MC GURU died yesterday, aged 43. Intelligent lyrics, an even, steady style, no shouting, he was one of my favourite rappers, if not my all time favourite. I was hoping for another Gang Starr album at some point but it wasn’t to be… unless Premier pulls something out. No doubt Solar has some hidden gems too. I remember seeing Gang Starr at Reading Festival in the early 90s – what a great rapper. Short guy! I didn’t dig all of his Jazzmatazz stuff but respected it all.

Here’s one I really liked, from Jazzmatazz Vol. 4:

Time to make a change
’cause nothing stays the same
With discipline we can win
and escape the pain
The spark will be within
then hearts will beat again
What we’ve been taught
must be forgot
it’s time to see again
Up from the bottom
we rise like the cream
They can’t fool us nowadays
we’re too wise for their schemes

One from Step in the Arena – Form of Intellect. Reminds me of our student house in Southsea. It was a big day when Steve got hold of the album we’d heard some of on Westwood’s Capital FM show by hooking up a crazy complex aerial to get the signal from London. Requesting Gang Starr in all the dance music clubs, hassling the DJs.

The guru, nursing you with a verse spilled
Don’t choke, and don’t turn blue in a frenzy
Premier’s severe, on the steel wheels he lends me
Spontaneous cuts, but not mainly just that
It’s the scratching format, exact with maddening accuracy
Craftily, on the side or in back of me
Nastily, as if his name was dick dastardly
Original so get it, yo the gang gets respect
The chain and the star is a symbol, of this form of intellect

See earlier post