14. "I'm a fan. He's pretty mediocre in every possible way. " In response to In response to 0 Wed Apr-19-17 07:38 PM by Cold Truth
I'll never understand the way people struggle to reconcile the notion that literally everyone in every medium at every level has detractors.
There's not a single artist that has ever existed whose work was beloved by everyone. The most successful, popular and enduring artists in history still have people who think their work is terrible.
It's because music is art and art is subjective.
Guru just isn't all that great from a technical standpoint. As an MC he's mediocre on every front and does not rate well when viewed against his peers, forebears, or even those who came after.
And yet... He's *Great*, because this isn't an either/or proposition. He has legit classics to his name and a formidable catalog. He's as influential as anyone from his generation and that includes artists with greater mainstream presence. GS is a pantheon-level group by any objective metric.
That doesn't mean that Guru somehow lacks weaknesses. Personally I think he's very mediocre and the sum of GS is far greater that the whole of Guru's individual part. A song can be memorable and stand the test of time while aspects of it are mediocre from a technical standpoint.
IMO Guru is an outlier in this regard. The biggest issue I see with that is people don't want to hear nuanced criticism. You can love him exactly as he is and think he's super dope with no flaw in his game and that's all good.
Personally I think he's a mediocre rapper who maxed out his potential but also owned the fuck out of his lane and influenced generations beyond his own and I don't see a problem with that. I can think of technically superior mc's in various categories who can't approach his legacy.
I just don't think it's binary. Its not merely wack or dope, good or bad. Guru's several shades of Gray IMO.