jeru the damaja ArchivesAmbrosia For Heads

Who Had The Best Rap Album Of 2019 (Championship Round): Freddie Gibbs & Madlib vs. Gang Starr

Over the last couple of years, Ambrosia For Heads has asked our readers to help us determine the Best Rap Album for 2017 and 2018, respectively. In looking at the top music of 2019, we believe that instead of letting the Grammy Awards—a committee who does not know anything about... Read more

January 24, 2020 Best Albums Of 2019

Who Had The Best Rap Album Of 2019 (Battle 3): Gang Starr vs. Murs & 9th Wonder

Over the last couple of years, Ambrosia For Heads has asked our readers to help us determine the Best Rap Album for 2017 and 2018, respectively. In looking at the top music of 2019, we believe that instead of letting the Grammy Awards—a committee who does not know anything about... Read more

January 11, 2020 Best Albums Of 2019

DJ Premier Details The Secret Battle Of The Beats He Had With RZA (Video)

Who is Hip-Hop's greatest producer of all-time? It's a question that has generated endless debate, over the years. In 2017, Ambrosia For Heads hosted a discussion among millions of readers, and let them decide by voting in an NCAA-style round robin tournament. DJ Premier emerged the victor in a 32-contender... Read more

November 2, 2019 Video

Gang Starr’s Album Is Here & It’s One Of The Best Yet (Audio)

Less than six weeks ago, Hip-Hop Heads suddenly learned that a Gang Starr album was on its way. DJ Premier had spent more than a year producing songs around previously unreleased vocals from his longtime creative partner, Guru. The MC/producer had passed away in 2010, nearly seven years removed from... Read more

November 1, 2019 Audio

Gang Starr Has An Album Coming & Their New Song Is Classic Material (Audio)

Gang Starr's legacy is everlasting. What Guru and DJ Premier assembled more than 30 years ago has influenced and informed Hip-Hop culture. In early 2010, the group's creator, Keith "Guru" Elam passed away from cancer in a New York City hospital. At the time, it had been more than six... Read more

October 18, 2019 Audio, News

Jeru The Damaja Returns With A Message That’s Right On The Money (Video)

Twenty-five years to the month after unveiling his acclaimed debut album, The Sun Rises In The East, Jeru The Damaja has returned with a critically potent message for the masses in a new track titled “Harriet Tubman." Never timid to recount social, political, and worldly malpractice throughout his career, the... Read more

May 29, 2019 Video

In 1997, Jeru Rapped For The Love Of Hip-Hop, Not The Paper

In the mid-1990s, Brooklyn, New York was steadily delivering legions of the lyricists to the Hip-Hop masses. From seemingly every section of the borough, representing just about every style of Rap, names like Biggie Smalls, Busta Rhymes, GZA, Buckshot Shorty, JAY-Z, RZA, M.O.P., Foxy Brown, Non-Phixion, AZ, East Flatbush Project,... Read more

May 2, 2019 Do Remember

Jonah Hill’s Top 5 MCs Shows He’s A True ’90s Hip-Hop Head (Video)

Jonah Hill is an Oscar-nominated actor whose career in film almost began behind the camera. Instead, appearances in comedies like Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Pineapple Express blazed a path that led him to become one of his generation's most sought-after comedic actors. Turns in dramatic roles for Moneyball and The Wolf Of Wall... Read more

October 18, 2018 TV/Film, Video

DJ Premier Says He & Pete Rock May Be Exclusively Producing De La Soul’s Next Album (Video)

DJ Premier has had one of his busiest years in recent memory. The Gang Starr member released and produced albums by MC Eiht and Torii Wolf. He just followed those efforts with a video collaboration with A$AP Ferg, helping relaunch '90s Hip-Hop source Payday Records. Preemo is the latest guest... Read more

December 11, 2017 News, Video

All Eyez On The Score: A Breakdown Of The Beef Between Tupac & The Fugees (Video)

On February 13, 1996, two of the biggest, and best-selling Hip-Hop albums of all time were released. That Tuesday, Tupac Shakur made his Death Row Records debut with double LP All Eyez On Me. The Fugees followed a tepid response to 1994's Blunted On Reality with a critical and commercial... Read more

November 25, 2017 Exclusive, TBD, Video

The 1st Rhyme Masta Killa Ever Wrote Was For Wu-Tang Clan’s 36 Chambers (Video)

Masta Killa made a last minute debut on a Rap classic: Wu-Tang Clan's Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). What Heads may not realize is that was the Brooklyn, New York MC's first rhyme and his first time in the studio. Having described himself as the "little brother" within the Clan,... Read more

August 8, 2017 Exclusive, Now You See Me, Video

Kxng Crooked Freestyles On Jeru The Damaja’s “Come Clean” And Does It Dirty (Video)

Kxng Crooked is a monster. There's no other way to say it. For more than 20 years, the MC formerly known as Crooked I has done things that are absolutely grisly to microphones. Whether as a Death Row records artist who never had the opportunity to release a project or... Read more

April 11, 2017 Video

20 Years Later Here Are So Many Things About Biggie Smalls You Didn’t Know

Twenty years ago today (March 9, 1997), Hip-Hop lost a true king when Biggie Smalls died. The MC also known as The Notorious B.I.G. had risen to form in less than five years, after making early appearances beside Heavy D, Mary J. Blige, and Super Cat. By the time Biggie... Read more

March 9, 2017 Food for Thought, Video

Finding The GOAT Producer: DJ Premier vs. Rick Rubin. Who Is Better?

