, there's no reason for the album to be as long as it is, considering the dull filler toward the end. But, even though Return to the 36 Chambers might not be the most earth-shattering piece of the Wu-Tang puzzle, it's an infectious party record which proves that, despite his limitations, Ol' Dirty Bastard has the charisma to carry an album on his own.
