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After 16 Years, DJ Premier Finds the Missing Piece to Complete Gang Starr’s Reunion Album
To say the return of Gang Starr was unexpected would be an understatement. The legendary duo of DJ Premier and Guru delivered more than 15 years of classic East Coast hip-hop, a remarkably consistent run that yielded acclaimed albums like Step in the Arena and Moment of Truth; but when Guru died in 2010 from cancer after falling into a coma, it felt like the end of the journey for one of the rap game’s most beloved acts. Considering Gang Starr hadn’t worked together as a tandem since 2004, and with Premier’s production career thriving, there wasn’t much reason to believe we’d ever hear anything from the pair again.
That all changed this fall, when a new Gang Starr track called “Family and Loyalty” hit the web; a song evoking the classic spirit of Guru and PREEMO, featuring a guest verse from J. Cole. The song ignited speculation about new music from the duo, and that anticipation was confirmed with the announcement of One of the Best Yet, the seventh album from Gang Starr, featuring unheard rhymes from Guru and a who’s-who of the duo’s former collaborators and their disciples.
“In the beginning [of this project], I was very nervous,” PREEMO admits. “Because me and Guru hadn’t worked together in so long, and to now have vocals that I’m not familiar with — I was always around for those [side projects], helping him mix and him playing them for me to see what I thought, so me not knowing any of these rhymes… that’s when I knew, ‘OK, let me see if i can even apply the right music to certain songs, and if they click I’ll make a decision on what to do next.’”
Working on Guru’s unreleased vocals inspired PREEMO and after crafting three songs, he knew this was going to happen. “I reached out to Guru’s sister who he was extremely close to, Trish,” he recalls. “And I [reached] out to his son’s mom and let her know. We all share a company called Gang Starr, Inc. together, so anything that’s Gang Starr-oriented from the point of his passing, we share all the business. We account for everything, we do the taxes, and we make sure everything is split evenly and fairly with no backdoor bulls — t. When I told them, ‘I think I can do a whole Gang Starr album,’ they were like, ‘Do it.’”
GANG STARR DELIVERS NEW ALBUM ‘ONE OF THE BEST YET’
Hip-Hop heads have been buzzing about the new Gang Starr album since the release of the J. Cole assisted “Family and Loyalty” release. The day has officially come.
One of the most influential groups in Hip-Hop has returned. DJ Premier and Guru right in line with what fans will want from the pairing. After Guru passed in 2010, hope for the album seemed to go out of the window. DJ Premier was holding out.
“I never lost faith, or wavered. I still felt it inside of me, it just happened to be nine years later (after Guru’s passing)” Premier said. “We all want the things we want right now, but I’m a patient guy. I hung in there and just kept believing.”
The album began to be created in September 2017, with Guru’s ashes sitting on top of the production console of Premiere in an urn given to him by the late rapper’s family. The final result is One Of The Best Yet.
“This album means everything to me. It’s a continuation of what I never wanted to end” Premier stated. “It’s a very foreign place for me and very emotional. I get happy, sad, excited; my feelings are kind of all over the place. But predominantly, just very happy to be making music with Guru again.”
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The 2010 death of Guru, the rapper who created indelible tracks like “DWYCK” and “Mass Appeal” as half of pioneering 1990s hip-hop group Gang Starr, seemed to both cement and finalize the group’s legacy. The group hadn’t released an album since 2003’s The Ownerz and, in subsequent years, saw a falling out between Guru and his producer, the long-revered DJ Premier, over everything from ego to the rapper’s problems with alcohol.
Still, Guru remained prolific in the years following The Ownerz. “He was always known to record all the time,” DJ Premier tells Rolling Stone. “So that’s what made me start going, ‘Man I know there’s got to be a lot of unreleased stuff that exists.’”
Those unreleased vocals form the bedrock of One of the Best Yet, Gang Starr’s recently released first album in 16 years, which also features appearances from Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, J. Cole, M.O.P., and Royce Da 5’9″, among others. Premier’s ownership of Guru’s vocal tracks comes after a years-long battle with John Mosher, a producer known as DJ Solar who befriended Guru in 2001 and battled with the rapper’s family in court over unreleased material following his death. (In 2014, a judge ruled against Mosher, allowing Guru’s family to control Guru’s estate.)
The 2010 death of Guru, the rapper who created indelible tracks like “DWYCK” and “Mass Appeal” as half of pioneering 1990s hip-hop group Gang Starr, seemed to both cement and finalize the group’s legacy. The group hadn’t released an album since 2003’s The Ownerz and, in subsequent years, saw a falling out between Guru and his producer, the long-revered DJ Premier, over everything from ego to the rapper’s problems with alcohol.
Still, Guru remained prolific in the years following The Ownerz. “He was always known to record all the time,” DJ Premier tells Rolling Stone. “So that’s what made me start going, ‘Man I know there’s got to be a lot of unreleased stuff that exists.’”
