Gang Starr

Why they matter

Gang Starr is filed under Boston for Guru, but it’s a split ticket. Keith Elam was born in Roxbury, studied business administration at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and started the first Gang Starr there with friends from Boston, rapping as MC Keithy E. DJ Premier came from Houston. When the early lineup fell apart, Premier sent a beat tape to Wild Pitch, Guru liked it, and the two moved to Brooklyn. A Boston rapper, a Texas producer, a New York sound.

No More Mr. Nice Guy came out on Wild Pitch in 1989. Spike Lee liked “Jazz Music” and asked them to build on it for Mo’ Better Blues; Guru turned a Lolis Eric Elie poem into a rap, the result was “Jazz Thing,” and it got them signed to Chrysalis with wide creative freedom. Step in the Arena (1991), Daily Operation (1992) and Hard to Earn (1994) followed, and Premier’s chops got sharper on each one. Moment of Truth (1998) topped the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart and went gold.

On the side, Guru ran the Jazzmatazz series, recording with players like Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers instead of only sampling them. He died in 2010. Boston’s other early export, Roxbury’s own Ed O.G, later turned up on Guru’s solo work.

What a working rapper can take from it

Let the voice be the constant. Guru’s delivery is level, almost conversational, and he rarely pushes. That’s a choice, not a limit: because the voice stays put, Premier can chop, scratch and switch underneath without the track turning to noise. If your beats are busy, try pulling your energy down a notch and see if the record gets clearer.

Find your producer and stay. One MC, one producer, six albums from 1989 to 2003. A long partnership builds a shared vocabulary that no beat pack can give you. If you’re still shopping beats one at a time, look for the producer whose sound you’d want on a whole album. The sampling guide shows the kind of chopping Premier made standard.

Bring your people with you. Through the Gang Starr Foundation, Hard to Earn put Jeru the Damaja, Group Home and Big Shug on a major-label record and set up Premier-produced projects for Jeru and Group Home. When you get a platform, use a feature slot on someone from your circle. It costs you a verse and builds you a crew.