THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999

Gangstarr Guru reminices on past, future

By Wes Woods

On-Line Forty-Niner

Legendary hip-hop duo Gangstarr has released six stellar albums since 1989, starting with "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

Guru and DJ Premier's last album, "Moment of Truth," went gold by selling 500,000 copies - a first for the group.

"I look at me and Premier as a [Karl] Malone or the [Michael] Jordan's of rap, a threat to the young cats," said Guru, a.k.a. Roxbury, Mass., born Keith Elam in a recent phone conversation.

The group's upcoming album is a greatest hits collection titled "Full Clip."

"It's a tribute to the fans," Guru said. "People come up to us all the time asking for this B-side song, or the song you did on such and such soundtrack. It's commemorating a decade of good music that Premier and I have made."

However, with the recent deaths of rappers Big L and Freaky Tah of the Lost Boyz, Guru said he feels some of the love has been taken out of the industry.

"It's saddening to me. There's a sickness in our society and it needs to be addressed or it will [only] get worse.

"Back then [in the late 1980s, early 1990s], there was more love for the art form," Guru explained. "There was still crime and violence, but the music was taking us away from it. The music was making something out of nothing. Now it's about the money, but I still feel blessed to do this music, even though there is a lot of tragedy."

Guru said he felt frustrated with the group's past record labels over their poor promotion of the group.

"Gangstarr is way more popular than our record sales," he said. "Virgin is doing a better job. But everywhere I go, someone knows me. I must be platinum. But we're a group with longevity. We're business oriented. We have more creative control and are more aware of what goes on in the industry." Guru had a watch, cell phone and jewelry stolen on Jan. 9, when four people followed him to a grocery store and beat him bloody, causing him to go to the hospital and get stitches. "I had my piece [gun] with me, but I wasn't going to use it," he said. [The mentality of the youth] needs to be addressed. [So] I address it [in my music]."

In fact, the name "Gangstarr" was started "because anyone can sit around with gangs and thugs telling war stories."

With an impressive catalog of albums to choose from, Guru said he felt 1990s "Step In The Arena" and "Moment of Truth" from 1998 were Gangstarr's best albums to date.

"'Step in the Arena' commemorates that whole area [of older hip-hop]," Guru said. "It had tight organization. When I think of that era, [Gangstarr was] tight, intelligent, insightful.

"'On Moment of Truth,' we're revisiting that attitude. The world is more f-- up, but [I] bet you can relate. I might start with something that's personal to me, but I'll write it universal. Like how I speak for [Premier and I], that makes [Gangstarr] special."

After its next album is released in 2000, Guru said Gangstarr will have one album left on its Virgin contract. Over his long career, Guru said he has learned that "there are four things you need to keep separate: money, music business, artist and personal life."