Gang Starr Month: The Readers Respond

Editor's Note: Earlier this month we posed the question "where were you when you first heard a Gang Starr song?" We got a pretty decent flood of responses from around the globe, with readers naming various media outlets (from music video TV shows to to radio to video games) as their introduction to the duo's music. The songs that were mentioned span the entirety of Gang Starr's career, (even the days prior to their first record deal) and it appears that people from a wide range of ages count themselves as fans. All in all, this was a fun interactive piece, and the final product testifies to the group's enduring legacy and undeniable impact. Enjoy.

Video Shows

At RJ's crib, watching the video (Positivity) on Rap City. - Boothe

Rap City (muchmusic canada), saw Just To Get A Rep video. - Anonymous

On some alternative video show that had NitzerEbb, Front 242 and them BLAM Gangstarr with Manifest.. - Cenzi Stiles

5th grade. Living Room. Rap City. Mass Appeal. Epic. - Joshuawun

Just to get a rep, 13-14 years old, video on Yo MTV Raps, jaw dropped. - PAS

1989. I was hanging out at my friend's house watching videos on 'The Box' when the Manifest video came on. The song was so good that instead of going out to play football, we waited an hour until someone else requested it so that we could see it again. From that day on, I went to the record store faithfully twice a week just to buy that cassette as soon as it dropped. I think I still have it somewhere in a box. - Vincent Lopez

Watching TV at my Grandma's house and Manifest came on Pump It Up. - Ominous Red

The song that got me was 'Just To Get A Rep'. I was about 14 and living with my Moms at the time. I got home from school and would watch Ralph McDaniel's Video Music Box religiously. That day that 'Just To Get A Rep' got played, I went bananas. That was the most incredible sample I had ever heard. - Verge

Came home from high school back in 8th or 9th grade, and it was old skool wednesday on Rap City. They played the Mass Appeal video, and i was hooked right after that. that beat is very infectious. i remembered the lyrics to the song about 3-4 time i heard it! this was around late '96 early '97. - Brandan E.

Words That I manifest, 1989, I saw this on videotape because my g-parents refused to get cable, so my uncle's friend used to record Yo! MTV Raps for us. - Andrew Fly

I think I saw "DWYCK" on MTV in '94 – Anonymous

At my godfather's house b/c his daughter used to watch my brother and I after school. His daughter was watching The Box and I think it was Mass Appeal that came on... rediscovered many years later at a smoke and chill party w/ my friends in N. Philly – livininphilly

Rochester, NY. Circa 1989-90. Rap City with Da Mayor..."Manifest" video and the whole Malcolm X motif...classic HIPHOP, dubbed the whole tape from my man when it came out. PEACE – Anonymous

Probably the Just to Get a Rep video on Video Music Box. Shout out to Uncle Ralph! – Adam Rashid

I was watching and taping Yo Mtv Raps! when I heard ' who's gonna take the weight' I was hypnotised by the screeching horns. I recorded it to cassette with a homemade cable from my television to my tapedeck so I could listen to it on my walkman. I also remember renting the step in the arena-cd at the local moviestore. – Pierski76

I was like 9 or 10 watching Rap City at the Crib on Camac st. in Logan and Words I Manifest video came on and I've been a fan since – Phil Wilson

I watched video shows (Video Music Box, Rap City, Yo!) after school every day; and they started playing "Manifest," which I loved. - Werner Von Wallenrod

Watching Video Music Box @ home summer vacation and "Words I Manifest" came on.. Great times - brooklynsidv

Radio

That would be 1987 ... WRBB radio. – Dart Adams

i was in high school when i first heard words i manifest a buddy taped the song off of whpk here in chicago - Anonymous

Used to hear "Here Is The Proof" all the time on KZSU, didnt know it was the G to the A-N-G, so technically the first time I heard a song and knew it was them was when I saw the "Words I Manifest" video on a Saturday morning episode of Yo! Raps. – bottomlesspedro

I think the first time I heard of Gang Starr was on P-Fine's show way down in the 80s side of the dial (can't even remember the station anymore but best believe I still got the tapes to prove it!) and the song was the original mix of Manifest! that joint was crazy! – rhartworks

I was a DJ at radio station KZSC in Santa Cruz CA in '89 when the Words I Manifest 12" arrived. A big moment. - nachmann

Other

I heard "Above the Clouds" at my local megamart. I scanned "Moment of Truth" into the machine, crossed my fingers that the system wouldn't recognize the explicit lyrics sticker and deny this 14 year-old entry, and skipped to the song with Inspectah Deck." - Tom Doggett

I had finished my 3rd symester of community college and was at a party. I had taken the prom queen from the graduating class that year to a party. We ended up hooking up at this house party and ended up pushing in my regaurds in the master bedroom of the house. After all was said and done, my friend mentioned earlier put the cd 'moment of truth' in and skipped to 'jfk 2 lax'. I could hear it through the bedroom walls got up and went out to grab a beer only to forget i left homegirl in the bedroom and never came back. - randomkage

Honestly.. I dont know for sure. Gang Starr is honestly an act that crept into my pores and become as synonomous to me as hip-hop itself at some point. - restless _43

Well, I won't get much cred for this one, but the first GangStarr song I really paid attention to was "Right Where You Stand." I was about 12 when it came out and just getting into good rap music. - Anonymous

I heard Gang Starr for the first time playing streetball with some friends, one of whom brought the boombox and CD. The song was Above The Clouds, and I got instantly hooked by Gurus and Decks verses and this irresistible beat so much that it distracted me from the game. - Anonymous

I was working as a public defender in the South Bronx the birthplace of hip hop!! - Matt

Seventh grade, while playing "Thrasher: Skate & Destroy" on my PlayStation. That game had the dopest soundtrack of any I've ever played; that's the first I also heard Tribe, EPMD, Ultramag, Bam, etc...but "Just To Get A Rep" was the song that really resonated with me. - Echo Leader

Um, I was probably in my dorm room at Duke freshman year, downloading whatever crap on Kazaa RapReviews.com said was classic. - tray

i heard about gang starr in a video game i used to play as a kid haha.i believe it was dave mirra pro bmx. i dont rememeber if the cut was mass appeal or moment of truth. it was like 98 or 99. either way i was hooked.... still am - BYL

"Manifest" off a friends single when it came out...I was hooked on that freaking loop...have rarely complained about a Primo beat and I actually salivate when I hear a new one...best hip hop producer period. – DJ Seen?

I was in my friends basement stacked with hip hop cassettes. He had just picked up Daily Operation a couple days before and put it in his tape player. – tk burton

Just before they got signed...I used to chill with most of them...lil dap (group home), jeru tha damaja...those were the days.... Urban Jibaro