YN Editorial: I Got Five On It

“And if you thought we lost our niche in this rap shit, you’re way wrong.”

I haven’t listened to this album in a long time. Gang Starr’s Moment Of Truth. I think it’s because it’s too personal to me. Reminds me of too much. Takes me back. Way back. To D&D Studios with Guru. Where after cracking a bad joke about him nappin’ on the studio couch, we chopped it up. It was for an ego trip cover story while at the same time I was the Music Editor of The Source. Yup, in charge of how many mics the duo’s first album in four years was gonna get. No pressure.

As a fan and a rookie in the rap journalism game, I was pissed at The Source who gave Daily Operation 3-and-a-half mics in 1992. Did they really listen to it or just skim through it? And them niggas had some audacity—giving Spice 1 a 4 on the same page. My East Coast blood was boiling! Like its predecessor, 1991’s Step In The Arena, it was an undisputed classic in my book. I snickered when I heard Chris Wilder who wrote the initial review was ejected from their album release party. That Jon and the crew did a do over by assigning Ronin Ro a cover story around 1994’s Hard to Earn. That cover image in the NYC subway was classic to me.

But now the shoe was on my foot. Fresh in the post Biggie-Pac era, I wasn’t sure, where exactly does Gang Starr fit in again? It didn’t help that even back then there were rumors of tension in the group. And Guru had a real-life assault change hanging over his head that he would later thankfully be acquitted of. I hoped the record would be good. I wanted it to be great. I wanted to keep my convo with Guru goin’ so I didn’t have to go into the B room to hear Preemo play it for me. I wasn’t ready.

So Keith told me about his frustration with past record sales. He was tired of being disappointed. In his mind, they had never capitalized off their accidental smash, “Dwyck”. He just wanted his group to go gold. He talked about he and Preem’s outside projects and why it was so important for them to get back together. He told his favorite story about his early beginnings, leaving Boston with no money and heading to the Big Apple on the day after Christmas. Of course, the car broke down.

Still time waits for no man and it was time to face the music. Thankfully, it was so fuckin’ good. Preem played raw mix after raw mix of the core of the album: “You Know My Steez,” “My Advice 2 You”, “JFK 2 LAX”, “Make Em Pay”. He admitted that the next joint was a lil different for his group and then he blasted the K-Ci & Jo Jo-featured “Royalty”. I was so happy inside. Then a funny thing happened, in walks Jay-Z, who politely interrupts the session to let Premier know he finished layin’ a vocal down in another room. Does it get any better than that?

Back at Dave Mays’ place, I fought for a five. They wanted a four. It got a four-and-a-half. Truth be told, I felt no connection to 2003’s Ownerz. I always like to look back at artists catalogues and try to decide what was their last great single or album. How does the movie end? What song is playing? Fittingly, with the sadness of Guru’s passing, the right joint has been elected. “Above The Clouds”. The fifth song on Gang Starr’s fifth album. Should’ve got five mics.

Respect The Empire Ladies: Vikki Tobak. Shani Saxon-Parrish. Sarah K. Honda.

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  1. Safe says:

    Cant lie, Moment Of Truth is the only Gangstarr album i bought, liked and praise. RIP

  2. Ivan says:

    Thanks for the insight. Daily Op is my personal favorite but the whole discog is worth copping. Props.

  3. J.C says:

    YN, this is what alot of people have waited for. Get on your editorial sh!t. Nice piece.

  4. DDotOmen says:

    *starts slow clap* good read.

  5. KJ says:

    YN, this is why I came to RapRadar, after being introduced to your editorial’s in the XXL’s. Great writing, it is appreciated… RIP to Guru. Personally, I also liked the joint they had on the ‘8 Mile’ sndtrack…. ‘Battle’ is the name, I think. Was that a new record at the time?? I think it was…. that’s around the time ‘Ownerz’ dropped, which was a bit underwhelming….

    ‘Momemt Of Truth’, the title track, will forever be my shit….

  6. mark breezy says:

    From “No More Mr. Nice Guy” to “Moment Of Truth” Gangstarr held it down! Regardless of record sales, as a fan,consumer and industry cat, I knew what I would get when I put a Gangstarr album on… Plain and simple, dope beats and lyrics. REAL HIP-HOP shit!

