JERU THE DAMAJA
THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST
1994
Hailing from the Gangstarr camp, Jeru made a deep scarring mark on hip hop with his breakthrough, debut offering The Sun Rises in the East. A tyrannical blend of boom bap and straight-no-chaser lyricism, Jeru's spit on this record alone put his name in the history books. With the foundation provided entirely by DJ Premier, track for track, there's very little competition. From the banging "You Can't Stop the Prophet" to the fuzz-laced "Statik" to the always head-nodding classic "Come Clean," the bumps of this record are the heartbeat of the city and Jeru's verses leave scathing burns.
As years went on, Jeru disappeared into the independent scene and never returned to form. But like many records on this list, Sun Rises chronicles a place in time--when hip hop was on the come-up and it seemed that anyone that grabbed a mic was the dopest mutha ever to spit. Sounds, techniques and methods were still being discovered. Every emcee was a character in a film. Everyone had a unique sound. And every record was, at the very least, worth listening to more than once.
This one is worth more than listening to a few times, it's worth owning multiple copies of. One for the turntable, one for the car and one to loan away.
Highlights:
"D. Original"
"You Can't Stop the Prophet"
"My Mind Spray"
"Mental Stamina"
"Come Clean"
"Statik"
2 comments:
And an interesting side note, yes, that is the World Trade Center ablaze seven years before the tragedy of September 11th. While purely coincidence, some circles insist that it speaks of Jeru's prophetic ability as an emcee.
And, also, how could I forget, the lure doesn't stop there. On "Come Clean", one Jeru line reads "Don't provoke the wrath of this rhyme inventor, cuz I blow up spots like the World Trade Center."
However, this was a reference to the 1992 bombing of the World Trade Center.
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