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Gangstarr: Moment of Truth

Real Emcees and DJ's Are A Minority

1998 was a very hard time for hip hop. Corporate endeavors and shiny suits started taking over. The golden era passed and a new wave of new jacks flooded the scene with materialistic tales that have carried well over to the 21st century. Criminally, hip hop became the only industry to put an age limit on rappers. However, if sales reflected talent, than Gangstarr's 1998 masterpiece would have gone quadruple platinum.

Guru and Primo have never disappointed me, however, I don't know what they were smoking when they made 'Moment of Truth'. This was the album pure hip hop lovers fell in love with when the mass industry started to put numbers first, passion second. The album starts off with a bang on the single, "You Know My Steez,". Guru drops bombs over Primo's sinisterly relaxed beat. You could tell that Guru stepped his game up lyrically, especially over the sick piano keys on, "Work". The gifted ones talent is on full display with lines like, "Now I'ma start collectin props connectin plots/ networkin' like a conference 'cause the nonsense is yet to stop/ Jakes wanna shake me down, haters wanna take me down/ Break me down, CLAP all they heard was the sound/ Yo I scoped it out, I took your weak dream and choked it out/ Your girl ain't really got no a**, she just poked it out". Arguably, the best verse comes from a guest. Inspectah Deck committs verbal murder on the Asian sounding, "Above the Clouds". "JFK 2 Lax" is a personal favorite as Guru tells a heartfelt story of his run-ins with the law and proclaims he know he's a role model, where most rap artists would tell their fanbase not to follow them down the same path or something much more generic.

At 20 songs, the hits just keep on coming. To this day, I will forever be baffled why the title track never made the greatest hits cd. Guru's intropective lyrics on that are timeless and the beat is among Primo's best (nothing's seeing "Come Clean"). "What I'm Here 4" was my favorite, due to the classic piano loop which again complements the gifted one seamlessly. Krumbsnatcha nearly massacres "Make 'Em Pay" to the same effect that Inspectah Deck did with his verse. Another standout is "Next Time" with a catchy as hell horn loop where Guru knocks one dimensional emcees out the box.

'Moment of Truth' still sounds fresh to this day. It is one of the greatest, post golden era, hip hop records ever made. To end this review, peep the words of the Guru, "The objective, is to surely demolish/ The chances of the wack takin all the dollars/ Support the brothers who are truly gifted/ This way, the odds, could never be shifted"!