This new 12" single from the good guys at Slice-Of-Spice is a real treat to true Hip Hop heads worldwide as it unearths never before heard material by legendary lyricists Jeru The Damaja and GURU. Two tracks recorded between 1991 and '92 these joints were born right around the same time as "Daily Operation" and Jeru's first on wax apperance on "I'm The Man"; some of these might very well even have been recorded in the same day, who knows. Cop your copy (along with brand new Damaja hoodie or T-Shirt) @ Slice Of Spice.
From what I've read about Jeru's inclusion into the Gang Starr fold, the original plan was for GURU to bring in 3 of his artists and for Premo to do the same. GURU had Big Shug, Jeru and Group Home which also were the three who ended up in the crew at the time - therefore it is not suprising to see that the first songs Jeru worked on following that was with GURU as producer (his original demo was produced by PF Cuttin'). On "God Of Rhyme" GURU shows that he picked up more than a few tricks over his years working with DJ Premier as he cooks up a bass heavy jazz banger that sounds like something born in between "Step in the Arena" and "The Low End Theory". "The Damaja" doesn't work quite as well from a production standpoint in my opinion, despite a nice sax hook and a grooving bassline it just never quite gels. Don't get me wrong though, it's a nice jam nonetheless but had it been put on an album of the caliber these guys were capable of hooking up back then I'd doubt it would be a standout. Closing the set is another interesting moment in the form of "Dirty Rotten Demo" - an early take of "D. Original" which Premo transformed into the mesmerizing opening track of "The Sun Rises in the East". While it does sound mostly as what it is, an early sketch of what would become a legendary track it does give us some insight into the recording process of one of the great albums of the 1990s.
To gain more of that insight I strongly recommend y'all to check out the chapter on that album in Brian Coleman's "Check The Technique Volume II", and in case you missed it when it was first posted, EgoTrip posted a chapter on Gang Starr's "Step in the Arena" for free online. The reason it wasn't included in the book was because of GURU's untimely death which meant that only DJ Premier's voice is heard throughout the article. Still a great read and as it heavily relates to the topic within this post I'll throw it in here for you - enjoy!
In 1999, Jeru The Damaja returned to the music scene with his third solo album, "Heroz4Hire" on his own label Know Savage Productions. A lot of things had happened since The Damaja's last release, as he and his producer DJ Premier had a falling out, resulting in Jeru handling all of the production himself on the disc. Since Preemo is seen by pretty much every hip hop head as a top 3 producer, and his work with 'Ru is often held as some of his finest top-to-bottom work, there was no way that people would not be dissapointed. My personal first reaction was running through the album once or twice and putting it back on the shelf again for years. Yesterday I popped the disc into my stereo again and I must say I was pretty damn amazed at how slept this album truly is. Though there are a few wack selections here, the majority of the production is suprisingly solid and fits Jeru's style to a T... and it's like he just decided over a night that he was going to start producing because the disapperance of Preemo. Dating back to "The Sun Rises in the East", Jeru has been listed as a co-producer on all of his releases, meaning that he worked closely on the production with Preem for years, watching his process and helping to pick out samples and picking up studio tricks. And more importantly is that Jeru was planning to start producing more of his own shit even before the break from Gang Starr as revealed by this interview on a '96 Stretch & Bobbito show. One of the things about Premier that makes him a true master at his craft is his way to create a signature sound for his artists. So why many dismissed Jeru's production here as a bad imitation of DJ Premier. The fact is that On "Heroz 4 Hire" Jeru creates somewhat similiar beats to those heard on its predecessors - dark, sinister beats, stripped down to its bare minimalist essentials of broken piano chords, guitar stabs and thick, pounding drum programming that really compliments Jeru's commanding voice and raw flows in a major way.
Don't get it twisted though, "Heroz4Hire" is a far cry from a classic album, not only is it a big step down from his previous material - at times the LP is all over the place and a few tracks are truly bad. Without the perfection of Premier's production Jeru, with his preachy style and monotone voice, isn't the type of Nas / BIG lyricist that can hold a listener's attention over wack beats which is the case on songs like "Bitchez With Dickz" and "What A Day". However, the point is that the LP is a whole lot better than it's given credit for and I would imagine a lot of heads might even never have bothered to check it out at all.... which would be a shame! "I did the Heroz4hire joint for liberation purposes, and to show cats I can do this shit. The beats are three years old, nah mean? I did everything, all the studio work, the production, everything." Lyrically, the Damaja sounds every bit as ill here as he passionately runs through his main themes of the dangers of overly commercial hip hop, African pride, the horrors of the ghetto, Brooklyn as well as introducing the concept of fake friends on songs like "Bitches With Dick" and "99.9%", the finest song on the LP.
