Step In The Arena

Performer: Gang Starr
Producer: DJ Premier; Guru
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Gang Starr: Guru (vocals); DJ Premier (DJ). Additional personnel: Lisle Leete (piano). Recorded at Calliope Productions, New York, Firehouse Studios and Such-A-Sound Studio, Brooklyn, New York. Reflecting the combination of inner-city upbringing and college education which both members share, Gang Starr manages to attain the perfect balance of intellect and street credibility; harder than so-called hard-core, more experimental than "experimental hip-hop" and funkier than 99.9 percent of mainstream rap's party jam output. In a culture based on battles and an industry known for feuds and ego-clashes, Gang Starr is perhaps the only outfit to command respect from every corner of the hip-hop spectrum. Individually or as a unit, Guru & Premier have collaborated with "alternative" hip-hop crews (De La Soul, Digable Planets, Dream Warriors), jazz artists (Donald Byrd, Branford Marsalis) R&B stars (Janet Jackson, K-Ci & Jo-Jo) and hard-core MC's (KRS ONE, M.O.P., Notorious B.I.G) without ever compromising their cult status in the underground. Their second album STEP IN THE ARENA is the release that truly put the duo on map after "Manifest" and "Jazz Thing" first garnered public attention. In addition to pioneering the incorporation of jazz samples into the hip-hop canon of funk & soul drum breaks, this record witnessed DJ Premier single-handedly lifting the orchestration of turntable cuts to the level of a jazz soloist improvising on another musician's phrase.

Entertainment Weekly (1/25/91) - "..busts rhythms that boast without resorting to misogyny and profanity. And their lazy backbeats and playful brass flourishes serve as a backdrop not only for humour..but even wisdom." - Rating: B

Striking the perfect balance between street cred and sophisticated musicality, Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr emerged as hip-hop pioneers in the late 1980s with their sophisticated, jazz-influenced (but still funk-based) sound. They are the rare rap troupe who command respect from every corner of the rap spectrum, as evidenced by their track record of collaborations, including everyone from jazzman Branford Marsalis to Brooklyn gangster rap-dudes M.O.P. DAILY OPERATION and HARD TO EARN remain among the classic albums of the genre. Guru would go on to release a groundbreaking series of jazz-rap collaborations entitled JAZZMATAZZ.

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