After taking a long break from recording as a team, rapper Guru and producer Premier have once again joined forces to release an album as Gang Starr , a grass roots hip-hop act that has maintained its street credibility despite the self-imposed layoff. The reasons for Gang Starr's four-year hiatus are cloudy, ranging from rumors that Guru and Premier had a falling-out to Guru's more business-oriented explanation that Gang Starr were locked in a bitter battle with their former label.
"We never broke up," Guru contends vehemently. "We're best friends. Maybe they thought that because we started doing separate projects. But Gang Starr Productions, Inc. is still intact; we even work in the same studio."
Regardless of the reasons for the pair's recording sabbatical, their new set courtesy of Noo Trybe/ Virgin Records, Moment Of Truth, picks up where the rap crew left off--spouting hard, socially-relevant rhymes over phat street beats. One song, "B.I.," is even about separating business from friendship, a subject Gang Starr's two members know well.
Moment Of Truth offers listeners an evolved Gang Starr sound, the result of Guru and Premier remaining close to the streets and serious about their artistry. The set features an up-to-date rhyming style by Guru, whose maintains his trademark rap cadence while still evolving. Guru admits that Gang Starr felt a bit pressured while recording their Moment Of Truth due to their layoff, and he's aware that some members of the hip-hop community doubted the venerable veterans still had the wherewithal to come contemporary and correct.
"A lot of guys get stuck in the past," Guru acknowledges. But I live hip-hop and freestyle with a lot of the younger cats. So I've adapted newer forms of rapping."
Guru compares he and Premier's status in the rap game as that of old NBA greats who still "got game."
"We're like Jordan or Karl Malone in that we've been around but can still go with the best of them--even teach them what the music scene is all about."
Today's rap music is mostly full of materialistic, egocentric hip-hop rhetoric and gangsta bravado but Gang Starr are still relating a message that embraces street knowledge, intellect and spirituality. "I'm not about knocking anybody else's music," Guru insists. "I like to dance and listen to real street stuff. But we're about balancing out the kind of music that's out there."
Guest artists on Moment Of Truth's 20 tracks include rap technicians Scarface , Big Shug, Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck, and R&B specialists K-Ci & JoJo. "I came to Premier with about 31 tracks and he went in and laid down the tracks for them," Guru recalls. "The title track best represents the project, because there's a lot of groups that are deep in the game, like Rakim and Onyx, that are coming back."
"We've been through it all," states Guru, "The gangsta era, the Vanilla Ice era, the Kris Kross era--and we're still here."