As far as guests go Afu-Ra is nowhere to be found - "Man, money and fame change shit up. I taught the nigga how to rhyme and all that, but now I don't see the nigga anymore. It's basically the same thing with Gang Starr. We still cool and all that, but brothas ain't on the same level right now, nah mean?" However at least Lil' Dap of The Group Home pop up for a guest verse on the otherwise forgettable "Bitchez Wit Dikz". The main guest is female emcee Miz Marvel who appears on no less than three songs, strangely enough all of them being solo songs. To my knowledge she never appeared on anything else either after or before but she's definitely got some skills, though the decision to give her three solo songs is really weird.
In conclusion, I would like to recommend any fan of Jeru The Damaja to give this album an honest chance, without any preconceived notion of comparing it to his work with Gang Starr. You might just be as suprised as I was by the dopeness of songs like "Great Solar Stance", "99.9%", "Seinfeld", "Renegade Slave", "Billie Jean (Safe Sex)", "Another Victim", and "Presha". I give The Damaja major props for showing heads that he was able to deliver a good album entirely created by himself and him alone. You can tell that he was on a mission to really prove his own worth here as he absolutely slays mics all over this LP. Just like Nas with "Illmatic", "The Sun Rises in the East" is the gift and the curse of Jeru's career and as a true bonafide classic he will always be faced with that comparision. But dismissing Jeru The Damaja's work post-Premier is definitely a mistake as there's plenty of heat rocks on all of his later albums. Hopefully his next album will see him reaching out to more established producers again as his excellent "The Hammer " EP saw him linking up with Large Professor, The Beatnuts and the still underrated PF Cuttin' (who in fact was Jeru's first producer) to great effect.
Back in June 2013 Australian producer Kid Tsunami released his debut album "The Chase" as a digital download distributed by The Orchard and Fat Beats. CD and vinyl were supposed to follow shortly after but that never came to fruition... until now, as Slice-Of-Spice has gained the rights to release a nice 180 gram 2xLP set. Nostalgic fans of true school boom bap will no doubt love Tsu's sample heavy production and the guest cast which includes some of New York's finest emcees to ever do it. We're talking names like OC, Percee P, Jeru The Damaja, AG, Masta Ace, Kool G Rap, Bahamadia, KRS-One, Pharoahe Monch, and many more. The music is the same as on the original 2013 release (there might be some minor tweaks here and there), but the artwork by Fred Whyte is brand new and is looking a whole lot better, as well as the sequencing which has been switched around to make the LP flow better. The gatefold vinyl of "The Chase" is limited to 500 copies and is available @ Slice Of Spicenow.
As nice as the guys at Slice Of Spice are they are also offering up the newly remastered version of the album not only for full streaming but you can also download all of the individual tracks in HQ Mp3 for free. Also check out the "No Guarantees" single which features banging remixes by Diamond D and DJ Bless. TURN IT UP!!
We've been eagerly anticipating the return of Jeru The Damaja since his smashing collaboration with Large Professor on "Solar Flares". Now "The Hammer" EP has landed at digital retailers, and beside the Extra-P banger also features production by JuJu, PF Cuttin', long-time collaborator Luis "Sabor" Tineo and The Polish Kid. The EP is available from iTunes for the cheap price of $3.99, so stream the JuJu produced/Beatnuts featuring second single "A.R.M.E.D." below and purchase a copy for yourself.
"You Must Learn" is a new podcast created by long-time friend of Lost Tapes Dharmic X with Peter Oasis and Evans of UpNorthTrips that will be focusing on the making of classic hip-hop albums through interviews with the main artists. First out is something for the real boom bap heads as they've got Jeru The Damaja down for a 40+ minutes interview focusing entirely on the creation of his debut album "The Sun Rises in the East" - one of the illest hip-hop albums ever created if you're asking me. Here he takes us track-by-track through the album while also sharing a lot of interesting stories around it. A must hear in other words, and for future installments you can subsscribe to "You Must Learn" via iTunes, Stitcher, etc. Enjoy this one y'all!
Jeru The Damaja is an artist whose preachy style really needs booming production to manage to really grab your attention, but when the beats are right he can certainly hang with the best of them. That combination of high level hip hop production and Jeru's driving force vocals is again reached on "Solar Flares", his second collaboration with Large Professor. This is the lead single from an upcoming EP by The Damaja called "The Hammer" which will also include production by The Beatnuts, and PF Cuttin'; in other words something to really look forward to.
Also check out DJ Premier and Jeru discussing the creation of "Come Clean", a signature song for both of them and unquestionably one of the hardest tracks ever made @ DJ Premier Blog.. Shouts to Gim and Sajr!
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