Guru's
GyraZZMATAZZ
For many who one out of
sync with her's fappening
on the street
jazz movement can be
traced back
Planets. However, true
faos of the best porctat
the sound originated else
where. Names Me Herte
Hancock and the warly
eighties hit "Rockies
Included fat Cacanches
come to mind, as deep
Quincy Jones Back on the
Block album featuring the
thyme skills of such rapper
as Ice-T and Big Daddy
Kone. Of course, the for
masters weren't the only
ones dabbling with a new
hybrid of sounds. Rap plo
nears Stetasonic sampled
boss line from Lonnie Liston
Smith on their smash Talkintoy
All That Jazz while the
wicked sak on LL Coul
now classic "Goin Back To
Cal" still shines
While traditional top pro
ducers cross the threshold
and incorporate z
ple in their work, no one,
with the exce of A
cry out, wie bugged out
samples reach deep cw
own complexities. He saw
this project as an opport
st
chan
The most difficult aspect
of this album was the mix-
soul, daring tonity to shoot my skills ang process. Knowing that
motional
pitter
background
Premier's gift is his ability to
with
take you to
anoth
gift
tor from this point on, will
Guna recently embarked
omen experimental blend-
ing of hip-hop and jazz
called Jazzmatar. The pro-
ject includes contributions
by such jeavies ar cum
little and work with some
really great people knew
I could learn from
The skills Guru speaks of
include the ability to put
together beats, sochething
he did long before teaming
up with Premier "When
hooked up with Premier ha
DJ mentality just went
off," he recalls, so I sat and
got mors lyrical"
On Jazzmatazz, Guru's
lyrics paint vivid slices of
that many will never expe
peter Donald Byrd-anrience with songs like Train
original member of Artsit Ride and Sights in The
Tribe Called Quer, can be
credited for melding the
two genres like Gangster
Their song Jazz Thing,
from Mo Better Bloos is
legendary Scine might
argue that the song paved
the way for the group's
heavy-handed use of jorr
beats on the subsequem
albums Step Into The pardist
Arena and Daily Operation
Although Gangstar is
noted for their ablley to
come off with intense, mes
sage-culated rhymes, it
definitely the mosis that
makes them stand out.
While Gangstarr tends
to be a stick to the baticy
kind of group, it's become
a misnomer that Premior,
being the D is solely
responsible for the group's
beats. Unbeknownst to
some, many of the group's
songs are to produced by
both Premiet nod Guru,
True, Frombers copliet in
his ability to manipulate
piece of win such a way
Blakey's Messengers
back in the fiftles, key
nie Liston
Smith and
brap
lead the
artists
dong
Tika Bra
the
helped
fusion
entiass
m players
Marsalis
Ronny Jordan, and the
honey coltedy aless of
N'De Dencion from The
Brand New Heavies
City." When Guru ventured
into the studio, the titles
provided the framework in
which to build the songs
After laying down the
thythm tracks, he brought
in the musicians so they
could do their thing. This
is where a lot of improviss
tion came in," he says. As
the person was playing, 1
just started getting lyrics,
whipping them out on
scrap paper. We had some
crazy interaction" he says
"We'd be in the control
room, and while Donald
was playing his track, I was
doing the rhyme. The only
reason we didn't record it
Growing up in Boston,
Gama was wonned on jazz
giants like Thelonious
Monk, Omette Coleman
and May Roach, to name as
Its Vihen it camp time to
produce his owri album,
Guni decided to incorpo-that way was because the
rate this older, more intri
cate music into contem-
that he can literally meritporary sound that had its
sound quality wouldn't be
as good as if we recorded
separately
his reputation was on the
line, Guru was intent on
making sure that eucharist
was prominent, as the cov
eted end beats loomed
in the background.
One purpose of this
project," says Guru, "is to
show some coming togeth
er of the generations Ifa
younger person can real-
ize that jazz is his culture
and respect hip-hop as
being one of the most
provocative styles ever
which it is, that's good/
From the studio to the
street, Gunz has stressed
that he's not on a crusade
or mission Jazzmatazzis
Just something wanted to
do," he says
For those that wonder
this is the beginning of the
end of Gangstarr, don't
count on
There are no
ego problems between.
mine say Gunu
No conflict over money
or of the other trou
bles that break-up groups
The next Gangstarr album,
which will be monk stripped
down and include a lot
tes jazz is scheduled for
release later this fall to the
meantime, follow Guru's
Isad and expand your mind
by feeding it from a plate
boering many fruits, and
Sounge
Rap Lady G
Baseball bats bash a
piñata pig in an LAPD
uniform till powdered
donuts spill from its
innards as bulging,
from the Mentors was)
set the stage for the
swilling brews with a show. "It's, basically all
few local punkers and in the lyrics," explains
talking about putting
Tony "John has a lot of
belform
12
pulsating band lays the
rhythm down, Three,
sweet back-up singers,
twin cartwheeling dan
cers, dual smashing
drummers, formidable
surgical guitar, preci
sion brass and a bass)
player that likes to
show his butt make up
a crazy commotion
called Cottom 12
It all began one night
on the infamous Sun
set Strip in Hollywood,
at the Coconut
Teazer El Duce
out his own TV show.
crazy stories that he
Remember Adam says when he's singing.
12 and all the good We have a song called
cops? queries gui
tarist Tony Tyrone
Thompson Well, El
Duce wants to do a
thing called Bottom
12. It would have all
the cops that give jay
walking tickets, eat
donuts and don't do
anything but just
harass people. So
that's where we got
the name, And plus.
we've always been big
Mentors fans,"
With of El Duce as
their spiritual advisor
and twelve members
in all, Bottom 12 as a
whole creates some
thing greater than
themselves. Crunchy
unrestrained wordplay
highlighted by reso
nant back-up vocals
Laughing At The Gas
Station, about some-
body who hates work-
ing at a gas station and
decides to go crazy
one day And then
another one is Trans
plant Man It's about
somebody who just
parties all the time
and ends up getting all
kinds of transplants:
liver, kidney, brain,
whatever."
A painfully
real account
of life in the
big city called
"The Boot"
will probably
be the band's
first hit single.)
"There's three
different stories in The
Boot explains Tony
One, you get the boot,
on your car. Two, you
get the boot from
your girlfriend And
the third one would
be that the Man gave
you the boot, you got
arrested and you got
a boot upside your
head."-Brian Brannon
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