GURU wouldn't be a legend without Premier? Very wrong, sir. If he made the Jazzmatazz series alone, he would still be regarded in a high status because he was the first to really marry the two genres of hip hop and jazz and do it well. GURU could've toured forever overseas just off the Jazzmatazz brand alone.
If Premier "made" GURU, then why didn't Group Home, Jeru, Big Shug, (the list goes on) become legends?
I disagree... and I think Guru would agree with you. Which why I think Gangstarr had a problem.
Group Home, Jeru, Big Shug and Guru would not exist without Primo.
Jazzmatazz would have never happened without the success Guru had from Gangstarr. And I don't think Guru's solo career was anywhere as close as to successful as his work with Primo as Gangstarr. And you can see that theme over and over again with the other acts he worked with that I just named off.
And this is why it is so clear to me why Gangstarr had a beef. It's not rocket science to me. You need an emcee to make your beat shine but an emcee is a pile of shit without a decent beat. Look at how many dope emcees get looked over because they don't have dope beats. Canibus. Chino XL. Rass Kass. Juice. Hell, you can be a super shitty emcee and blow up off a dope beat. Look at Soulja Boy. Group Home. Big Shug. Game.
Guru, Group Home and Jeru all had beefs with Primo at some point which is why they all split ways at some point. But without Primo, they had nowhere close to the same kind of success. Primo has said before in interviews that people he worked with did not appreciate what he did for them biting the hand that feeds them. Could be that Primo treated people like that and for good reason. I remember him saying in an interview in Remix magazine that a Producer has to pull the best performance out of the emcee he is working with. And sometimes that means asking them to do a verse over or something. And sometimes that can offend an emcee with an ego but you still have to do it because as a producer it is your job to make sure the song comes out as best as possible. Diddy said the same thing about working with LL once. Were LL got mad because Diddy asked him to redo something to fix it and LL got pissed that Diddy would have the audacity to suggest that LL, a legend, messed something up. I am speculating, but based on the fact that almost all the acts that Primo worked with excluding Shug, basically wanted to walk away from Primo after he put them on. Maybe they didn't like him having so much control over the creative process or something.
As far as the letter goes, the real story behind the breakup hasn't been put out there so it's all speculation. Premier could've done some really foul stuff for all we know.
I agree.
It is all speculation. But one can't help but speculate because this is huge news in Hip Hop.
It happens over and over again with all these duos. EMPD. Little Brother. Pete Rock and CL Smooth. Kobe and Shaq. No one likes to be under appreciated or seen as second in command. Especially and emcee. Because in every emcee's head that I know, THEY ARE NUMBER 1. Imagine lacing an emcee with a dope beat and he blows up and then acts like you had nothing to do with it. Well I am sure it works both ways. If a producer blows up and acts like the emcee had nothing to do with it, I am sure that would make the emcee mad too. But with Primo I can see how he could look at it that way (if he did indeed have a ego too.) Look at how many emcees he laced. You can easily place Primo in the top 10 off all time if not top 5 as a producer. Primo had huge success away from Gangstarr. Look at how many people he laced with classics. Nas. Jay-Z. Biggie. Big L. Now Guru didn't shrivel up and disappear but he didn't drop anything as close to ass hot as he did with Primo.
When one side feels and acts more important than the other, people start developing animosity towards one another. It is why I avoid working with people.
With all that said, I think it is even a moot point to debate because no matter what Guru says or Primo does, they will be forever locked together in the history of Hip Hop as one of the greatest emcee/producer duo's to ever have done it.
