HELLO GOODBYE
They were a partnership made in hip-hop heaven. Then a sudden schism stopped the flow.
As DJ and MC teams go, Gang Starr were the meanest and the cleanest. DJ Premier remembers the beginning and end of the adventure.
HELLO 1988
When I first met Guru it was ’87. I was in a different group. The MC’s name was Top-Ski [Premier went under Waxmaster C at the time]. We wanted to get a record deal in New York and we did a demo on a 4-track machine. [Rap label] Wild Pitch heard it and they didn’t really like the MC but they liked me. I refused to leave him, and they were like, well, if anything changes we would love you to be here in Gang Starr. I’d met Guru at a party, and he’s like, “I heard the demo tape, it’s really good,” and I said, “I love y’all’s new single [Believe Dat!].”
Time goes by and [Top-Ski] got frustrated. We were living in our college buddies’ parents’ basement in Brooklyn, and the next thing you know, one Saturday morning a recruiting officer’s ringing the bell, saying, “Hey, where’s Theodore Campbell, he’s enlisted for the navy.” I was like, I’m not waiting for four years. So I called Stu [Fine] at Wild Pitch and said I’m available. Guru’s like, “I still want you in the group. If you produce, I’ll give you 50 per cent of the money” – I’m like, “What does a producer do? I’m gonna get nice on that.” So I was the third generation of Gang Starr – they’d originated in Boston, but by then Guru was carrying on Gang Starr by himself.
We totally clicked. He was rolling a blunt and already, that’s a bond. We all smoke weed. We loved a drink, we loved girls, we had a lot in common. And we liked the same stuff. As you get to know each other, and live with each other, things pan out in a different way. Drunk nights in a good mood, he’s great. Drunk nights when he’s angry, he’s not going to let up for maybe 24 hours, and you’ve got to live with the noise, the breaking of the glass, and it’s, “Would you stop breaking shit, motherfucker?” “Fuck you!” “And fuck you too!” Next day we’re both sweeping up broken glass, and it’s, “You know I love you, let’s go out tonight.” We went though ups and downs, like brothers.
GOODBYE EARLY 2004
We finished [2003 LP] The Ownerz tour in Australia in 2004, and I said, “We’ll start focusing on our next album soon.” The world famous D&D Studio went out of business, and when we got back from the tour I was able to put some money together to reopen it. I told Guru we were gonna renovate the place, and he was like, great. He came with his business manager – the one we don’t get on with [AKA Solar].
The next day I get a strange e-mail, saying, “I will never come there, I hate that place” – I was like, what the hell? He was just here yesterday and everything was cool. I was like, you’re trippin’, all of our albums sounded amazing, and all of a sudden you never liked this place? He said, “Well you can mix it there but we’re gonna record where I say we’re gonna record,” with that type of forceful attitude. It was by e-mail, and I was like, “Yo, get on the phone.” He’s like, “I’m not talking to you.” The next thing you know, no more contact. Why did he do it? Guru loved the spotlight, I love the recognition. He’s the kind of person, you’ve got to assure him, “Yo dude, you’re the shit too. Believe it, you’re one of the dopest ever.” I figured that’s what the guy [Solar] did.
I knew there was gonna be a time when we would sit down and get to it, 100 per cent. Then one day I heard he had a heart attack. I called Guru’s father, and he said he’d had a cardiac arrest, he’d had an asthma attack during surgery and they had to induce him into a coma. He never regained consciousness. I had to sneak my way into the hospital to finally see him. I think he knew I was there – your soul and your mind and your spirit takes it in. Less than a month later, he was gone [Guru died on April 19, 2010].
My closure was to at least get another album done, the way the fans I know wished they would get it [One Of The Best Yet uses Guru vocals with new DJ Premier productions]. The family gave me some of the ashes, and I felt like with that in the room, he’s right there in the session. Big-time. I didn’t have to do this. It’s something I wanted to do.
One Of The Best Yet is out now on Gang Starr Enterprises.
“Next day we’re both sweeping up broken glass.” DJ PREMIER