Gangstarr - Daily Operation (May 5, 1992)

Daily Operation, Guru and DJ Premier's third attempt to take over the hip hop landscape, was released in 1992. With it, Gangstarr made a valiant effort to implement a newer sound onto the masses (well, at least the masses who picked up their first two albums), one that sounded a bit more like the hip hop beats and melodies folks were used to, but with the jazzy influences tucked away, hidden nicely within the tracks, so that listeners wouldn't know what hit them until they realized that they already liked the goddamn song.

Guru, a rapper whose lyrical skill has never really been questioned, continued to evolve, working concepts such as conspiracy theories, love, moving on, violence, and flat-out fucking anger into his rhymes, with the monotone that we all know so well still firmly in place. On Daily Operation, though, he does something unprecedented (for the Gangstarr catalog, at least): he allows other rappers to spit with him. Lil Dap (who would later be half of the reason a lot of hip hop critics consider all of DJ Premier's instrumentals to be fucking wasted on Livin' Proof, the debut disc from his duo, Group Home) and Jeru the Damaja (who would later release some bonafide classics of his own) were essentially the Gangstarr Foundation's weed carriers at the time, but their verses on Daily Operation garnered them an instant fanbase.

While Daily Operation didn't move enough units for Guru and Primo to give up their day jobs and purchase private islands and elephant butlers, it sold more than their last effort, Step In The Arena (which had actually sold more than their debut, No More Mr. Nice Guy), so their career was maturing nicely, and the critical acclaim for their hit singles helped convince the duo that they had more to prove, which would lead into even more hit singles, but we'll get to those when we get to those.

Let's begin.

1. DAILY OPERATION (INTRO)
A very short musical interlude that leads nicely into...

2. THE PLACE WHERE WE DWELL
The beat is relatively simple, if a bit dull, but Guru's ode to Brooklyn is otherwise pretty damn sweet.

3. FLIP THE SCRIPT
This track is pretty boring. Primo still has his jazz influences in his back pocket, and he tries his best to create hip hop compositions with jazzy concepts instead of jazz beats invented for a rapper to spit to, like some of his previous work, but this song is one of those efforts that just doesn't hit.

4. EX GIRL TO THE NEXT GIRL
I'm relatively certain I'm in the minority here, but while I love Guru's lyrics on here, I've always hated hated hated Primo's instrumental. I don't believe that I've ever written that about a Primo beat before, and trust me, I'm just as surprised as you.

5. SOLILOQUY OF CHAOS
Now this is more like it. This song is simply fucking awesome. Almost theatrical in its execution , and Guru's attention to detail in his storytelling (a tale that decries random acts of violence at hip hop live shows) is brilliant. I don't need to say any more, but I will: how cool is it that a rap song uses the word "soliloquy" in its title?

6. I'M THE MAN (FEAT LIL DAP & JERU THE DAMAJA)
Guru brings in some guests for the first time on a Gangstarr disc, and humbly allows Lil Dap and Jeru the Damaja (especially Jeru the Damaja) to steal the show. Primo switches up the beat for each contributor, with only Guru's choice sounding weak. (Maybe that's why Guru comes off as the worst of the three?)

7. 92 INTERLUDE
It was nice of Primo to include an intermission before getting back into the nitty gritty.

8. TAKE IT PERSONAL
It's kind of cool that Primo worked the sound of a phone ringing (the sound that you hear when you call somebody, anyway) into the instrumental. This is one of those songs in the Gangstarr catalog that is a classic (for good reason), but is always overshadowed by their other work. You two should give it another shot.

9. 2 DEEP
Meh.

10. 24-7/365
A quick interlude. Nothing really special here.

11. NO SHAME IN MY GAME (FEAT JERU THE DAMAJA)
Jeru only appears in the introduction to this song, but to be honest, he wouldn't have sounded good over this beat anyway. However, Guru sounds quite capable of ripping shit nicely, indeed.

12. CONSPIRACY
This song is okay, but I tend to stay away from conspiracy theories set to hip hop beats, as I'm paranoid enough as it is.

13. THE ILLEST BROTHER
Sounds like an outtake from Step In The Arena. It's on you if you feel that's a good thing.

14. HARDCORE COMPOSER
For a DJ Premier production, oddly plain.

15. B.Y.S.
This song is simply the balls. With his monotone, it takes a special Primo beat for Guru to sound threatening: here's a fine example. The fact that "B.Y.S." stands for "bust yo shit" is also pretty damn amusing.

16. MUCH TOO MUCH
And then we're presented with this shit.

17. TAKE TWO AND PASS
I don't remember ever requesting Guru to sing the praises of pot. Did you? (points accusatory finger)

18. STAY TUNED
This isn't bad, but the part of the track I liked the most was its title, which actually encourages Gangstarr's fans to look for their future work. (It turns out that there was a valid reason to stay tuned: we'll get to that at a later date.)

FINAL THOUGHTS: With Daily Operation, Guru and DJ Premier almost have all of the ingredients needed for a hot hip hop album, but the recipe doesn't quite cook up properly. While the inclusion of guests certainly adds much to the proceedings, as do the infrequent appearances of a confrontational Guru and Primo beats that are more about the boom-bap than what he's supplied previously (prior to 1992, mind you), there are too many songs that blend in together, both subject matter-wise and music-wise. Ultimately, it would take the duo one more album to get everything mixed together right, but Daily Operation is the closest they've gotten thus far to what they are clearly capable of.

BUY OR BURN? As there are only a handful of great songs on here, I would recommend a burn. However, I'm not fucking around: when I say "great songs", I mean great songs, and they are worth tracking down.

BEST TRACKS: "B.Y.S."; "I'm The Man"; "Soliloquy Of Chaos"; "Take It Personal"; "No Shame In My Game"

-Max

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