Albums Gang Starr - One of the Best Yet (Discussion Thread)

[The Guru]

Going to wait till the weekend so i can take my time and listen in peace. Not going to read thread yet. Want to experience it pure

 

[Rapmastermind]

Beautiful Job Premo.......A breath of fresh Hip Hop Air.....Again with any Posthumous release, you have to understand it can't really be compared to the other albums. Guru was there for all those projects. With that said, this was an amazing Tribute to his legacy. Let's get right to it. First and foremost both singles were fire, "Family and Loyalty" reintroduced Guru and bridged the gap with the youth bringing on Cole. Next "Bad Name" is just vintage Gang Starr, Guru's verse was Fire and Premo killed the beat. The features really delivered to me an reminded me of older Gang Starr albums. The joint starts hard with the intro, it was like a trip down memory lane the way Premo scratched in all the different records.

Then on to the MOP record. Hard Body as always. M.O.P and Gang Starr is just a match in Hip Hop Heaven. It was good hearing Group Home again on the "What's Real" record. Royce came through as well. "Hit Man" was dope...I wish Q-Tip had a verse but he was cool on the hook. The Talib joint was straight as well. The Ne-yo and Nitty Scott record wasn't bad at all, it was probably the more mellow joint for the album. The Jeru record was too much. That joint right there is definitely in the Top 5 on the album. The Strings, the scratches, the sample. They both gelled so well together. Loved that joint.

My favorite record right now is probably "So Many Rappers". There's something about it that just takes me back to vintage Gang Starr. Also Guru is really spitting from another realm. Why is his subject matter so relevant to Hip Hop today? Listen to those bars. Then Militia 4 and Bless The Mic closed the album out nicely. The skits helped to stretch out the album because obviously Premo was only workin with but so much. This was one of the best Posthumous albums I've ever heard because Premo took his time and made sure to keep the essence of Guru in the project. Yes at the end of the day he had to cut and paste some things but it really did work. I had no idea if I would ever hear a new Guru song again so to get this LP was like Christmas coming early...it was a true blessing. It's been on non-stop repeat the last 5 days. Gang Starr has never left rotation so this is another album to add to the list. Guru is a Legend, Rest in Glory.

 

[Big Mark]

All the Gang Starr albums are dope as fukk but I wonder why Preme hasn't done a remix album with 6-8 Gang starr tracks; preferably some of the deep cuts and then release some of the other unreleased stuff he has that he withheld because its sounds dated.

 

[Arithmetic]

Brehs. I'm late but I'm in. Diamonds are forever like family and loyalty.

 

[Big Mark]

I know I keep harping on this but I'm wishing Preme would here. Full Clip (1999) is my favorite album/compilation of all time. Why? I've always been a huge Gang Starr fan and I had all their albums on tape but back in the day they had several joints on movie soundtrack albums. Aside from putting all of their hits and classics together, they also threw in all of their loose soundtrack joints so Like Jazz Thing (video version) and Gotta Get Over all on a Gang Starr project was too good to be true. They also threw in 3 new songs with Discipline, Full Clip and All for the cash. It was everything a Gang Starr fan could ask for in a compilation and IMO the best HIP HOP comp ever. If I could be critical of the project, I would say that they could've added an old unreleased track or something Like Doe In Advance (japan Import) or I'm Not Superman; but that's a minor critique.

With that in mind, they came out with the Mass Appeal compilation in 2007 and it was a chance to right those (IMO) very minor wrongs of the Full Clip compilation. They could've added Battle, the movie version of Jazz Thing and maybe an unreleased track or two. We did get a DVD with all the videos so I can't complain about that.

Over all, the completest' and dare I say Gang Starr stan, in me feels like the total gang starr package could be even better... but, only if they find a way to do another "the best of" compilation. Along with some of their best cuts, their traditional top hits play the best of The Ownerz and now One of the Best Yet with until they get Battle and some left over rare or unused stuff on one last greatest hits album.

 

[Hip-Hop-Bulls]

The militia pt 4

 

[Air Nikes N Hats]

What do you mean?

I’d love to help but I can’t think of any examples. My version is all explicit.

The version I got from iTunes was labeled explicit.....but some of the tracks where edited/clean.....was able to get the explicit version though.

 

[TrifeGod]

RIP Guru



shyt still touches my soul

 

[Greenhornet]

gotta be a link somewhere

 

[PS5 Pro]

I used to have a guy on here who would bless the kid. I been rocking the 9th wonder album and wasn't aware this album existed. Let me check it right now so I can get that motivation....

 

[Curufinwe]

Is it Guru in the vocals or not?
I bought The Owner back in 2003 with no knowledge of Gang Starr just for the song "Right Where U Stand".
I was hypnotized and still listen to the album 16 f**** year later with the same spark.

 

[SoulController]

Solar is one untalented guy

the OG Bad Name sounds like a kid made it

 

[karim]

never said he was wack but to say GURU was some lyrical genius in the 90's with the star studded lineup of his peers is a false narrative. No way in hell is GURU in anyone's top 20 from the 90s. Again, the guy was like Joe Flacco, a great game manager and knowing his pockets staying in his lane. After he tried hooking up with Solar, why was it that everyone stopped paying attention? GOD bless the dead but lets not hype up GURU like he was a legendary lyricist. He was dope enough to hold his own and ain't nothing wrong with that.

blasphemy

 

[Big Mark]

I only seem to identify Lights Out, So Many Rappers, Get Together and Take Flight and Bless the Mic. Am I wrong? It seems like Preme has a few more vocals to flip from that set.

 

[ThirdAct]

Primo still got it