Jeru the Damaja — The Sun Rises in the East

Kendrick Davis has been passionate about hip-hop since childhood, grows up in East New York, Brooklyn, and meets DJ Premier and Guru, soon becoming an affiliate of the Gang Starr Foundation. Davis initially performed with the monikers D. Original and Dirty Rotten Scoundrel, also proposed during the listening, finally moving on to the definitive Jeru the Damaja, with which he made his debut in the Gang Starr album of '92. His first effort is entirely produced by DJ Premier, while Afu-Ra, another member of the collective, is the only guest.

Jeru's lyrics focus on the braggadocio and on the dark, violent and raw side of ghetto life, also resulting in the socio-conscious with references to the pop culture and to the Five Percenters, however, they're not so simple as to be easily understood and assimilated by all listeners: "Da Bichez" is a typical song about a certain type of girls and causes a feud with the Fugees because Pras, the weak of the trio, didn't understand anything about one of the easiest lyrics on the whole album. Jeru the Damaja writes good stanzas and interprets them with a smooth and regular delivery, confident and calm, not too different from that of Guru.

The rhythms provided by Preemo seem like discarded choices from Gang Starr songs, they sound exactly like that. And it's a big problem. For everyone else, because even as second and third picks, they're still some of the best hip-hop beats of the year, in one of the best seasons ever in the genre. Premier's chosen set might seem a bit messy and casual, still reflecting a gloomy and dark musicality that fits well with the MC's verses: raw and minimal boom baps, with hard, lively, vibrant, perfect drums and fantastic samples from jazz, soul, funk and hip-hop, with some experimental, eclectic, haunting and sometimes even annoying choices, which seem to be cousins of those made in the Gang Starr's most recent album, "Hard to Earn".

Released by Payday and FFRR, distributed by PolyGram, the album reaches number five on the rap chart and is well received by critics, being re-evaluated as a classic by reviewers in retrospect. It's not the finest rap product of the season either musically or lyrically, but it's undeniably a hidden/neglected gem: consisting of 13 cuts (3 skits) and just under 40 minutes of listening, it gains immediate comparisons with "Illmatic", 'cause Jeru boasts a great flow and excellent beats, and helps bring hip-hop back to New York.

The cover is iconic: dark and nocturnal panorama, Jeru in the center, in the background on the left the towers of the World Trade Center burning, in reference to the '93 bombing. Then the title. Evident. Beautiful. In yellow. «The Sun Rises in the East.» "Rises", written in red and underlined, stands out from other words. How much is important, in a time when hip-hop was actually coming home, it was rising, again. It's a very strong statement, that single period at the end in yellow that the author decides to place on the cover is much stronger than all the dissing that have come out in this period between the two factions. The sun [hip-hop] rises in the East. It may go to sleep somewhere else, but it always comes back here. It always comes home. It was born in the East and it will always be born in the East. Period.