THIS IS IN MEMORY OF…
“This is in memory of…” the great Keith Elam a.k.a Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal. As they say in Nawlins, Guru flew Home on April 19th after a long battle with cancer. Rest in Paradise, Gurizzy.
Simply put, Gangstarr defined the 1990’s Golden Era of hip-hop. And as Guru breaks bread with Teddy Pendergrass, the beef with Primo is bridgewater; the records are immortal. For further reflection, revisit FULL CLIP: A DECADE OF GANGSTARR (released in 1999) and if you are not acquainted, get familiar… Broken down and dissected, Gangstarr is hip-hop in its purest form: bass portly beats, samples mined from the dustiest of record bins, chorus-appropriate epithets sliced to perfection and that commanding, confident voice of Baldhead Slick, spitting bar after bar of fire. For my money, DJ Premier is the greatest producer of all-time (Dre and RZA are right there) but, now that we can encapsulate his career, it is somehow difficult to evaluate where Guru fits in the conversation of emcess. Since his passing, I have heard debates ranging from “greatest of all time” to “doesn’t sniff the top 15.” While most historians do not rank the self-proclaimed “King of Monotone” with lyrical deities like Jay-Z, Rakim, Eminem, Biggie, Tupac and Nas, Guru’s body of work is dazzling (also see the Jazzmatazz series and some of the collabs with Solar.) Then, we have the KRS-One, Black Thought, Big Daddy Kane echelon of emcees, all of which have G.O.A.T. supporters and valid arguments. Lyrically, Guru was blue collar in his approach, never frilly. He showered after work and always got the job done. Blessed with a smooth delivery and undeniable mic presence, he often waxed intellectual and profound, his metaphors were pointy and his punchlines connected… yet he was never the go-to lyricist to Chris’n'Snoop you with a hot-16 or just murder it on a guest appearance. During his era, he saw lyrical phenoms like Canibis and Xzibit blaze in and flame out; he saw Big L and Big Pun depart too soon, he watched potential Hall of Famers like Ice Cube and LL Cool J fade from hip-hop and emerge in Hollywood… all the while he honed his craft, spit his flames and represented his culture. Regardless of where he may place that all-time conversation, Guru was the emcee’s emcee and his impact on hip-hop was immeasurable. So spin some Gangstarr, put one in the air and give thanks for Gifted Unlimited…
Stay tuned…
****LINK UP ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK****
http://twitter.com/LiveKultures
http://www.facebook.com/LiveKultures
Tags: LIVE KULTURE REPORT
Posted in HipHop, Music | 3 Comments »
