GURU Week Part 1: The origins of GangStarr
Damn, but we miss Guru. Even if he and Premier were destined never to settle their differences – or if they had and recorded another Gangstarr LP that was only sporadically interesting – the man blesses so many amazing tracks, is a constant presence in any self-respecting hip-hop fans’s life and, bloody hell, kicked so many quotables, it’s hard to know where to start.
Of course, when it started, it started without Premo. It started with a trio of Bostonian’s getting down with Wild Pitch / K-Tel and not exactly serving notice on the hip-hop world. Guru was then Keithy EMC and, along with Damo and Mike Dee, they dropped ‘The Lesson’, at 45rpm for some baffling reason. It has its moments – it also has cliched ‘brake’ scratching and a weedy synth chorus – most notably the very first outing of Guru dropping a message rap.
click images to enlarge
The Lesson
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
‘Believe Dat’ was a major leap forward, even if Christopher Martin was too busy elsewhere to join the fun yet. DJ 1 2 B Down borrows heavily from ‘Pick up the Pieces’ on the A-side, before some young cat called The 45 King steals the show with the killer ‘Bust a Move Boy’ and ‘To Be A Champion’ on the flip. Already, it was painfully apparent that Guru was too big for the original Gang Starr line up – even if Damo ‘D-Ski’ is pretty good on here – and was only going to flourish with outside production help.
To Be A Champion
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Bust A Move
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Believe Dat
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Tweet
8 Responses to "GURU Week Part 1: The origins of GangStarr"
Yo this is ace! Is there gonna be a freaky friday with a porn model rocking a Gang Starr tee on Friday?
Where’s Solar?
Bust A Move is so godamn fonky.
Ha ha ha ha ha……you motha fuckas should have done your research about the “origins of Gangstarr” before you posted this half truth……did you know that Damo and Premeire were supposed to be a group and not the other way around? Did you know Damo was a minor when he was brought to New York and then kicked out on the street because Premeire had preference to work with Damo. Or that Mike left the group becuz Keith got to New York and started sayin fuck Boston??? Do ya’ll research or don’t include people in your article that haven’t had the chance to voice themselves or their side to the story…..they (Mike and Damo) remain humble and don’t look to profit off Keiths name but don’t sit here and tell half truths or the version that you all want to give. Keith was a good dude but its insulting to these other two (now that Keith is dead) to try and put their name out there as has beens or something just to make Keith look like a God……….
Who gives a fuck. Sounds like sour grapes. It’s the Gang Starr legacy, & most importantly their MUSIC that counts.
kieth died …so what many more talented niggas died too.
hes no fukkkin god though.maybe a nigga like malcolm x is more suited to that but thats pushing it innit it?
role
get your heads outta your collective asses and give props to the whole foundation from the early years.
fukkin leaches
What are you crying about? We didn’t even touch on most of that stuff, never mind get it wrong. But for what it’s worth, Keith is a god compared to the other guys.
Word
Leave your response