Day: July 11, 2007

By Daniel B. Honigman
Rating: 3 (out of 5)

There are very few acts in hip-hop today that are really a throwback to its “Golden Age” of 1988-1992 (or even 93/94). While I wasn’t the biggest hip-hop head at the time (I was about five years old) I did a bit of catching up in my more formative years. But when I think of what was on the airwaves – and on The Box – those days, I think of Rakim, Tribe, De La, KRS-One and the early years of a duo comprised of a DJ named Premier and an emcee named Guru.

Hailing from Boston and Houston, Guru (Keith Elam) and DJ Premier (Chris Martin) each brought something special to the table: Guru brought his smooth, if not monotonic, lyrical approach to hip-hop, while Premier was a top-notch producer and DJ who incorporated a lot of funk, jazz and soul samples into his beats.

In its heyday, Gang Starr was one of the most influential and important duos and helped create the New York sound. The two inspired each other, pushing the genre to new heights.

On the side, Guru was keeping busy with his real passion, it seemed: finding a way to fuse hip-hop and jazz, a perfect supplement for Gang Starr fans. His first Jazzmatazz release in 1993 featured Branford Marsalis, Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Lonnie Smith.

Much like previous albums in the series, Guru’s guestlist for Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Vol. 4: Back to the Future (7 Grand/Koch), stays top-shelf. Hip-hop’s Common, Blackalicious and Slum Village rub shoulders with jazz and R&B VIPs like David Sanborn, Ronnie Laws and Vivian Green. On the first Jazzmatazz album, Guru held his own with the jazz greats. Unfortunately, the quality cameos this time around overshadow Guru, who barely skates by.

His partner in crime, the New York-based DJ Solar, is charged, along with Guru with the difficult task of finding a way to combine hip-hop and jazz. Unfortunately, they fall flat on most of the album, giving plenty of “matazz,” but not too much jazz. (Hardy har-har.) In fact, Guru and Solar fail to really connect the two until the last track, Living Legend, which features a turbo-charged alto sax performance from Sanborn. And instead of closing the album on a high note, it makes one wonder about what could have been.

Case and point, State of Clarity, which features Common and Bob James. Guru is clearly outshined on this track, and Common is more Guru than it seems Guru can be: “My mind blows decisions/at times indecisive/you think about the paradox that life is/keep my head to the sky/and understand where Christ is/turn off the news/’cause every day is a crisis/lifeless, on the couch weeded out/ a certain type of n***a in my life I weeded out/I believe in the route of soul before paper/no gold before labor/truth told with no blazers.”

This album doesn’t feature the hard-hitting rhymes (You Know My Steez, Take It Personal) or the adroit storytelling (Soliloquy of Chaos) we’re used to from Guru. But he’s all business on Fly Magnetic, the album’s best track, as he nonchalantly explains what would happen – check that, will happen – once your girl takes one look at him. This may be the best we’ve seen from Guru in a while: “Loving my charming wit/don’t want no part of this/no time for tricks/I’m in the mix like Spartacus/More like Hannibal/With thoughts like Confucius/sending her home to you/but I seen how it’s useless/I told her to back away/Left now she’s back today/thought you had her in check/Got my own chicks on deck.”

If you haven’t checked out any of the Jazzmatazz series before, you would be better served by starting from the beginning. Picking up this album now would be like tuning into “The Sopranos” just as Meadow walks into the diner in the series finale. This album’s worth checking out, at least given Guru’s track record. There’s enough here to groove to, but just don’t expect to be blown away.

(This review originally appeared on HipHopDX.com)

BY DANIEL B. HONIGMAN
Times Correspondent

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger may have hoped for a quieter return Tuesday, his first County Board meeting since he underwent surgery for prostate cancer.

But in the sweltering fifth floor of the Cook County building, about 200 county prosecutors staged a rally in and outside of the board meeting.

Holding signs that read “12.75 percent,” the prosecutors protested their latest salary offer. The number represented the raise Cook County public defenders received in a cost-of-living adjustment retroactive to 2004.

County prosecutors, on the other hand, were offered a 3 percent raise and a lump-sum payment of $1,000.

En route to the meeting, Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine received thunderous applause from the lawyers, who played hooky — albeit legally — to help sway the commissioners inside.

About two-thirds of the 520 prosecutors staffing Cook County’s felony courtrooms were expected to attend.

Dolton resident Dianne McCollough, one of the assistant state’s attorneys lined up outside Stroger’s office, remained “cautiously optimistic” that a deal could be reached.

“We’re just hoping to achieve parity with the Cook County public defenders,” she said.

The county would need about $8.7 million to pay the prosecutors and has identified several ways to pay for the raises, said 13th District County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston. One option includes the sale of a 300-acre parcel of land at Oak Forest Hospital, he said.

Fifth District County Commissioner Deborah Sims, D-Chicago, pointed out that vigilance and creativity will be needed if and when the money is found.

“Nobody wants to hear the three-letter word: tax,” Sims said, adding the situation is potentially a sticky one. “Money doesn’t fall out of the sky. We’re going to have to find ways to raise revenue.”

While some commissioners raised questions about how the full total would be raised, but 16th District County Commissioner Anthony Peraica, R-Westchester, stressed the importance of reaching an agreement.

“Just because the public defender’s office happens to be under the jurisdiction of (President Stroger) doesn’t mean they should get more money for comparable work than the state’s attorneys who prosecute these cases who are not under the president’s jurisdiction,” he said.

(NOTE: I contributed this to the Times of Northwest Indiana. You can check out the story on their Web site as well.)