Gang Starr

Daily Operation's best tracks are sparse, gritty and undeniably urbane. Sure, there are still the touches of jazz here and there, but Premier was moving towards a sound that could only be classified as classic NYC hip-hop. Guru, for his part, is increasingly comfortable in his role as holy man on the hip-hop mountain, calling out wack emcees, corrupt governments and the false idolatry of commercialism. Though often moralistic, Guru's stories are also colored with finely detailed accounts of his Brooklyn habitat, and both Premier's production and Guru's lyrics are touched by a sadness that makes this album immediate and tangible.

Gang Starr's 1990 effort 'Step in the Arena' is a masterpiece – jazz and hip-hop soldered
together so cleanly that the line is invisible. Gang Starr's new album is, by comparison, a
smaller effort, less swift and slightly tinged with nihilism. But Daily Operation is hypnotic
and pensive – throbbing in a spare, intimate way. Daily Operation is, in fact, a remarkably
good sequel. Like Arena, it could easily be mistaken for a boastfest ("The Place... More >