By the time Guru and DJ Premier started recording their seminal sophomore album in 1990, hip-hop had gone through a period of accelerated change since The Sugarhill Gang had scored a massive hit with
Rapper’s Delight
more than a decade earlier.
The localised street culture that spawned the Sugarhill Gang had been gestating in the South Bronx since the early 1970s but their breakout tune marked a turning point. It brought the rapping part of the sound to the fore, and attracted the attention of the wider musical world.
Previously, the turntablist skills of the DJ, the graffiti art and the virtuosity of the breakdancers were the mainstays of the underground art form. The evolution of the vocal was a game changer. The 1980s was when hip-hop went overground.
Creatively, the commercialisation of the genre was a mixed blessing. By 1989, when Gang Starr entered the game, materialism had begun to outweigh idealism and hip-hop’s community-based political edge had been blunted.
Their debut record, No More Mr Nice Guy, boldly addressed these issues but it was on the follow-up LP that Gang Starr hit on a sound that allowed their political sagacity to find its true expression in the funkiest manner possible. DJ Premier's burgeoning production skills enabled them to take this leap together. On this record, he perfects his trademark vocal cut-up style of scratching, and also manages to accentuate Guru's distinctive, monotone delivery by cleverly reducing the tempo of the jams.
What results is a clarion call to action for would-be saviours of hip-hop. It dismisses the notion of manufactured charisma and reappropriates conciousness at the heart of the matter. There’s political weight and substance to Guru’s rhyming yet it’s never trite or preachy. In their hands, hip-hop’s moral compass is realigned.
