Gang Starr

小简介
Gang Starr是由本号Keith Elam的Guru和真名Chris Martin的DJ Premier组成，他们一个是天才词作者，一个是优秀的音乐制作人，经过了多年考验，如今已经名满天下。Guru是嘻哈学者，他的歌词不光在政治上大做文章，而且还导演了无数幕纽约城的黑人悲喜剧。而DJ Premier在爵士音乐和Hip Hop之间来去自如的掌控则是Gang Starr的成功关键。
在1989年，两人初次相见之后，发行了首张专辑No More Mr.Nice Guy，这张雄心勃勃的专辑力图把大量爵士乐融入Hip Hop音乐之中，结果反响不算热烈，但是他们没有气馁，他们花两年的时间对这一音乐形式进行了再思考和再探索，1991年他们换了新厂牌发行了第二张专辑Step in the Arena,这一专辑一举成功，DJ Premier更是成为纽约重要的制作人之一，而且以他的采样技术以及大量使用爵士乐融合进嘻哈乐而受到好评，而Guru针砭时弊的歌词，使他远远超越了同期一批只会写物质生活的词人。一年之后，第三张专辑Daily Operation发行，延续了上张专辑的成功，成为了他们的一大旗帜。其中引人注意的作品有开场曲The Place Where We Dwell,它仅运用了一个短短两秒的鼓的采样和Scratchin'就创造了一个缤纷的世界。而淡淡爵士味道的No Shame in My Game则恰到好处地把Guru的声线铺垫出来。这两张专辑也被AMG评为五星级专辑，是Gang Starr的颠峰之作。但是这两张专辑的单曲只在地下说唱界引起了很大的反响，商业上没有获得任何较好的成绩，甚至尽管Premier已经成为了一个伟大的嘻哈乐制作人，他仍然坚持自己的音乐路线，从不妥协。
1994年，Hard to Earn，他们的第四张专辑发行，这张专辑他们依旧高举反商业的大旗，并得到了评论界的好评。之后两人开始了各自发展道路，但是组合还仍在维持，1998年Moment of Truth发行，尽管四年没有发片，两人还是为嘻哈乐听众奉上了又一张精彩的专辑。一年后，他们发行了成军十年的首张精选集，这张双CD的专辑见证了Gang Starr的不断发展的历程，也成为他们继续在音乐旅途上不断进取的“源点”。2003年，又是一个四年之后，他们又为乐迷奉上了他们新的作品,也是他们的第六张录音室专辑The Ownerz,这次他们一改往日的爵士说唱风格，居然玩起了商业味道十足的硬核说唱，对此两位的解释是只是想尝试不同风格的音乐罢了，当然这其中佳作不少,比如和Fat Joe合作的Who Got Gunz以及与Big Shug和Freddie Foxxx二人共同完成的Capture(Militia,Pt.3)。
by Jason BirchmeierThe most influential MC-and-DJ tandem of the 1990s, Gang Starr set new standards for East Coast rap with a pair of early-90s touchstones, Step in the Arena (1991) and Daily Operation (1992), whose appeal has only grown over the decades. Beginning with these classic releases, both listeners and critics heaped mounds of praise upon Guru and DJ Premier — the former because of his socially conscious lyrics and no-nonsense stance, the latter because of his DJ-style beat-making and jazzy sound. Following Step in the Arena and Daily Operation, Premier became one of New Yorks most demanded producers, crafting hits for the citys finest MCs, including the Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay-Z, and KRS-One. Guru likewise collaborated with plenty of well-known artists — Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd, NDea Davenport — on his solo debut, Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 (1993), and its series of follow-ups. Following Hard to Earn (1994) — the duos fourth Gang Starr collaboration overall — Guru and Premier began focusing primarily on their solo projects, reuniting infrequently — too infrequently, many fans felt — for albums such as Moment of Truth (1998) and The Ownerz (2003). During this period of solo activity, Gang Starr became increasingly recognized as a touchstone, one that critics and hip-hop purists frequently cited as a standard-bearer for streetwise, socially conscious East Coast rap.Guru (born Keith Edward Elam on July 17, 1966, in Boston, MA) and Premier (born Christopher Edward Martin on March 21, 1966, in Houston, TX) began working together in 1989. Guru had founded Gang Starr a couple years earlier, in 1987, and had already established a working relationship with Wild Pitch Records. The partnership of Guru and Premier as Gang Starr led to a formative debut album, No More Mr. Nice Guy (1989), and its featured single, Words I Manifest. The DJ-spotlight track DJ Premier in Deep Concentration is another highlight of the album, which spent years out of print. Between albums, in 1990, Guru and Premier contributed a song, Jazz Thing, to the Mo Better Blues soundtrack. Gang Starr subsequently moved to Chrysalis Records for their second album, Step in the Arena (1991), on which they perfected the approach of their debut, that is, a stark, hard-hitting jazz-rap production style, complete with Premiers masterful DJ cutting, over which Gurus battle-rap-hardened yet smoothly delivered lyrics — often thoughtful, sly, and streetsmart — take flight. Gang Starrs third album, Daily Operation (1992), furthered the duos approach stylistically; widely considered an East Coast rap classic, its arguably Guru and Premiers finest work, along with its predecessor. Beginning in 1993, Guru and Premier began working separately. Gurus debut album, Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 (1993), took the so-called jazz-rap style to a new level, featuring jazz musicians such as Lonnie Liston Smith, Branford Marsalis, Ronny