Hard to Earn
On "ALONGWAYTOGO," the second track from Gang Starr'sHard to Earn, rapper Guru draws a line in the sand between the "counterfeit" and the "legit" and challenges the listener, "If you don't know what you're doing, how the hell can you be real?" He goes on to explain that being "real" means walking the streets with a pistol in your belt and no bodyguards, ready to rumble when you don't get your "props." What he never bothers to explain is why this macho "Shaft" fantasy is more real than earning a business degree at Morehouse College and becoming a jazz fan (which is what Guru did in his earlier life as Keith Elam). Outflanked on the hip-hop/jazz front by Digable Planets and Us3, Gang Starr try to reestablish their hardcore credentials with an album that finds Guru rapping about sucker MCs and pistol-packing homeboys while Premier loops funky but repetitive beats behind him.--Geoffrey Himes