46 thoughts on “Gang Starr’s Daily Operation – the first minimalist rap album”

  1. 1. Step in the Arena
    2. Moment of Truth
    3. Daily Operation
    4. Hard to Earn
    5. Full Clip (I know. Fuck you.)
    6. No More Mr. Nice Guy
    7. The Ownerz

  2. It’s always hard to pick my favorite Gangstarr album but I’d say Daily Operation is there finest hour

  3. I got to see them perform in Oakland a few months after this album dropped. Step in the Arena will always be my all time favorite Gang Starr album but Daily Operation came at the perfect time in my life. EVERY track was my favorite track at some point. I was kinda pissed that DWYCK wasn’t on the album though. I had it on the Take it Personal single but still.

  4. No Shame In My Game is favorite Gang Starr track of all time from a tremendous album.
    Great write up Robbie!

  5. Gang Starr albums were perfect for disc changers. Just load them all up and let it roll.

  6. So overlooked…that was Gangstarr in their prime! Primos loops were on point for that entire album. Always had this as their pinnacle but together with Step in the Arena and Hard to Earn solidified them as top 3 rapper/producer duo in the culture.

  7. Fave Gang Starr Albums:
    1) Moment of Truth
    2) Step in the areana
    3) Hard to earn
    4) Daily Operation
    5) No more Mister Nice guy
    6) The Ownerz

    Can’t pretend to be a huge fan of DO but that’s an interesting take.

  8. This was the first cd I boosted…..Full Success! …..cut that jawn out the cd longbox; slipped it between the belt and the boxers and I was out! To lift a cd of that caliber music quality is like racking paint bruh!!

    Sound Warehouse (90’s box chain) suck that dick!!!

  9. @Dino: Nice, our lists are pretty similar (you just like Hard to Earn and Moment of Truth a little bit more than me).

    Step in the Arena is THE Gang Starr album as far as I’m concerned, but Moment of Truth is also a masterpiece. It’s one of the top five albums of ’98, bottom line.

  10. I love No More Mr.Nice Guy the title track is ill as fuck I can’t get enough of that mama popcorn piano……

  11. This is a great opportunity to remind people that daily operation is one of the best albums ever in the history of recorded music.Also Guru was one of the best MC’s ever and still doesn’t really get his props

  12. When the topic of the best emcees of the era gets brought up Guru never gets mentioned but he carried six albums with minimum features. His style was simple maybe too simple in a time of gimmick styles but he shines 20 years later while the top seller’s albums are barely listenable.

  13. Guru was good within the context of the Gang Starr emcee-dj/producer unit.. Outside of that, he was not so good.

  14. Agreed. Preem made all these monotone voice guys sound great. Ever listen to a Jeru album after Wrath of the Math? Not only are the beats horrible, the entire records are end to end snoozers.

  15. Funny how DWYCK was the hottest party jam at that time. I think it also catapulted Greg Nice’s career as the go to guy to make a song hot.

    BTW. Daily Operation contains one of the nicest piano beats ever “92 Interlude”

  16. I used to like Gang Starr until DJ Premier dissed me on his radio station. Don’t get me wrong, I still find him attractive, but it’s hard to feel the same about someone you’re obsessed with after being humiliated that way. You really hurt me preem…

  17. It seems to me like there’s an age divide between those who favor Moment of Truth as their favorite Gangstarr album vs others.

    Maybe it’s a misconception by me. Post your age and favorite album, I’d be curious to see the results.

    Me: 42 yrs old
    1. Hard to Earn
    2. Daily Operation
    3. Moment of Truth
    4. Step in the Arena

  18. @ Steven Rockwell: I’m only a couple years younger than you and TMOT/SITA are my fave Gang Starr jawns by some considerable distance. HTE is good but could’ve been even better if it had featured material that was eaten up by soundtracks/compilations/singles. NMMN is Gang Starr’s “Word from the Genius.” Can’t stand TO as it not only features too many guests but it all sounds badly patched together from various studio sessions of varying sound quality. Can’t say why but DO flew under my radar at the time and never made a big impression on me since. I feel like we missed out on a ’96 Gang Starr album because Premier was giving all his best work to Jeru, Group Home ‘n em that year. I hope that we will one day find out how/why Guru became enthralled to DJ “Super producer” Solar and that Solar will get his comeuppance.

  19. surprised to see so many step in the arena fans. it’s my favorite by many miles, no other album of theirs even comes close. it’s earnest, challenging and free from the tough guy/street posturing on the follow ups. like a direct cross of PE and ultra with a lot all their own. after, it’s like “ex girl to the next” happened cause he got clowned for “love sick.” trying too hard to be hard after the arena. preemo was top form on the next 2 albums though.

  20. I’ll be 46 this year. My preferences would be:

    First four LPs, any order, followed by ‘Moment Of Truth’, and I generally don’t fuxx with ‘The Ownerz’.

  21. It took me YEARS to fully appreeciate Daily Operation. I liked it when it dropped but when Pete and CL dropped Mecca and the Soul Brother right after DO, Mecca had me hemmed up for like the next 6 months. Plus, Step In The Arena was so ill, with both Guru and Preme stepping it up from NMMNG. Moment Of Truth is my favorite but DO is top 3….

    btw Steven Rockwell, I’ll be 42 in a couple of days…

    Bboy!!! with the ill 5 finger discount, lol…

  22. ….BTW, The Ownerz might not be a classic but it’s a solid album.

