RIP Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDuoK-7nd6Y

"Get ready....for your blessing....."

such a great song but reminds of the loss.

"You know I be the master of the who, what, where, and why."

Made me want to go back and get their whole discography.

Zonin’ is my jam.

I didn't like it when it was released. Probably only because it wasn't as good as Moment of Truth to me.

But random songs from that album have popped up on my Spotify playlists and I have to say it's really dope. The first half of that album is as good as anything they've done.

I was recently on a Gangstarr binge, and had it lined up directly after Moment of Truth. I was surprised by a few things: 1) how much I loved it. I know just about every word on the album. 2) how well it stacks up with MoT. The beats, rhymes, themes. All on point.

I just wish we would have gotten another album between the two. Tha Squeeze is still a classic.

It's clearly really good. I have this impression of it that it's like the ugly duckling of their discography.

Outside of a few songs that pop up in Spotify, I haven't listened to the full album since it was new. It needs a relisten.

and fall into this category as well. Like someone above me just said, for a long time I looked at it as the "ugly duckling" of their catalogue for a long time. But when I heard it recently I had a newfound appreciation for it. So many great, great songs on there. Many of which I always loved. But then the rest is well done too.

I just think Moment of Truth was really, really damn hard to follow. Anything would've seemed like a disappointment.

.

lol

and was like oh ok this is probably why I didn't like it. So bad.

>and was like oh ok this is probably why I didn't like it.

But didn't exactly age well.

then i went back and listened to their catalog. I knew songs here and there but not their albums. I didn't sleep on Ownerz tho, i still put songs from it on my playlists.

gangstarr was so great

guru had a dope style and so many memorable lines. great production by primo? one of the best, no doubt.

now some scandalous motherfuckers wanna take what's mine, but they can't take the respect that I've earned in my lifetime...

My favorite GURU lyric, from my favorite Gang Starr song, from my favorite Gang Starr album.

Me too. I hate what happened to Guru. It's such a ... I dunno, it's just not a lot of people deserve to go out like that but Guru ESPECIALLY didn't deserve that type of mysterious, controversial, conflicted ending.

He was ahead of his time in terms of his wisdom and self/social awareness. Moment of Truth was for sure his magnum opus from a pure rhyming standpoint as well as a content standpoint, IMO.

And beyond just his skills on the mic and his ability to make you look inward, and think, and contemplate your place in the world ... he just seemed like a real, genuine, solid, GOOD dude.

So sad how he went out. But thank god we have so much timeless, incredible music to remember him by. And thank god he worked with someone as truly amazing as Preemo, who laced him with the best possible beats to fit his style as well as so many of the best beats in hip-hop history.

RIP. Forever.

.

I got into Gangstarr when Full Clip came out so I don't really have any concept of what songs are on what album. By the time I discovered them I could just listen to their whole catalog together.

I think Guru was the first death of someone that really fucked me up. I still remember exactly where I was.

I've been listening to GS since "No More Mr. Nice Guy" dropped. I remember recording (yes, VHS, lol) the "Positivity" video off Rap City and just watching it over and over and over. I was like, "how could something be this dope?????". I was picking my son up from school. I had just pulled up and was about to get out and go in. My homie Chris texted me and it just said "He's gone...Guru is gone". I was so shocked/hurt/confused. I was like what, wait, how, wtf!!!! I sat there for about 5 minutes angry as shit. It really bothered me.

I had just got here, 12 years old
turned on the TV one day and the video came on
Instant fan, and grew up with them as my soundtrack through the 90's

I remember my boys and I used to jokingly say that was Kobe playing the saxophone, lol. It clearly wasn’t, but he bared a resemblance.

