Gang Starr’s ‘Hard to Earn’ Turns 30
A TIDAL staffer revisits the ’94 classic that made him a hip-hop head.
by Jesús Triviño Alarcón
My late 4’11” immigrant mami hated Gang Starr. Her ire was so epic that she took a hammer to my “Mass Appeal” maxi-single. Destroyed it. I loved Gang Starr, and that maxi-single was one of the first cassettes I bought with my own money. But my mom, a lover of salsa, cumbia and boleros, didn’t understand hip-hop. And she couldn’t comprehend the hold an MC from Boston (Guru) and a producer/DJ from Prairie View, Texas (DJ Premier), could have over me and other kids growing up in the hood.
I didn’t let my mother smashing “Mass Appeal” to bits deter me from buying their album, Hard to Earn, which turns 30 today. It started with the album cover — a red so threatening it might as well have been from a poster for a Friday the 13th film. The duo sitting quietly, simmering in thought, a commanding presence … and above all, cool.
On the LP’s first full track, “ALONGWAYTOGO,” the samples (Q-Tip! Richard Pryor!) knock you over the head. And if Premier’s immaculate vinyl selection didn’t envelop you, then Guru’s monotone voice did the trick. The chorus goes, “It’s a long way to go when you don’t know where you’re going / You don’t know where you’re going when you’re lost.” Yes, this was gangsta rap, but gangsta rap with a conscience.
Of course, the singles — “Mass Appeal,” and the forever NYC summer anthem, “DWYCK” — are etched in every hip-hop head’s memory. But let’s first discuss “Speak Ya Clout.” Perhaps the first time one hip-hop song had three different beats with three different MCs. It might be routine for a Travis Scott cut today, but Premier did it first in ’94. Jeru the Damaja, hot off his 1993 debut single, “Come Clean,” rips through with his unique East New York flow of hard-rock sophistication. Next up to bat is Group Home member Lil’ Dap, with a mischievous smack-the-taste-outcha-mouth rap. Ending the treacherous trifecta is Gifted Unlimited. Yet the story of “Speak Ya Clout” is DJ Premier. Yes, the three MCs talked that talk, but it’s Preemo who handpicked samples from Quincy Jones, Weather Report, Banbarra, Caesar Frazier and Graham Central Station to create a boom-bap masterpiece.
On “Mass Appeal,” it returns to just Guru and Premier riffing off each other. Over a Vic Juris sample, Guru delivers one of Gang Starr’s codes: “’Cause I be kickin’ the real / While they be losin’ the race, tryin’ to chase mass appeal.” They didn’t make music for the masses. They made music for you — the hip-hop head. The ones ridin’ since Daily Operation. So they’ll never lose. Because they got us.
They did, however, gain new fans with one of their biggest songs, “DWYCK,” featuring the jovial, silky duo Nice & Smooth. “DWYCK” has a couple of meanings, but we also know it describes New Yawk City in the summer, down to the bodega cat and quarter drinks. Even though Guru and Preemo weren’t from my beloved Brooklyn, NY, they’re partially responsible for creating that borough’s hip-hop sound.
Unbeknownst to my mom (que descanse en paz), Gang Starr sparked my love of hip-hop, a culture that would allow me to begin my career as a journalist. She feared it was leading me down the wrong path, but it was really leading me to my calling. For this, and much more, I am forever indebted to Chris Martin and, rest in peace, Keith Elam.
