10. Gang StarrStep In The Arena
I caught onto Gang Starr when Guru did ‘Words I Manifest’, but I didn’t know anything else. Then I was travelling to school with a friend and he pops in this tape and it was Step Into The Arena. Guru’s lyrics were just cold. When he played ‘Lovesick’, I didn’t expect a nice tune on a hip hop album.
Watching DJ Premier scratching in the video to ‘Who’s Gonna Take The Weight?’, how he set his turntable up and how smooth he is, those two were just an amazing, dynamic duo. Then I found out reading the credits to Biggie’s Ready To Die that Premier did production on there. Then another of my favourite artists, Lord Finesse, he also did production on there! When you pay attention to how the scratches are done, they give it away. Premier is just a phenomenal god.
I like scratching, but I never got into it. My first attempt was at a party back in ‘93 or ‘94 playing some hip hop joints. There was a guy from New York who asked me if I’d ever got into rampaging, which is scratch battles. He said from what he heard, I’d probably like it. But I never pursued it. If I didn’t have the drive to do it in the first place, why jump into it because I saw somebody else do it? I just respect people that do and their craft.