I used to see the album at the record store and the way they were posing was so just not ... Gangster, which is what I thought they were going for. about a month later I caught the video for Manifest and Guru was looking just like Malcolm X and the beat was SLAMMIN'
went and picked up the album and never looked back


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https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PYzh4v9cSf4FDnq3yMQyqNqh79o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/4079674/jlio.0.gif

but yeah, Just to Get A Rep was the video that really set it off

Manifest video was kinda cheesy but it was still dope

I was fresh to death HS freshman year:

Airbrushed overalls with one strap hanging
Starter hat (you'd get clowned if it wasn't legit Starter)
Random team t-shirt
Ellesses, BK's, Avias, Jordans, or Ewings (anything else: clowned)

Hallway fashion shows in full effect

Those were the shit back in the day.

I know it's like picking your favorite child (if all of your children were perfect,) but I've got to go with Mass Appeal. That hits me in an emotional place (and it's not even nostalgia, didn't hear that song for the first time until I was maybe in college.) But it's just such a gorgeous beat that I can't help it. It's soulful and head-nodding and rough and delicate at the same time.

.

Preemo just tightened up the drums.

Mass Appeal is on the shortlist, for sure. It's interesting because I've listened to that song so many times that I rarely intentionally put it on anymore ... but, I've noticed that a lot of DJs at concerts, between acts, will play the beat for Mass Appeal as part of the mix they do while setting up the stage for the next artist. And that beat hits harder than any other, every single time.

Anyway I'd likely be choosing between:
- Mass Appeal
- You Know My Steez
- Above the Clouds
- Next Time

The above really speaks to just how incredible Moment of Truth is.

Not his best but one of my favorites.

Loved the strings on that song.

edit: favorite non gangstarr primo beat... the format

>edit: favorite non gangstarr primo beat... the format

Thank you ! Just threw it on ... this shit was on repeat for close to a year when it was released. So good.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite non-GS Preem beat but it's damn good. But now I kinda want to decide what mine is haha.

Honestly it's prolly "Shake This" by Royce. That song is just beautiful. But it's near impossible to choose cause now I'm second guessing remembering that he did "Nas is Like," "Memory Lane/In the Park," "2nd Childhood," "Mathematics," "Courtesy," "You Should Know," "6th Sense," "The Documentary II" etc. etc. etc.

I think "Shake This" still takes it but "Nas is Like" is a massive contender. Shit I forgot "Represent" !!! The sample source for that one is crazy.

Nah it's "Shake This" for sure. But what a career.

3x in a row lol. but yeah preme is one of the greats and has laced us over and over agn. that opening scratch on manifest is iconic. RIP GURU!

That shit hits all the marks for me, not just as a beat but as a song.

Dope intro build up
Dope interlude clip incorporated
Dope scratching (although not on the hook his time)
Dope verses
Dope hook
Dope guest spot

Everything about that shit is perfection

and second favorite song behind Code of the Streets

On the short list I'd have

- Mass Appeal
- 2 Deep
- Credit is Due
- Next Time
- In Memory Of
- Zonin'
- The ? Remainz

Non GangStarr beat? Not even going to give that a whirl

This and Mass Appeal are perfection.

He's play it and rewind it for days. After 2 weeks I asked for it back, as he obviously loved the track. Asked him about DWYCK, which was on the B-side. He never had flipped that tape over...

After 2 more weeks, I finally got it back

I mean, damn...talk about a perfect song

Call it blasphemy, call it what you want

....as it was popular to say. Guru more than held his own, it's just the Deck pulled some unexpected greatness out his ass on the joint.
______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

Deck always comes with great verses.

lines to start a verse/song

which is like deck's personal award

______________________________________________________________________________

"To Each His Reach"

but.....

Fuck aliens.

and that made the difference for me.

Guru was amazing, RIP

Between personal drama, family loss, bonding with brothers from another mother, maintaining sanity at work, and just staying true to culture, no other group has meant more to me on many different levels.

One of the best yet...

I feel the exact same way. couldn't have put it better myself.

I bombshell that Pastel Chanel rap through a Maxwell.

I thought he was destined for big things after that verse.

No Versace MCs with a mouth full of Mo

http://www.twitter.com/steelysteel