One of the Best Yet
The first song on *One of the Best Yet*—Gang Starr’s seventh studio album and the group’s first since 2003, and since Guru’s passing in 2010—features a DJ addressing a crowd while cycling through snippets of Gang Starr hits. Of these there are many, and the highlight reel makes a case for the album title as a declaration of the group’s well-earned status in hip-hop. “You know what fuckin’ time it is,” the DJ exclaims at the end of the track. And in case you still didn\'t, *One of the Best Yet* is here to hammer the point home. Guru’s voice—one of the most distinct in hip-hop—is particularly unmistakable coupled with DJ Premier’s mid-1990’s era-defining sample chops and scratching. Whether Guru left room for guests or Premier made some, an extended list of collaborators like Q-Tip, Jeru the Damaja, Big Shug, Freddie Foxxx, and M.O.P. are present, reinforcing the group’s place in the culture. Even MCs a few generations removed like J. Cole (“Family and Loyalty”) and Nitty Scott (“Get Together”) pay respects, relishing the opportunity to kick verses with the man whose name stood for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal. To be clear, the Gang Starr legacy was cemented long before *One of the Best Yet*, but Premier has made it one of his life’s missions to keep the group’s name alive. And if that isn’t reason enough for you, Guru himself offers a posthumous cosign on “Lights Out,” rapping, “I told y’all, this is the one I owe y’all.”
It’s thrilling to hear them again, but once the glow wears off, there’s a hollowness to this posthumous project, cobbled together from unreleased Guru vocal takes.
'One of the Best Yet' is a special moment for hip-hop that celebrates life, love and legacy, 30 years after Gang Starr first hit the scene.
Reportedly consisting of 30 recordings made from 2005 through 2009 -- the year before the MC died of cancer -- they were deemed by Premier to be sufficient raw material for a seventh Gang Starr album, the first since The Ownerz.
On November 1, DJ Premier (after teasing fans with the J. Cole featuring "Family and Loyalty" and "Bad Name") gave hip-hop the ultimate earl...
For those uninitiated, Gang Starr were/are a well respected East Coast hip hop duo, comprising of rapper Guru, (ferociously well equipped with wordplay, and an elegantly confident flow) and legendary boom-bap producer DJ Premier.
Gang Starr, the legendary Brooklyn hip-hop-duo by way of Texas and Boston, has just released an instant true-school hip-hop classic amidst the greatest of...
Though rapper Guru died in 2010, DJ Premier avoids the usual pitfalls of posthumous releases, deploying neat verses and brilliant production tricks
Back by dope demand? Guru raps from beyond the grave on a mixed album. New music review by Katherine Reilly