"To me the title Street Soul is even more focused than calling it 'Volume Three,'" says Guru of the latest installment of his popular Jazzmatazz series. "I didn't want to call it 'Volume Three' and date it. I wanted to define it."
To that end, the eclectic Gang Starr rapper recruited an impressive lineup of talented friends -- including Macy Gray, Erykah Badu, Donell Jones, the Roots, Les Nubians, Herbie Hancock and more -- and embraced his soulful side, following two successful Jazzmatazz albums melding the worlds of hip-hop and jazz. The songs on Street Soul range from "Night Vision," the moody, "Shaft"-esque collaboration with Isaac Hayes, to the playful "Plenty," which finds Badu doing her best scat vocal.
Although the Jazzmatazz series is primarily a vehicle for Guru to pay respect to his musical ancestry and work with his peers, his distinctive raps still convey very personal messages, as on "Keep Your Worries." In the song, which features a sultry refrain from Angie Stone, Guru delivers a message to both his admirers and those that would disrespect him when he says, "Peace to those I get along with/My real niggers I'm strong with and never get me twisted with no whack shit/And all that foolishness you was kicking, I know you wanna take it back."
When Guru, who's been a part of the rap scene with Gang Starr (along with his partner, producer DJ Premier) since 1988, calls on young rappers to show respect to their elders, he knows of what he speaks. That doesn't mean though that he doesn't have the same admiration for the young lions of hip-hop. And because of his appreciation for music young and old, he has taken it upon himself to educate music fans of all ages. "I feel like because of the era that I was introduced to all this, I'm the go-between," he says. "And I'm cool with that. It's for me to let older people know hip-hop is not about violent noise, and to let young people know that jazz, soul, R&B, funk and doo-wop are all part of their culture."
Guru sees himself as an educator of sorts, a role he takes very seriously. His teaching took a personal turn this year with the birth of his first son. Keith Casim Elam was born July 30, shortly after Guru cut the track "Guidance" with the help of sax player Donald Harrison and vocalist Amel Larrieux. Guru said of "Guidance" before his son was born: "It's dedicated to my unborn son. I'm telling him what to look out for in the song."
Guru's honesty in the song is particularly moving when he confronts aging, an issue rarely dealt with in the genre. Against the backdrop of a soft, jazzy hook, Guru says, "My life has changed now, plus I got a shorty now/Mad responsibilities, it's like I'm almost forty now/All the young girls wanna swing/My wife, she says she wants a ring/I wonder what the next days are gonna bring."
Rock & roll, once exclusively the domain of the young, finally opened its doors to those over forty when some of the genre's greatest legends hit the milestone (and have since gone way beyond it). Hip-hop however has yet to see its early leaders mature and stay relevant (LL Cool J, whose first hit came fifteen years ago, recently saw his new album, G.O.A.T., debut at No. 1 -- but he is still only thirty-two years-old). Guru is aware that hip-hop has been predominantly the domain of the young. But because Gang Starr has just started to receive the credit due them (their last two albums went gold), he says their edge remains strong.
"Even though I've been in this industry a long time, I'm still hungry and still coming with that fire," he says. "I rhyme a lot with a lot of young cats, I keep my skills up to par and I listen to all the new stuff."
Constant collaboration is part of what keeps the fire burning for him. He says putting an album like Street Soul together not only maintains the freshness of music for him, it tightens the bond between himself and Premier. "It's like you got a tree with the roots," he says. "Gang Starr is the root of the tree, then the tree starts to grow and we branch off and do separate projects, but it's all part of the tree. And it strengthens the tree itself, so it's bringing extra life to the roots."
While Jazzmatazz may not be a Gang Starr project, Guru says that at the end of the day the one opinion that matters most to him is Premier's. "Premier wouldn't want to work with an artist who I thought was whack, 'cause it reflects me indirectly," he says. "And it's the same for me. I wouldn't want to put out something where someone would go back to Primo and said, 'Yo, your boy came out with . . .' It's like family, for lack of a better word."
Guru is confident that in Street Soul he's done Premier proud. "I keep telling him, 'Wait 'til you hear this,'" he says laughing. "He's gonna be proud of me. And that's a good feeling to be at the point where I'm really confident about my own production."
STEVE BALTIN
(October 7, 2000)