Guru: The 8.0 Lost And Found EP

Guru (Gifted Universal Rhymes Unlimited) is gonna be remembered in the future for a great number of things. In my mind, though, he’s the dude that coined the term ‘positivity.’ And while that doesn’t mean a whole lot seeing as I haven’t heard folks use the word too much, in the emcees determination to create something good out of hip hop, Guru’s worked with various groups in vastly different settings.

First releasing a full length as the voice of Gang Starr twenty years ago, No More Mr. Nice Guy, while still sounding rather old at this point also has a few tracks the presage much of what would define the east coast rap game. “Knowledge,” with its funky key figure not only works within the east coast’s predilection for soul and jazz, but also with what NWA and the g-funk producers were working on a world away in Southern California. But if not for that, the instrumental “DJ Premier in Deep Concentration” forms the basis for Premo’s reputation to this day.

Gang Starr would follow up No More Mr. Nice Guy with a string of classic discs, but these were interspersed with Guru’s exploration of jazz with his Jazzmatazz project. And although these works had really past their usefulness by the third volume – in which Guru states that he wants people to make babies to the music therein – the inclusion of some heavy jazz players worked to spread rap into a different strata of listeners. A few more attempts to properly resurrect this brand have met with mixed results. And for this reason, Guru released his first proper solo disc under the guise of Baldhead Slick & Da Click in 2001.

So, regardless of my disappointment with the more recent work from this rap stalwart, the appearance of The 8.0 Lost And Found EP over at Grand Good yesterday made me a bit curious. This work sports five different songs coming with the original vocal version, a clean version and an instrumental. It actually adds up to around forty minutes worth of music. Of course any excitement because of this fact should be tempered by the fact that only one of the tracks is really worth hearing all the way through.

The first offering to greet listeners has a laughable beat best suited for clubs and replete with a sultry, female sung hook. Guru’s still able to get out a few good lines, but the musical setting that he finds himself in detracts a great deal from the precedings. And if that wasn’t all unsettling enough, the next track has Guru beginning things with a vocoder, which unfortunately can’t be explained away.

“After Time,” produced by Solar, is the only passable track. The beat sits more closely to what classic Guru should sound like (whatever that is). Lyrically, it’s an indictment of studio gangsters – which has obviously been done before, but not by Guru. Unfortunately, that tracks only about two and a half minutes long. And even if you listen to all three versions here, it can’t erase the memory of those other tracks.