Jordan, Donald Byrd, and Roy Ayers, along with guest vocalists such as NDea Davenport (of the Brand New Heavies) and MC Solaar (of French rap fame). Meanwhile, Premier produced six tracks for KRS-Ones solo debut, Return of the Boom Bap (1993); moreover, in 1994 he proceeded to produce three tracks for Nas debut, Illmatic (N.Y. State of Mind, Memory Lane [Sittin in da Park], Represent); two for the Notorious B.I.G.s debut, Ready to Die (Unbelievable, an unreleased remix of Machine Gun Funk); five for the self-titled debut of Branford Marsalis Buckshot LeFonque project; the entirety of Jeru the Damajas debut, The Sun Rises in the East; and also a handful of remixes for various artists. Amid all of this activity, Guru and Premier found time to record their fourth album, Hard to Earn (1994), which was more hardcore-fashioned — as was the style at the time, in the wake of Death Rows uprising — than past Gang Starr albums and, also unlike past efforts, featured guest rappers. The album spawned the duos biggest hit to date, Mass Appeal, their first to break the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (peaking at number 67).Following Hard to Earn, Guru and Premier resumed their solo activity. Guru released Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality (1995) and a various-artists compilation, Guru Presents Ill Kid Records (1995), while Premier produced the bulk of Livin Proof (1995), the debut of Gang Starr affiliates Group Home (a duo comprised of Lil Dap and Melachi the Nutcracker, who both had been featured on Hard to Earn). Also in 1995, Premier produced three tracks on KRS-One, the rappers second solo album; and two tracks on Hold It Down, the third album by Das EFX; as well as assorted remixes and one-off productions. While Guru remained more or less inactive during 1996-1997, releasing no solo albums, Premier stayed busy, producing the entirety of Jeru the Damajas second album, Wrath of the Math (1996); five tracks on Bahamadias debut, Kollage (1996); six on M.O.P.s second album, Firing Squad (1996); three on Jay-Zs debut, Reasonable Doubt (1996) (Devils, Friend or Foe, Bring It On); one on Nas second album, It Was Written (1996) (I Gave You Power); two on Jay-Zs second album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997) (A Million & One Questions, Friend or Foe 98); two on the Notorious B.I.G.s second album, Life After Death (1997) (Kick in the Door, Ten Crack Commandments); four on O.C.s second album, Jewelz (1997); two on Rakims solo debut, The 18th Letter (1997); two on the Lady of Rages debut, Necessary Roughness (1997); and more.In 1998, after four years between albums, Gang Starr returned with Moment of Truth, their first album to chart number one (on the R&B/Hip-Hop album chart, that is; it peaked at number six overall, still their best showing commercially to date). Moment of Truth was a significant departure from past Gang Starr efforts, very much contemporary in style; for example, the album features numerous guests (Inspectah Deck, Scarface, G. Dep, K-Ci & JoJo, M.O.P.) and bore little trace of the duos jazz-rap beginnings. The lead single, You Know My Steez, became the second Gang Starr hit to break into the Billboard Hot 100 chart (peaking at number 76). A double-disc retrospective, Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr (1999), subsequently marked the duos ten-year anniversary. In the years that followed, Guru and Premier continued to focus on their own work. Guru continued his Jazzmatazz series, beginning with a third volume, Streetsoul, in 2000; he also released solo rap albums, beginning with Baldhead Slick & da Click (2001). Premier continued his production activity, working with superstars such as Jay-Z, Nas, and Common, as well as underground rappers such as Royce da 59, Termanology, and NYGz; he even dabbled in mainstream pop, most notably working extensively with Christina Aguilera on her double-disc album Back to Basics (2006). As for Gang Starr, Guru and Premier did reunite for The Ownerz (2003), a celebrated return to form, but the reunion proved short-lived, leaving back-catalog collections such as Mass Appeal: The Best of Gang Starr (2006) to fill the void.