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Friday Night DJ Party — Some Early 90s Boom Bap

by |Published

Everyone knows the other titans of early 90s hip-hop — A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. Both of those groups are bananas. But there’s another rap crew from that era who everyone and their cousin should know: Gang Starr.

Gang Starr was formed in 1989 when an MC from Boston named Guru hooked up with a young producer named DJ Premier. Gang Starr immediately had two things going for them:

  1. Guru’s silky smooth monotone is possibly the greatest rap voice of all time.
  2. DJ Premier came up with one of the most unique production styles of all time.
Early on their stuff was very Tribe-ish. Lots of jazz horns, afro-centric references and complex sampling. Later on Premier’s beats became a bit harder as the music got more sparse and forceful. Premier (Primo, as the fans call him) has gone on to make beats for just about every single rapper ever but Guru died last year. (Boo.)
If you want to start with a specific album, I highly recommend 1992’s “Daily Operation.” But really, you can’t go wrong with anything from these guys. This is music that has aged better than Iman.

Here are some great videos, from early GS to their later stuff.

“Above the Clouds” is not just one of my favorite Gang Starr songs, it’s one of my favorite songs period. The dreamy JFK sample, then that rhythmic little cough at the beginning. And then Guru comes in with that tenacious line about “Myself lord and master shall bring disaster to evil factors, demonic chapters shall be captured by kings.” So so good.

AUTHOR

Botswana Meat Commission FC
Botswana Meat Commission FC created Crasstalk.com when he saw the need for a crowdsourced solution to capturing Osama bin Laden. His heroes include Nick Denton and all Bronies ever.

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