Those unreleased vocals form the bedrock of One of the Best Yet, Gang Starr’s recently released first album in 16 years, which also features appearances from Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, J. Cole, M.O.P., and Royce Da 5’9″, among others. Premier’s ownership of Guru’s vocal tracks comes after a years-long battle with John Mosher, a producer known as DJ Solar who befriended Guru in 2001 and battled with the rapper’s family in court over unreleased material following his death. (In 2014, a judge ruled against Mosher, allowing Guru’s family to control Guru’s estate.)
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Though rapper Guru died in 2010, DJ Premier avoids the usual pitfalls of posthumous releases, deploying neat verses and brilliant production tricks
‘Squarely aimed at existing fans’ … Gang Starr.
‘Squarely aimed at existing fans’ … Gang Starr. Photograph: Martyn Goodacre
Elvis Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker is famously reputed to have responded to the news of his charge’s premature death by snapping “This changes nothing!” Frequently held up as an example of almost inhuman coldness, they’re nevertheless words the music industry took to heart.
Gang Starr Announces Historic New Album ‘One Of The Best Yet’
‘Now Like An Angel You’ve Risen And You Will Stay In My Heart And I Wish You Was Still Living. This Is In Memory Of’!
Gang Starr is undoubtedly one of the most revered, beloved and influential groups in Hip Hop. Over the course of their distinguished career, they became a cultural institution and a brand you could ultimately trust. The group’s “Chain and the Star” logo symbolized power and excellence and it permeated into the cutting-edge music they created. With a handful of indelible classic albums on their resume, DJ Premier and Guru’s catalog has not only persevered but mastered the test of time. Simply, Gang Starr did not follow trends, they created them.
Though they never “officially” disbanded after the release of their last project (The Ownerz 2003), Premier and Guru still remained infinitely connected to each other even as they embarked on solo paths. Premier winning three Grammy’s along the way and assisting in turning fast rising artists such as Nas, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G. and many others into rap royalty; and his imprint included work with artists such as Drake, Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Mac Miller, The Game, Ludacris, Maroon 5, Common, Mos Def, Rakim, KRS-One, Janet Jackson, D’Angelo, DJ Khaled, Joey Bada$$, Royce 5’9, Twenty One Pilots, and Miley Cyrus; all of which spoke to his diversity and ability to traverse genres. In turn, Guru would go on to release his own quartet of highly influential Jazzmatazz projects.
In the interim, fans always clamored for another Gang Starr album. Though there were whispers and murmurs over the years, nothing ever panned out and the possibilities of that project being willed into existence seemingly grew more remote as the years passed by. After Guru tragically passed away in 2010 the hope seemed to vanish altogether. The one person who refused to give hope was DJ Premier. “I never lost faith, or wavered. I still felt it inside of me, it just happened to be nine years later (after Guru’s passing)” Premier commented. “We all want the things we want right now, but I am a patient guy. I hung in there and I just kept believing.”
What’s past is prologue. In September of 2017, DJ Premier embarked on a journey that had been years in the making. He did so with Guru’s aura and presence unmistakably occupying the studio with him; not only in spiritual form, but also in physical form, as the urn with his ashes sat firmly atop Premier’s production console as the iconic producer began working on the first new Gang Starr album in sixteen-years. Guru’s monotone voice, as pristine as ever, suddenly, but still unexpectedly enveloped the studio and it was as if he had been resurrected. In that moment, time stood infinitely still and there was no escaping how emotional, monumental and impactful this project would be. As is the norm with all Gang Starr projects, the responsibility of naming the new Gang Starr album rested solely on Premier’s shoulders. Undeniably, this time with much more gravity attached. After a few machinations, he settled on One Of The Best Yet. No one can argue that the title is apt, fitting and well-deserved.
Timeless art is often created by pain, loss, and trauma. While DJ Premier and Guru were alone in the studio again as they had been innumerable times before, this time was entirely different. Undeniably, there was solace and joy to be found. Premier had his brother and musical partner’s voice back in his life and he was hunkered down once again in his comfort zone; creating music with Guru. Yet, the experience also reinforced on a daily basis the sense of loss and grief that has been omnipresent for Premier since Guru’s death. “This album means everything to me. It’s a continuation of what I never wanted to end” Premier stated. “It’s a very foreign place for me and very emotional. I get happy, sad, excited; my feelings are kind of all over the place. But predominantly, just very happy to be making music with Guru again.”
One Of The Best Yet is many things. Yes, it’s the first new Gang Starr album in sixteen-years and it is a historic event to be celebrated and rejoiced, but it symbolizes much more than that. One Of The Best Yet further cements Gang Starr’s legacy. This literal gift of an album not only harkens you back to Gang Starr’s seminal work of the past, but it re-establishes their impact in a modern-day perspective.
To officially announce their reformation, Gang Starr released the album’s first single and video for “Family and Loyalty,” featuring J. Cole. The adulation and reaction was immediate, palpable and overwhelming! Funkmaster Flex dedicated an entire hour long-tribute set to Gang Starr before debuting the single and a Gang Starr Billboard lit up Times Square as “Family and Loyalty” rocketed up charts and playlists generating millions of streams; Gang Starr and “Family and Loyalty” also became trending topics on social media. J. Cole added further urgency by announcing that his guest appearance on the single he labeled “an honor to be a part of” and “a classic” was to be his last guest feature.