    G-A-N-G to the S-T-A-R

    RIP GURU…

  7. gerold says:

    On a real Yn you need to make more post like this one god…

  8. mikey says:

    i like this new editorial thing
    should keep doing it

  9. d&d says:

    // Just confirming muchvibe are playing only ganstarr videos right now since a couple hours , oh shit mass appeal just came on in my kitchen right now no lie. Anyboby fooled by that solar letter are morons. Everyone knows dj premier always stood up for guru i mean premo could of had jayz, snoop anybody to rap with him in ganstarr back then but he choose guru and always stood up for him. Fuck that letter.

    ps: plus you nyc morons getting it twisted and mixing up solar with the french legend mc solaar , mc solaar is like nas bitch in europe. so fuck that other solar who wrote that bullshit letter nigga.

  10. Spitfire says:

    Great piece. Rest in Power to Guru.

    And yeah YN….we need more of your writing. It sets you apart from the rest. Keep it up

  11. koa29 says:

    YN you’re trippin over a dudes album title so much you wrote a wall of text …. damn, get a life

  12. koa29 says:

    with that said, well written, & RIP Guru

  13. Reasy F. says:

    Damn YN, took it back. Great written piece.

  14. bb says:

    nice! yn nice!!

    WHY YOU AINT POST THAT SHYNE SONG WHEE HE DISSES 50!!!this song is wackk!! glad you stopped dickriding Shyne

  15. d&d says:

    // much vibe are playing the manifest video from 1989!! hot it said also independent label ! man Guru looks like he is 18 in this vid look it up/ one of the best yet.
    rap radar keep it coming actually you should only post guru stuff all day so people can realize that the game is now run by homo artist. New york city as the most homo mc/s in the world even a wu member is secretly gay bitch. BBBBBBroklyn no homo here nigga only in the city barf.

  16. teejay says:

    Huh. Never listened to gangstarr, this makes me wanna check it out.

  17. […] YN Editorial: I Got Five On It […]

  18. hotbox says:

    r.i.p. guru. i believe daily operation was the gang starr masterpiece, but hey.

    Yn should do more of these editorials. That’s one thing I miss from the xxl days.

  19. Ty says:

    Well put YN. Whether or not I’ve always agreed with your perspectives I always appreciate the “Hood Eloquence” with which they are expressed.

    There will NEVER be another Gangstarr…. Hell Gangstarr couldn’t even be Gangstarr anymore after a while. Guru deserves honor for his work with Preemo but also for the sub-genre he helped create with those Jazzmatazz joints. The first one or two came at a time when collabs like those weren’t so commonplace. I think they paved the way for a lot of what we’ve seen in hip hop since. I never hear him shouted out for that.

    RIP Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal

  20. Boombapster says:

    Daily Operation was definitely robbed of mics, the Sauce should be redoing their review of it like they did some other joints some years ago. Anyway, water under tha bridge. Nice read, YNiggggggaaaaH!!!

    BB$. Guru. Premo. Gangstarr.

  21. p. dom says:

    excellent editorial for an excellent album. good shit, YN. rest in peace, Guru. SMH!! still trying to absorb even having to say that shit.

  22. Dashing says:

    As others have said, well put YN. I hope hip hop pays this man a proper tribute.

  23. dwhite10701 says:

    Dude, I stopped reading The Source after that review of Daily Operation. It was shameful.

  24. QUEENZ says:

    good job YN, i like how you ended that one

  25. ttomcatt says:

    @YN ,,, I couldn’t agree more. Moment of Truth is definately one of my top 10 albums of all time.

  26. JDot says:

    Thanks for this YN, great read.

  27. mac DIESEL says:

    @ YN aka HIGH YELLA CORNBREAD

    LOOK LIKE U WENT BACK TO YA OLD ROOTS WIT THIS EDITORIAL CORNBREAD!!!!! I SEE THE PASSION!!! I SEE U HAD LOVE FOR GANGSTARR!!!! THE “SAUCE” GAVE IT 4 1/2!!!! THE SAME “SAUCE” MAG THAT GAVE HELTAH SKELTAH “DA SHININ'”3 MICS!!!! SMH!!!! BUT MOMENT OF THRUTH WAS DEFINITELY A 5 MIC CLASSIC!!!! GOOD JOB CORNBREAD!!!!

    DON’T HATE ON MY OPINION!!!!

  28. Ac@pella says:

    I can dig this YN. That felt emotional and believable. A lot of ppl in the hip hop community of this generation will never know how influential Gangstarr was/is to the game of hip hop early on. Its kinda like Run DMC losin JMJ or Bun losin Pimp C, that’s an essential part of their legacy. This was way better than that editorial on Shyne. Keep ‘ em comin’ (pause) YN, and R.I.P to Guru.

