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Gang Starr Album: “Ownerz [Japan Bonus Tracks]”
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Ownerz [Japan Bonus Tracks] |
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Release Date:2004-05-25
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Hip-Hop/Rap, East Coast Rap, Underground Hip-Hop
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Label:Japanese Import
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:766482897544
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Review - :
Quite a few chart-topping rappers came and went during the five years between {$Gang Starr}'s fifth and sixth LPs. So many, in fact, that it's tempting to think that commercial {\rap} had taken a turn for the worse, simply because the duo hadn't been back to tend the fires since 1998. Angry and intelligent as they'd ever been, {$Guru} and {$DJ Premier} came right back with guns blazing with {^Ownerz}, ridiculing radio DJs and program directors as "f*cking robots" and proving their case with an album full of tough, kinetic {\hip-hop} that blows away anything on the {\rap} charts. {$Guru}, never the most talented rapper on the East Coast, tightened his flow considerably to match his cutting verse, and {$DJ Premier} only continued waxing lyrical with turntables and samplers. (Compared to his outside productions during the interim, it's clear he was holding back a few can't-miss productions for {$Gang Starr}: {&"Put Up or Shut Up,"} {&"Skillz,"} the title track.) {$Guru}'s wordplay and imagery are vivid, whether he's relating yet another inner-city tale ({&"Sabotage"}), excoriating the record industry ({&"Deadly Habitz"}), or casually making a play for a girl ({&"Nice Girl, Wrong Place"}). Surprisingly, most of the guest features are pedestrian, including the lame guns-and-gangstas posturing of {&"Who Got Gunz"} featuring {$Fat Joe} and {$M.O.P}. or {&"Capture (Militia Pt. 3),"} featuring {$Big Shug} and {$Freddie Foxxx}. Also a letdown is {$Snoop Dogg}'s {&"In This Life...,"} the return of a favor {$Premier} did for him on two tracks for his {^Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$} LP of a year back. (The only great collaboration is {$Jadakiss}' full-flowing {\rap} on {&"Rite Where U Stand."}) All the {$Gang Starr} trademarks are in place, from {$Premier}'s perfect upchoruses to {$Guru}'s reedy voice cutting or instructing, and sounding better than ever. [This Japanese release includes bonus material.] ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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![Gang Starr Album: “Ownerz [Japan Bonus Tracks]”](http://www.rapmusiczone.com/covers_yaG/gang-starr/2004_170_167_Ownerz%2520%255BJapan%2520Bonus%2520Tracks%255D.jpg "Gang Starr Album: “Ownerz [Japan Bonus Tracks]”")