Step In The Arena - Gang Starr

The Hip Hop duo Gang Starr released “Step In The Arena” in 1991. It was the second album from DJ Premier and Guru and it finds that just as on their debut, you get Primo taking full control of the beats and scratching whilst Keithy E. Guru gets the job done with the rhymes to show what the East Coast underground had to say following a up-rise of the West Coast.

1. “Name Tag” (Intro)

2. “Step In The Arena”

The ...
...things up, and I felt as though it was used perfectly in order o get the thing going as you see that ff one of the most memorable hooks, you hear that Guru takes things in the way that only he could with lots of frsh flows about just how he can get things done when put into such a setting.

**Five Stars**

3. “Form Of Intellect”

Working directly off a sample of KRS-One on a Boogie Down Productions track (from ... more

The Hip Hop duo Gang Starr released “Step In The Arena” in 1991. It was the second album from DJ Premier and Guru and it finds that just as on their debut, you get Primo taking full control of the beats and scratching whilst Keithy E. Guru gets the job done with the rhymes to show what the East Coast underground had to say following a up-rise of the West Coast.

1. “Name Tag” (Intro)

2. “Step In The Arena”

The titular track to the album is one which really hypes things up, and I felt as though it was used perfectly in order o get the thing going as you see that ff one of the most memorable hooks, you hear that Guru takes things in the way that only he could with lots of frsh flows about just how he can get things done when put into such a setting.

**Five Stars**

3. “Form Of Intellect”

Working directly off a sample of KRS-One on a Boogie Down Productions track (from their debut “Criminal Minded” release) this is one which keeps things flowing on the albumin order to create strong foundations for the album, and something fresh for the rest of the album to build of as the thing goes along and progresses.

**Four Stars**

4. “Execution Of A Chump”

Here you see that we have things taken in a different direction form the pair as they show that they have taken heavy influence by the newer trends in the Hip Hop world, especially when considering just how the Gangsta Ra game has caused the themes of Hip hop o have been affected significantly. Here I felt that Guru completely ripped it here, and it made for a banger as a result.

**Five Tsars**

5. “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight?”

This particular track was one of the most well-known singles to come off the album, and I felt that due to this it seems to lift the album and bring some life to it as you see that for one which has them getting into some hardcore Gangsta Rap on some fly synth as they take directly from a Kool & The Gang tune and bring it to a modern audience.

**Five Stars**

6. “Beyond Comprehension”

This is one which takes form the tune prior to it, and brings things down to a deep place, and I felt as though it really supported the album a a result as it reinforced the fact they can explore this thoroughly in order to come up with the goods. Here Guru talks of how well he can construct flows, and especially with the use of ‘hype lines’.

**Four Stars**

7. “Check The Technique”

Although I really liked this one, and generally it was one which you can’t ignore, due to the hardcore flows fro Guru, I felt that in this case the sample of “California Soul” (which is otherwise killer tune), was essentially used in completely the wrong way, and so it prevented things from really linking and coming together effectively.

**Four Stars**

8. “Lovesick”

I have to say that I wasn’t really into this one, and I felt tha by moving towards the love rap they undermined other things they have done in the past. This contrasts from how others who did the same sort of things as what they did around the time were capable of as Guru just doesn’t seem sincere enough in order to convey the emotions related to the piece.

**Two Stars**

9. “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” (Lude)

10. “Game Plan” (Lude)

11. “Take A Rest”

This is a track on the album which really stands out, and I believe that this is largely down to the funky samples chosen for it as amongst these, you find a snippet of “Rapper’s Delight” being used as the hook, and from here you see that Guru’s rhymes lift greatly, and I felt as though with this came much improved atmosphere as they just let loose and get down with it, and showed that they weren’t restricted in this album.

**Five Stars**

12. "What You Want This Time?"

Here you find one which, unlike earlier on the album has Guru turn his attention to girls, but go about it in a way which contrasts from the plain manner in which it was done on “Lovesick”, and finds it transformed here into something which you would expect from something such as a “Jane” track from EPMD.

**Four Stars**

13. “Street Ministry” (Lude)

14. “Just To Get A Rep”

Although just a short one, this is one of the key ones from the album, and one which really represents what this album has to offer as you see Primo coming up with one of his typical hooks by sampling classic Hip Hop (this time using a little Nice & Smooth), and form here you see one of the most socially-aware flows from The Guru.

**Five Stars**

15. “Say Your Prayers” (Lude)

16. “As I Read My S-A”

I wasn’t rally all that sure where Guru was going with this one but it sounded as though DJ Primo counteracted this by showing just how strong his skills at DJing are. In it you see Guru just picking apart MCing, but it has been done much better by many others over the years and so it doesn’t really do anything all that memorable.

**Three Stars**

17. “Precisely The Right Rhymes”

The record is lifted on this one as you see that in spite of the fact that the beats are made a lot more minimalistic by having it all stripped down to a simple drum loop which really made a shift to show the direction which East Coast underground Hip Hop would go in the next few years to follow. The rhymes suit this head-bobbing feel, and it made for a big one as a result.

**Five Stars**

18. “The Meaning Of The Name”

Bringing the album to a close we have one which has the two of them perform a track which I expect a lot of the fan would have liked to have form their first album as this one finds that they do one in which they clearly explain the meaning behind their collective name (especially when considering the immediate connotations of a Hip Hop act with a name such as this one). I felt tha tit was successful and complete.

**Four Stars**

I felt that although this album had a few weaker points within it, generally the album was worth a listen and shown how strong the Golden Age period was. I did however get annoyed by Guru’s blatant jacking of Rakim’s flow style on this album, and it uncovered how he wasn’t quite keeping up with expectations. Having the rack so short pretty much throughout meant that it wasn’t really flowing all that much, but overall the standards were high. 

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