  29. Ac@pella says:

    Oh…and FUCK Solar!…Who tha fuck is this guy anyway??? Bum ass leech…

  30. […] with the link for Mister Cee’s show. Download here. Elliott Wilson of Rap Radar wrote a nice editorial about Guru, as did Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called […]

  31. mmkayy says:

    u had 2 add mention Jay-Z.. didnt u?

  32. IrelandRepresentin says:

    Guru had not only tight lyrics but a voice most of these rappers would kill for. His voice was cool as fuck. I remember watchin yo mtv raps, years ago, when they did, take it personal. I remember calling my wee brother into my bedroom to check out their performance. I remember saying look how Guru looks back at Prem’ when he is scratching like crazy and then spins the record backwards. Guru then kicks back into his next verse. It gave me mad goose bumps. Fuck i would love to see that again. If anyone has a link to that, email me at; [email protected]. Would much appreciate it. Cheers!

    God bless us all and help us to learn the importance of expressing our love to one another while we still have the capability to appreciate it.

  33. DreadStar says:

    Waking up this morning and first thing I read is “Hip-Hop Lost A Legend R.I.P. Guru”. I felt my stomach drop. Life a trip at times. I’m from NC and I remember my cousin from CT, bringing me a bootleg of “Moment of Truth”, and me feeling it so much i went and copped the real one just to show love. i still got the bootleg and I still got my Real one. I still bump that ” She knows what she Wants” from time to time. My Favorite is that Beat from “Jfk to Lax” I remember riding from NC to DC with nothing but moment of truth in the car. This hurts like non-other. My pops battling cancer so I know first-hand the hell he went thru ” F**k cancer”. R.I.P. Guru you will be missed. Great read and please keep this type of writing up YN. One

  34. IrelandRepresentin says:

    @DreadStar, hope your father beats his battle mate. God Bless.

    YN I agree too, keep up the personal writing.

    Just a thought… I would love to see a column, kinda like a hip-hop quotable. Also, those a-alikes were mad funny too.
    Anyhoo, congrats on the site mate. Lovin it!
    God bless you, God bless her, God bless him! Hallelujah!! (C) Fletch

  35. […] YN Editorial: I Got 5 On It [Rap Radar] Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Gang Starr – Ex Girl to Next Girl [video]Gang Starr – Guru get well […]

  36. DreadStar says:

    @ IrelandRepresentin appreciate that Fam. One

  37. Danj! says:

    I felt that way about Daily Operation for sure… not so much about Moment of Truth, but it was def. worth the 4.5… Step In The Arena and Hard To Earn were also greats in their own right. GangStarr always brought forth some quality music across the board. I feel you on ‘The Ownerz’ though- maybe my ears were somewhere else at the time, or maybe it just wasn’t strong enough to stand up to the other GangStarr joints, but I couldn’t get too heavy into that one either.

    I like many others joked the shit out of Guru’s solo joints he did with Solar, but always had respect for what the man did w/ Premier, which will always be his real legacy- fuck what Solar’s writin’ about. R.I.P.

    -D!

  38. hans Landa says:

    T.R.O.Y GURU REAL TALK

  39. Toss says:

    great read YN! who can give you 5 (classic) albums nowadays? “Step in the arena” is my personal favorite

  40. Will says:

    @YN

    Solar need to be put in the you played yourself section again he releases a letter that was alledgedly wrote by Guru on his deathbed in this letter he just disses DJ Premier and bigs up Solar I thought Guru had been in a coma before he died thsi Solar nigga is sicc he deserve to be in that spot again

  41. polobear718 says:

    YN- I need you to keep writin pieces like this holmes!

  42. KingP says:

    Great piece. Shit like this is separating you from the comp. I like how the therapist commented as well…

  43. J.Spfld says:

    This piece and the piece about hating your job is what this site has been lacking… Good Shit YN, Good Shit….

  44. iballin says:

    gangstarr was my group!.step into the arena was the first hip-hop album that i ever purchased.daily operation and hard to earn i considered classics.i will miss guru’s unique monotone voice and premier’sjazzy beats.R.I.P. GURU FOREVER LOVE!!!.FUCK SOLAR CHESSY RAT NIGGA!

  45. Vikki Tobak says:

    Much respect to you! Thanks for writing such an insightful piece. It’s mostly the voice…..

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