Guru
Jazzmatazz: Street Soul
Release Date: 10.20.2000
Virgin
It's been seven years since Gang Starr's Guru released his groundbreaking side project, Jazzmatazz, Volume 1. That experimental album brought together name jazz players with hip-hop and R&B vocalists for an album of duets that bridged musical and generational gaps. For all the critical success of Volume 1, however, it only hit big in Europe; ditto for 1995's bloated disaster, Jazzmatazz Volume II: The New Reality (where Guru spent most of the disc giving shout-outs to everybody but his mailman).
Five years on, a lot has changed: Gang Starr now go gold on a regular basis, hip-hop duet albums are no longer unusual (take Wyclef Jean's recent The Ecleftic — 2 Sides II a Book), and at 39, Guru now must connect with an audience half his age. Really, is there any point to a third Jazzmatazz record?
Absolutely — and as it turns out, Guru's definition of "Jazzmatazz" has changed, too. The new Street Soul nixes jazz almost completely, focusing instead on old- and new-school R&B and soul. You still get the gritty street stories of earlier editions, but the different styles allow something new in the mix: sex. That said, Guru's raps about self-reliance still are in abundance, as on the first single, "Keep Your Worries". While Angie Stone croons away, Guru holds down DJ Scratch's beats with his trademark monotone delivery: "Your potential is infinite/ Be wise, visualize, witness it/ Why waste your time focusing your mind on little shit?"
However, it's not until a few songs later that the album truly finds its stride. Guru starts building toward a crescendo with "Certified." Featuring newcomer Bilal, the track recalls the minimalist funk of Sign o' the Times-era Prince. Then R&B chanteuse Erykah Badu follows with a sweet, wispy scat vibe on "Plenty", taming Guru to the point where he's massaging her feet by the end of the song. All this is capped off by the album's high point, "Lift Your Fist," featuring the instrument-playing Philly rappers the Roots.
These stellar tracks set the standards so high that otherwise acceptable entries such as "Night Vision," with old-school soul legend Isaac Hayes, and "Timeless," sporting jazz-fusion pioneer Herbie Hancock, can't help but disappoint in comparison. They also point up the album's main weakness — namely, that Guru needs to collaborate as much with the producers as he does with the artists. Badu and the Roots each produced their tracks and know exactly where to take the music; there's a flirty, playful feel to "Plenty," while the gummy funk of the Roots on "Lift Your Fist" lights a fire under Guru, prodding him to the album's best verbal pyrotechnics: "Garments bloodstained, face bruised and battered/ Eyes reflect agony of dreams that were shattered/ And they love it when we wild out and kill our own."
In contrast, his work with producers the Neptunes (MC Lyte, SWV) on "All I Said" (featuring a typically wretched vocal turn by gravel-throated Macy Gray) is uninspired, as is their other co-produced track, "Supa Love," which sports Neneh Cherry-like vocals from Kelis and is unintentionally funny with its tired "Oh baby, what you did to me last night"-style vamping.
Overall, though, Street Soul marks a strong return to form. Like Volume 1 many moons ago, this third edition stands as a testament to the man's forward-thinking, genre-bending genius — and thus restores the good name of the Jazzmatazz series.
Guru