    @Dino

    I see what you mean about the sound quality. Capture (Militia pt. 3) had just a hair too much treble in the snare…

  23. Moment of truth over Daily Op & Hard to Earn? U on ur Kanye West shit right now.

  24. Dudes doing Kany West shit here right now

    1 Step In The Arena
    2 Daily Operation
    3 Hard To Earn

    The others get in where they fit in.

  25. LOL at someone pretending to be me. I never got dissed by Premier on his Live From HQ show. Premier simply said I wasn’t a real music dude, and fact is he was/is RIGHT! I’m not. I’m a HipHop head. 98% of the music I listen to on a daily basis is HipHop and it’seems always been that way since the 80s. He told me that in regards to my negative comments towards all the beats with no drums. Anyways, Daily Operation is a masterpiece. It’s still my 3rd favorite Gang Starr album though. *shrugs*

  26. 1. step in the arena/daily operation
    2. moment of truth
    3. hard to earn

    imo, “hard to earn” is a lil bit overrated. yeah, there’s great tracks on this album, but 2 year old tracks like dwyck & now you’re mine interrupt the flow, plus big shug & melachi add nothing. seems like premier was more focused at jeru’s debut album at that time…

    lol at that wicked22 dude. if a musician/producer says you’re not a real music dude, it clearly means you don’t have a clue on music (including hip hop and rap music). it is what it is…*shrugs*

  28. Step in the arena … probably my favorite as its the first gangstarr album I owned…

    Then after that its like every year the duo would bless us with another classic. Perfectly suited for the year it came out.

    I eventually went back and got Mr nice guy -its good but my least favourite.

    When moment of truth came out I thought the cracks were starting to show but some months later grew to appreciate that album. Same with the owners – that would be the second least favorite. So :

    1 arena
    2 daily operation (so raw and casual sounding)
    3 hard to earn (2 +3 very hard to call. code of the streets what a dope single. )
    4 moment of truth
    5 ownerz (had moments but less cohesive)
    6 no more… (I think even in an interviewing guru said that one was more like a demo not the first true gangstarr album? Also not all premier I.e. 45 king etc…)

    And screw solar for ruining the legacy.

    Aight chill.

  29. Gang Starr’s music has aged beautifully, much better than the Premo-produced joints that came after their run. Maybe it’s because they’ve been overplayed but I’ll be happy if I never hear Nas Is Like, 10 crack commandments etc ever again but I can listen to Gang Starr records until I die. It’s never been Pemo carrying Guru or whatever I’ve been hearing that since the 90’s it’s time to give that nonsense a rest.

    Their creative process was unique too Guru would come up with titles then Premier would make beats and match them with the titles and then Guru would write the rhymes. I don’t think any other group created music using this method

  30. @ Oskamadison: (re TO’s varying sound quality) I was thinking more of the vocals which were clearly recorded in different sessions on different mics/gear at different quality. Also, I agree with Opi that The Ownerz found Gang Starr trying a little too hard to come across as street/thuggish.

  31. I couldn’t begin to name which cut came off which album if I tried lol…

  32. Oska on the flex! Peace 2017 to you bruh! $yk I see you down there too man!

    I just pulled up on 40yrs; I got ….
    1-Hard to Earn
    2-Daily Operation
    3-Moment of Truth

    SITA & Ownerz get heavy burn from me on a mood to mood basis.

  33. GANGSTARR 4 LIFE!!!! Never really looked at the album as stripped down or basic but true genius indeed…there catalog is flawless.

  34. Rip Guru… Tough call, so many classics. But my 42 yr old list goes like this:

    1) Hard to earn
    2) Daily Operation
    3) Step in the Arena
    4) Moment of Truth

  37. Robbie, this is a great thread … reminds me of how much I have slept on my Gangstarr albums in the last 10 years. I need to have a Gangstarr listening session. In order of release.

  39. @Oneam: You and me both, brother. I played Gang Starr to death over the weekend.

    RIP Guru. He really refined that understated, too-cool-for-school style. I know a lot of heads don’t dig his monotone flow, but it suits Premier’s beats perfectly.

  40. I’m 36 years old and “Step In The Arena” is my favorite Gangstarr album. GURU danced on that album effortlessly without features. But, “Soliloquy of Chaos” is hella dope to me. Preem could do no wrong

  41. Im 41 and Step In The Arena is THE album i can put on right now and feel like it just dropped. I always appreciated the fact that Gu was repping La with the Saints hat on the cover. They were just a dope ass group with a strong catalog. Manifest is the best song IMO.

  43. Preemo didbhave thise flossy skills until the second album.

    Its too hard to have a favorite album because i make my CDs out of the best songs in their catologue.

    The making of dwyck is a story I am intrrsted in, iys like someone crashed a studio sesson and was just put on outta respect. Big shout to nice and smooth!

  44. @ slappy: word, I agree on how cool gurus persona was too. Effortless.

    I’m only at no more Mr nice guy today (got it out of sequence already and started with d.o). I forgot how good nmmng is… Plus has deep concentration on it… One of the best dj cutting joints ever!might need to revisit my album list even… Damn.

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