Gang Starr Breathes Hip Hop On “Glowing Mic” Single

We’ve been receiving gems courtesy of DJ Premier. The surviving half of Gang Starr is making sure his friend and collaborator Guru’s memory lives on. For a long while, Premier and Guru were at odds, but prior to the rapper succumbing to multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, the artists reportedly reconciled. The rap legend remains a celebrated figure in Hip Hop, and just last year, DJ Premier gifted the world with never-before-heard Gang Starr tracks with the release of One of the Best Yet.

On Friday (December 11), DJ Premier returned with another Gang Starr single: “Glowing Mic.” He explained to Rolling Stone how he came up with the name. “Since the song ‘Mr. Gang Starr’ was previously released after we hadn’t worked together in so long, I noticed the multitrack session said ‘Mr. Gang Starr (Original Version),'” he said. “The lyrics and the hook are totally different so I gravitated to it and I didn’t want to use the same title and confuse people. My search for scratch ideas landed me across a song I produced for Torae, ‘For the Record’ in 2011. The line says, ‘I destroy the mic for my glow.’ Instantly ‘Glowing Mic’ became the title simply from hearing that line.”

Stream “Glowing Mic” by Gang Starr and share your thoughts.

Quotable Lyrics

The charm is now dеad, they tired of you
Not evеn gonna ask what you were tryna do
I’m fryin’ a few domes, just like I do catfish
Got ’em doin’ backflips, this ain’t gymnastics
This drastic for foes, I got ’em walkin’ on tippy toes
Ballerina style, you don’t wanna see the Nina’s child
Meanwhile, mister Gang Starr relates, not commercial
Yet still, I’m one of the greats

[via]