“Finding the GOAT Producer,” the third installment of Ambrosia For Heads’s annual battle series features Hip-Hop’s greatest producers vying for the #1 spot. Thirty producers were pre-selected by a panel of experts, and two slots will be reserved for wild-card entries, including the possibility for write-in candidates, to ensure no... Read more

February 14, 2017 Finding the GOAT

Blahzay Blahzay Still Sounds Great From The East…To The West (Video)

In 1996, Hip-Hop was in the middle of a shift, especially in New York City. The rugged, construction boot days were yielding to the shiny suits. Just as the Big Apple's reigning Rap star The Notorious B.I.G. had transformed from an "Unbelievable" entrance to a "Get Money" mantra involving Cristal,... Read more

February 2, 2017 Do Remember

Jeru The Damaja, Big Shug & Afu-Ra Stand Tall On The Gang Starr Foundation (Video)

Tragically, at the time of Guru's 2010 death, Gang Starr had not been a unit in more than five years. Guru and DJ Premier had pursued solo ventures, putting their legendary Hip-Hop group indefinitely on hiatus. At that same time, it had been years since the attached Gang Starr Foundation... Read more

October 25, 2016 Video

This Ghostface, Cappadonna & Jeru Freestyle From 1996 Still Does Damage (Audio)

In the mid-90s, there were few more dominant crews in Hip-Hop than Wu-Tang Clan and Gang Starr Foundation. Unlike today, however, where it's more common than not to have guest artists on tracks, in that era crews stayed more self-contained and collaborations outside of the collectives were more rare. As... Read more

September 1, 2016 Audio, Throwback, Throwback

Jeru The Damaja, Afu-Ra & Big Shug Show the Gang Starr Foundation Is Solid (Audio)

It has been more than five years since Gang Starr's Keith "Guru" Elam passed away. Today (July 17) would have been the MC's 54th birthday. While DJ Premier continues to wave the Gang Starr flag in his recent work with affiliates such as Bumpy Knuckles, D.I.T.C., and Dilated Peoples, the... Read more

July 17, 2016 Audio

Press Play On Jeru The Damaja’s 1991-1992 Guru-Produced Demo (Audio)

Jeru The Damaja emerged as one of—if not the biggest star of the Gang Starr Foundation. The Brooklyn, New York MC would sign with Guru's Ill Kid Records in the early 1990s, before releasing acclaimed DJ Premier-produced albums The Sun Rises In The East and Wrath Of The Math. Both... Read more

February 3, 2016 Throwback

Ever Hear When Ghostface Killah, Jeru The Damaja & Cappadonna Blazed Freestyles Together? (Audio)

Wu-Tang Clan and Gang Starr Foundation appeared to run in different circles in the late 1990s. While RZA and DJ Premier reportedly go back to the Prince Rakeem days, Gang Starr only worked with Inspectah Deck by Y2K (care of "Above The Clouds"). That does not mean, however, that two... Read more

January 2, 2016 Throwback

Nas, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, MC Eiht & More Appear On Mr. Magic’s ’94 Mix (Audio)

John “Mr. Magic” Rivas will forever be respected as a radio pioneer who introduced Rap to the masses. In 1981, "Mr. Magic's Rap Attack" became the first ever exclusive Rap radio show to premiere on a major station (WHBI) and its historic impact on the music industry can still be... Read more

May 30, 2015 Throwback

Finding the GOAT: Pick Yet Another ’90s Great Wild Card For Round 2?

As we continue the ultimate battle for the title of the GOAT (Greatest of All-Time), we are asking you to help us rank who is the greatest MC to pick up a mic. We will take over 35 years of Hip-Hop into consideration, pairing special match-ups in a sequence not... Read more

December 20, 2014 Fresh

Giveaway: Gang Starr’s Daily Operation Vinyl LP (Respect The Classics Reissue)

AFH is proud to offer one of our Heads a vinyl LP copy of Gang Starr's Daily Operation. Reissued as part of UMe's "Respect The Classics" series, the 2014 version includes a 3D cover of the artwork prominently featuring the late Guru, DJ Premier, and a symbolic portrait of Malcolm... Read more

November 13, 2014 Fresh, Throwback

Jeru The Damaja Tells the Story of the Making of The Sun Rises in the East (Audio)

Today (5/24), marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Jeru The Damaja's album The Sun Rises in the East. Here's a super dope podcast, by Up North Trips, featuring Jeru, himself, narrating the stories behind the making of the album, track by track. Check out the podcast below and... Read more

May 24, 2014 Audio, Throwback

Remember Ron G Blend Tapes? Marsha Ambrosius Must, As She Combines Jeru With Sade (Video)

If you're a Hip-Hop Head, one R&B singer you have to love is Marsha Ambrosius. Since her days with Floetry on into her with Dr. Dre and Aftermath Entertainment, the U.K. crooner has demonstrated elite taste in making palpable Soul music with a B-Girl's edge. Her skills lead the way,... Read more

February 14, 2014 Fresh, Video

Joell Ortiz – You Can’t Stop the Prophet

The cats from Slaughterhouse have been taking their name really seriously lately. They've dropped several hot joints as a collective lately and Joell Ortiz is keeping the momentum going on the solo tip. Check out how he murders the track for the remix to Jeru tha Damaja's classic You Can't... Read more

March 1, 2012 Audio, The Bridge, Throwback

This week’s playlist is the first in a series dedicated to the greatest producers in hip-hop. First up is the legendary DJ Premier.

Primo burst onto the national scene more than 23 years ago and has been a hip-hop staple ever since. He represents guaranteed credibility for any project he touches and has often been the go-to guy for the greatest rappers in the game. You know what to expect: Biggie, Nas, Jay-Z,... Read more

March 11, 2011 Audio, Playlists