Gang Starr

Thrasher Magazine, Sept, 2003 by Aki X

LAMPING WITH THE GURIZZY AND DJ PREEMO, deep inside a high security conference room at EMI's Hollywood HQ. Outside, hell is falling from the skies on Iraq and other parts of the world; on the real though, war is not a new thing to hip-hop. The ghetto has been a war zone for decades, just ask Guru or Preemo, and they'll tell you of many fallen soldiers they've lost in the baffle. Gang Starr's primary role in the domestic war zone of the urban American ghetto has been to consistently bring the realness, the truth, and the rawness of both the street and the gutter to biased, blinged out, hip-hop culture. And with the new joint The Ownerz about to drop, Gang Starr are about to remind hip-hop once again of their credentials, status, and skillz in this game of rap. Situation's vital. One.

Whazzup with the new Gang Starr joint?

It's called The Ownerz--seventeen banging tracks produced by DJ Premier and co-produced by yours truly. The Ownerz, meaning the state of hip-hop right now, a lot of these cats are renting and leasing. The game and the culture is being exploited. We own our shit and the original style of our music, and that's what this album represents. I think a lot of the Gang Starr music in the past has been ahead of its time and this album is absolutely on time... you know, with events in the world and the current climate in the world.

Like this war on terror? It's nasty man; it ain't a good vibe.

No, it's not. New York City is fucked up. You can feel it. I feel it here in LA too, but not like NYC. Even in the music business you can feel it. Bringing it back to Gang Starr, New York has lost its sound 'cause what NY rappers did was try to compete with the South and the West Coast. Nothing wrong with that, but they started to try and produce those tracks and they left that NY sound that Preemo represents. And I feel like we are here to bring some of that back. Not bring it back meaning take it to the old school. I mean take it forward by bringing it back, keeping it true.

Keeping it gutter?

We call a lot of hip-hop something else. I got songs about this on the album.

Preemo produced the new album. Who else you got up on there?

We got special guests; the next single is with Jadakiss. The first single "Skillz" is off the album. The video we got is back-to-basics, yet it's futuristic at the same time. It's got all the elements of hip-hop in it--Premier with the crates of records, Zephyr the graffiti artist starting a piece that says Skillz, and we got the Rock Steady Crew breaking. But instead of them breaking in some old throw-back Adidas tracksuits and Kangols they're just breaking in their regular clothes. That shit looks raw. The next single is with Jadakiss, which is called "Right Where You Stand." That's my song to industry cats who think that age has anything to do with emceeing. If you hear me and Jadakiss, and let's say you never knew about Gang Starr, you'd be like "Who is that kid with Jadakiss?" You wouldn't think, "Oh, he must be old." That's the fountain of youth right there.

Age don't mean a thing. Lee Perry is in his 70s, making dope music.

I agree with what you are saying. I don't get that type of feedback from the 14-year-olds to the 18- to the 25-year-olds. They know about us, they wanna hear us, They're asking for it. I go on tour with all those jazz cats, like Donald Byrd playing his ass off at 65 years old. I went all over the world with that dude for two years; he's like my uncle.

What other special guests you got on The Ownerz?

We got Snoop Dogg. We got MOP and Fat Joe on one song together called "Who Got Gunz." We got Crumb Snatcher from the Gang Starr Foundation, who got the quote award in '98 on Moment of Truth. He was the first one to getit unsigned. Since then he got a parole violation, but fortunately he's back with us. We all make mistakes but we keep making each other more focused. I got the same cats running with me today from when we were all eating 50-cent noodles. We got Big Shug and Bumpy Knuckles with the "Militia Pt 3," and the NY-Os, which is Preemo's new group.

Lots of people are sick of bling-bling and looking for realness again.

Preemo: That's what I was brought up on and I'm a traditional person. So I'm gonna stay hardcore. Even when we got tracks that are laid back and mellow, they still have a hard feel to them.

How you feeling about hip-hop and where it's at right now?

Preemo: It's the worst it's ever been. It don't sound like hip-hop. It doesn't sound like what we are used to hearing and it doesn't sound like the art form.

It's gotten to a point where hip-hop used to be about outspoken issues, but now people ain't saying shit 'cause they're too scared.

Preemo: Yeah, exactiy. Our album does what it always has done-we have songs about rhyming and battling. We have records where we are having fun and enjoying life, and we have our serious records about what's going on with the government and what we need to do.

How have you maintained true to the game? You've seen the big money and the glamour, but never veered from the path.