Released: June 24, 2003

Featuring: HeadQCourterz NYGz

Songwriter: DJ Premier Guru

Producer: DJ Premier Guru

[Guru]
What’s goin’ on, man

[HeadQCourterz]
Niggas is bonded in darkness, man
It’s just that simple, man
You gotta, I mean, you gotta come with the light, man
It’s that time, man, you hear what I’m sayin?

[Guru]
I’m sayin’, I’m sayin’, now that I got a baby
It’s a whole different thing for me
I’m like, this world is mad cr--
It was fucked up when we was commin’ up
But it’s mad crazy for the babies right now
And it’s like, yo, you got, pssh man, mass confusion
You got motherfuckin’ rats in a maze and shit

[HeadQCourterz]
Word is life man. But um
All I gotta do is have the mentality to fight mentality, man
Fuck tryin’, man. Because, boom
You laid out and be dead, man
On some, on some serious shit
Mentally, not on so--, not on a physical level, man

[Panchi]
Head up, eyes and ears, the fuck open

[HeadQCourterz]
Alright then, word is bond, son

[DJ Premier]
And on that note, let’s get back to the program

Gang Starr

Gang Starr is the formidable hip-hop duo of MC Guru and producer DJ Premier.

The group was originally founded by two childhood friends, Big Shug and Guru, in Atlanta; coming up with the logo design and name of the group. Big Shug and Guru got separated when Shug got imprisoned and Guru moved to New York where he met Dj Premier.

While DJ Premier is from Texas and the monotone Guru is from Boston, they came together in Brooklyn, New York, and helped define the sound of East Coast hip-hop in the 1990s with their jazzy production on singles such as “Words I Manifest” and “Jazz Thing,” as well as their harder boom bap singles like “Just to Get a Rep” and “Take it Personal.”