I have to take a moment to wax nostalgic about the record store where I bought this CD, on release day, during the summer after I graduated high school. It was located in the Gum Springs shopping center, on Rte. 1 in Hybla Valley, close to my house in Mount Vernon VA. I do not remember what it was called, but I remember that it was independent & Black-owned & I went there every Tuesday after school to check out the new releases, because they had the good shit. I think most music heads who grew up when record stores were still a thing have warm memories of the ones they used to frequent, & this place was very important in the development of my tastes during that critical period of late adolescence. Like most indie record stores, it is long, long gone, but every time I'm up that way & happen to drive by there, I always pull into the parking lot to pay my respects.
By 2003, single-producer rap albums were almost as passé as emcee-DJ duos like Gang Starr. Since the group's last album, Guru had released 2 solo LPs: 1 entry in his Jazzmatazz series with a variety of beatmakers; & 1 that had 19 tracks made by 19 different producers. This was the fashion of the times, so a lot of people were surprised when Gang Starr delivered what would prove to be their final album to be released as a living duo. As opposed to the 71 minutes of Guru's last album, The Ownerz was a mean, less than an hour long, dose of pure Gang Starr magic, with an added layer of grime that suited the duo as they aged into undisputed OG status.
I'll make it simple & plain: for my money, DJ Premier is the best pure beatmaker of all time. Sure, there are other cats who rival him in the arena of well-rounded producerdom, but when it comes to sample-based boom-bap, nobody can touch his catalog or his seemingly intuitive skill. Play me a Preemo beat I've never heard before, & I can tell you who produced it within 5 seconds. In addition to his iconic vocal scratch choruses, Preemo always brings you drum loops with heavy swing, short MPC chops, & syncopated basslines that move with the loping swagger of the cockiest street player. This sounds like a simple formula that could get old fast, but part of his genius is the variety he is able to achieve with those limited ingredients. "Nice Girl, Wrong Place" is a good example: the saturated bass & skanky guitar samples are triggered in time with the kick drum rhythm. The chops are short & stabby, often abruptly switching to a different cut in the middle of a measure (he never disables the interrupt function on his MPC), giving the composition lots of room to breathe. That's another part of Preemo's genius: despite the layers of samples, it never becomes chaotic or noisy like a lot of NYC boom-bap producers do. The bounce is always chill. The abovementioned song is a standout, but so is every other damn beat on this album, so it's hard to pick highlights. The brilliance of the production shines even through the horrendously brickwalled master, which is loud enough to produce noticeable vocal clipping on songs like "Capture (Militia Pt. 3)." 2003 was not a good time for album mastering.
Gang Starr's other half, Guru, doesn't get nearly the flowers Preem does, but he's equally deserving of them. In the late '80s, his laid-back Rakim-esque delivery concealed finely honed rhyme writing. He was a master of 2 & 3-syllable rhymes with internal repetition, something the likes of Lord Finesse took inspiration from, & thereby influenced Big L. Guru always spoke with the detached semi-objectivity of a street-level observer. Although you knew he was a participant in the things he talked about, there was something so cool about him, like he was floating above the scenario, an attribute that was a major influence on emcees like Nas. Unfortunately, Guru was pretty free with the homophobic slurs. There are 6 on this album, 4 of which are out of Guru's mouth, on "Deadly Habitz," "Playtawin," & 2 on "Who Got Gunz." Another one comes courtesy of Billy Danze on the latter song, & also whoever yells the intro to "Peace of Mine," which is a shame because it features a nicely sinister beat with a moody bassy piano phrase reminiscent of Havoc's "Shook Ones Pt. 2." In listening back to a lot of rap albums from this era for this project, I haven't found as much flagrant homophobia as I was expecting--you'll get 1 or 2 slurs per album, usually casual & not about a specific person--but it's a bit more pervasive here than usual. It's not Vinnie Paz levels or anything, but Guru should have known better.
Guru's hood consciousness shows up in the dead prez-flavored "Riot Akt," where he describes the powder keg conditions of urban America with apocalyptic undertones, over a suitably ominous beat constructed from descending horn samples, & begging the listener to "Realize what it is to be oppressed & afflicted/Subjected to sick shit, knowing others live different." Another late-album highlight is the ethereal harps & electric pianos of "In This Life," complete with a great Snoop Dogg feature, even though he doesn't drop as much consciousness as you'd think. The best feature on the album, though, comes from the great Freddie Foxxx. I never owned any of his CDs so I won't get many chances to write about him in this series, but let it be known that Freddie has one of my favorite deliveries ever--almost comically testosterone-fueled but utterly convincing. His verse on "Capture (Militia Pt. 3)" might be his best verse ever: "Y'all know who wrote the bible in rap, for keeping it real/Y'all know who buck fifty your face, I'm keeping it Seal." Bumpy has the voice, the lyrics, the flow, & the uncompromising attitude. I'm tired of people leaving him out of the conversation.
Despite some questionable content, The Ownerz showcases 2 master craftsmen at pretty much the peak of their powers. So few legendary rap groups (or any other kind of group for that matter) get to go out on such a high note. I enjoyed the posthumous One of the Best Yet record that came out a few years ago, but as far as I'm concerned The Ownerz will always be Gang Starr's swansong.
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