Gang Starr

Released: March 31, 1998

Songwriter: DJ Premier Guru

Producer: DJ Premier Guru

[Sample]
"Tell the people what you're here for"

[Hook: Guru]
It's the message in the song that makes you rock on
Some people go to places where they don't belong
Whether wrong or right, a lot of people fight
But I'm here to bless this mic, aight?

[Verse 1: Guru]
I take action the minute that the crowd gets hype
I'm type crashin, down like a meteorite
I'm Bogart-ing, mics and whole stages
Destroying MC's dreams, from words to whole pages
Their rapbooks, look more like scrapbooks
With their fictional fairytales and frail ass hooks
A lot of shit has happened, since I started rappin
There's been enough beef, and enough gat clappin
There's been mad signs, for this brother to heed
And while some choose greed, I choose to plant seeds
For your mental, spirit and physical temple
Bob your head to it, there's the water you've been lead to it
Bathe in it, a long time you've been cravin it
Prance to it, use your third eye and glance through it
Your state of being, becoming advanced through it
While others rhyme with no reason I be breezin
Their mics I seize them, then I try em for treason
I used to always like to hang out
Now I lounge in the rest writin bombs while tracks bang out
I know you peeped me in the club then
But now I'm in your speaker, with the voice that you're lovin

[Hook: Guru]
It's the message in the song that makes you rock on
Some people go to places where they don't belong
Whether wrong or right, a lot of people fight
But I'm here to bless this mic, aight?

[Verse 2: Guru]
Peace to the young ladies, who wanna bone me much
And peace to my nigga Premier, with the golden touch
I never fall off point, like DeNiro in Casino
Peace to Black Gambinos and all my peoples
Dig the steelo, I'm fightin' wars you know
As in the Jihad, most humble, most merciful
That's because I be God, I trog through fogs, puffing logs
MC's muttering menial madness, they get marred
Scarred and barred, and then, banished from my fuckin' kingdom
You got a fly one bring one, or else I come to fling some
Exquisite exotic exciting type shit
Enough to make the real heads wake up and get hype quick
I'm type slick, known as the God Universal
Kick rhymes without rehearsal, I cross the burnin sands
Now I stand here with virtue, of course I could hurt you
Simply with my point of view, and I knew
That many would come, that's why I've chosen
To cut off pathways and there's no runways or doorways open
For the jokers who ain't focused
And all the fake mercenaries get buried by the tongue of terrifying fury
Nothing's blurry, fuck it I got no worries
Hearts and minds shine bright light with insight
Yeah since my birthright to set up cyphers with power
'Cause mad shit ain't right, like punks in the spotlight
Who can't freestyle, sometimes I make my peeps smile
By sayin somethin crazy wild
Like some shit off my dome that be soundin'
Better than the next man's whole album...

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.”

more tracks from the album

Moment of Truth

From the album

Moment of Truth (1998)

Gang Starr popular songs

What I’m Here 4Gang Starr

Gang Starr

Moment of Truth