By: Letitia “Tish” Murray
Just as we head into the web 3.0 generation, to understand where it is going we need to understand where its’ been.
For rap artist Guru, having been in the hip-hop game for a while, he has built a nice following – being considered a pioneer for collaborating Jazz music and hip-hop with the album series Jazzmatazz. But what we call the next generation and what comes after it is where Guru and current creative/business partner Solar is headed.
There is no need to think about what comes next for the duo that met 7 years ago through a mutual friend. The two started their own label “7 Grand Records” in 2005 and has not looked back. Under the new label, has produced albums such as Version 7.0: the Street Scriptures, Jazzmatazz Vol. 4, The Timebomb/Back To The Future and the current Guru 8.0: Lost & Found where Solar makes his debut as an emcee.
Lost & Found combines more sounds of the new age with a touch of old school but don’t expect this album to be an infusion of hip-hop and jazz. Although Solar credits his East Coast New York roots for the “banging beats and drum sounds” certain loops on tracks such as “Best of My Years” and “After Time” are used just enough to add to the creativity of the tracks. It was important for the duo to keep the “originality” of true hip-hop that Guru says most current hip-hop music is lacking nowadays. ‘Hip-hop has been duct taped and kept under the floor” says Guru. But the tracks on this album is as we see New York in the future”.
Both artists believe that the album is a staple in branching out and attracting a larger audience although not losing its influence on the way American music has on the rest of the world. After spending some time touring overseas, Guru states that he wants people here in the states to “Embrace what we are doing taking those principles about hip hop and moving forward”.
It seems that for both Guru and Solar, being looked at as sources of information that can be contributed to, but not changed except to progress, is the new wave of their present thinking and future. But being that the future is uncertain, it’s too early to tell if this new duo will leave an imprint for years to come.
