Luyện nghe bài hát Interview With Adisa Banjoko

Adisa Banjoko: I'm chillin' right now with Keithy E from Starr. On some stoop in San Francisco
Guru: Word. They also me the Guru. Guru stands for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal. I got my homeboys in the house from Fillmore. Jugga D, Big T, Funkenlien is in the house
AB: Why'd [Gang Starr] leave Pitch Records?
G: We just more space to do our stuff. They had me kinda frustrated, as far as creativity. I did not want a mansion and a limo to take me everywhere. But I did want my own space to create more
I wanted to be able to not take the train and have people pointing at me. I did not want to have to go to a nine-to-five job. When we had two videos out, the "Positivity" video and "[Words I] Manifest," I was still working. I was working with kids through New York City
AB: I always noticed a heavy Jazz influence in your music, from day one. Is that influence more you or more Premier?
G: Both really. [DJ] Premier's grandfather used to be in a Jazz band. When he was first getting Rap, he used to tell him, "Yo, it's the same thing. It's just another expression of the street." With me, my godfather was a heavy Jazz buff. He was a Hi-Fi fanatic. He would buy the top of the line, Carver stuff. If I was with my friends and I needed some money or something, I'd pass by his house. He'd grab the whole posse and say, "Sit down and listen." He'd sit us in between two big ass speakers, as tall as the next man. It would sound like you could hear every instrument
AB: So, how did doing Jazz with Spike Lee happen?
G: He saw the "Manifest" video. Then he went and got our LP, No More Mr. Nice Guy and he heard a song on there called "Jazz Music." That was a tribute. He was working on Mo' Betta Blues already. He wanted a song like that, but more in depth. He hooked us up with Branford Marsalis. He is Louisiana, but he was living in Brooklyn. He tracked us down through our management
What was cool was he was not like, "I'm Branford Marsalis The Jazz artist. You guys are just rappers." He did not have any attitude. He was not like, "I'm a musician and you are not." He had already played sax on Enemy's [Fear of a Black Planet] album. He had a 3rd Bass tape
We hipped him to the underground. We talked about how some artists be actin' funny wit the ego shit. He was like, "The same happens in Jazz. They be fightin' at the shows."
AB: I tripped off how in the Jazz Thing that Miles Davis was not mentioned. I heard the reason was that somebody in the Marsalis did not get along with Miles and that they may have influenced you to leave him out. Is that true? To leave him out is like to leave Rakim out of Hip Hop. So, I had to ask...
G: No. I heard about that bullshit. It was just what happened. I meant to say what's up to L.O.N.S. of the New School] on [Step Into The Arena]. It wasn't a diss move at all
AB: So who does Gang listen to?
G: I listen to slow jams from the old days. I listen to the new school slow jams to. I chill with my crew in an '86 Cadillac—it isn't no new one. We just chill. because I don't rhyme with all the curses and what they call "Gangster Rap," I don't feel I have to talk about it because I been through a lot of it. All that does not impress a real person who has been through it
AB: Who do you listen to in Hip
G: It started with the old school. A lot of rappers be tryin' to act like the old school does not matter. I give credit where credit is due. Like the old school movies like Wild Style. They had my man Busy Bee in there rockin' the mic. He a big B on the bed at his hotel with the dollars he made at the show! I listen to "Double Trouble." Run-DMC, they changed the format. Kool G Rap - the first original gangster style, ever. You talkin' about Gangster Rap. You over here talking about, "We did this, we stole this from the next man." He ain't tryin' to hear all that! His lyrics, and the way he displays his lyrics show that. He has a lisp like my man [Erick Sermon] in EPMD. It does not matter, look at his styles and the way he flips his lyrics
People often ask me what I think of N.W.A. "since you're positive." If I was "Mr. Positive," I'd say "Let's all hold hands." But I don't rhyme like that. I write about street shit, but in a different way. All I say is that they are another voice. Rap is an expression of Black urban life today. Life. It's just an expression
AB: I notice you did not swear on Step in the Arena. Was a conscious decision?
G: No. I mean, say a "shit" or a "fuck" if I want to. There was one on "Who's Gonna Take the Weight," and one on "Step in the Arena."

AB: Who was that at the of "Who's Gonna Take the Weight"?
G: I don't know. He was introducing [Minister Louis] Farrakhan, but I'm forgetting his name right now. But can I about something? Can I talk about religion?
Since I did "Manifest," everybody was asking me if I was Five Percent of Gods and Earths] like groups like Brand Nubian, Rakim, King Sun, Poor Righteous Teachers. I love what all them brothas are doing. But I'll put it to you like this: A lot of my boys are [Five Percenters], I know a lot of people that are. But I do not practice that doctrine. I do know one thing. When the brother that started it [Clarence 13 X] went out into the streets and started this kind of stuff in New York, this stuff was mainly in New York. They call Jersey "New Jerusalem," Brooklyn is "Medina," "Mecca" is Harlem, Queens was ummm

AB: "Divine Land"?
G: That's the projects where Poor Righteous Teachers are from. But I was up on it. The brotha did that so that the could change. Tryin' to have self-esteem. If you feel like you got your knowledge of self together, then give it to the next man
Brothas get divided. "Oh, you this kinda Muslim, you that Muslim." They got more than six types of Muslims! Christians don't want to talk to Muslims. Buddhists are spiritual people too. They may not believe in God the way someone else might see it. But it's a mystic law that means being a good person and what you do comes back on you! All of that is to say that I support all of that. I support anything that uplifts the humanity and uplifts the black man. Don't trip on what I am or anything like that
That's why I'm called the Guru. My sister's Buddhist, my cousin is Muslim. They got me outta a lot of trouble when I was wildin' when I was younger. brought Islam to me. They brought that to me to get me on the right path
Then I studied a bunch of other to. So, that's why I call myself the Guru
When I went to Morehouse College in Atlanta, I had one of the profound religious teachers, Dr. [Lawrence] Carter. He taught us about all the religions of the world, and how we're separated over silly superficial reasons