Track Listing

1. Name Tag (Premier & the Guru)
2. Step in the Arena
3. Form of Intellect
4. Execution of a Chump (No More Mr. Nice Guy)
5. Who's Gonna Take the Weight?
6. Beyond Comprehension
7. Check the Technique
8. Lovesick
9. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
10. Game Plan
11. Take a Rest
12. What You Want This Time?
13. Street Ministry
14. Just to Get a Rep
15. Say Your Prayers
16. As I Read My S-A
17. Precisely the Right Rhymes
18. Meaning of the Name

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #86016 in Music
• Released on: 1991-01-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com essentials
Gang Starr's second album is quintessential hip-hop and is easily one of the greatest rap albums of all time. In contrast to their 1989 debut, No More Mr. Nice Guy, which was filled with seriously uptempo jams, Step in the Arena slows down the pace, unveiling low, slow, and deceptively complex tempos along with some jazz-tinged loops and beats, all of which firmly established DJ Premier's slot in the producer hall of fame. Furthermore, the slower sonic pace proved to be a perfect fit for Guru's distinctive monotone flow. The album hits on every aural level, from the lumbering bass and blaring horn combo of the title track to the swirling sax blurts, unnerving siren, and kinetic scratch attack of "Who's Gonna Take the Weight" to the laid-back smooth jazz soul of "Love Sick." Guru's verbal volley can only be described as smooth hardcore, with no-nonsense lyrics that effectively strike a balance between the street and the intellect. Toss in tracks like the anti-hoodlum anthem "Just to Get a Rep" and the scathing "Execution of a Chump (No More Mr. Nice Guy, Part 2)," and you've got yourself a bona fide classic that sounds as fresh today as it did when it was first released. --Spence Abbott

Customer Reviews

Sure Shot
Step In The Arena has to be one of Gang Starr's best albums. From the funky "Who's Gonna Take The Weight?" to the laid-back "Love Sick" to the amazing title cut, Step In The Arena is flawless. Guru and Primo to me are probably the greatest duo in hip-hop. If you don't have any Gang Starr material, be sure to pick this one up. DJ Premier's jazzy, thumping beats and Guru's distinctive monotone are one-of-a-kind. The production, lyrics, and delivery are always on point. This album embodies everything a hip-hop group should be. This is a must-have for any Gang Starr/hip-hop fan.

A Timeless Classic
"Step In The Arena" did feel a lot like an debut album than a sophmore release, not taking anything away from "No More Mr. Nice Guy" but that album was more like a demo record. Whereas "Step In The Arena" was a peek into the future as to what was to come later for GangStarr. Guru's veteran type flow/hungry new coming MC intensity and Premier's bass heavy jazzed out beats made this album a timeless classic which could go toe-to-toe with the new material being release today. Any true hiphop head needs to have this CD in their collection.

Gang Starr's best "jazz" record
"Step in the Arena" is an excellent introduction to Gang Starr. Even though it is their second album, it shines as their true debut. Coming around the same time as Pete Rock & CL Smooth's "Mecca and the Soul Brother", and A Tribe Called Quest's "The Low End Theory", "Step In the Arena" utilizes jazz just as effectively, and combines Guru's clever wit with DJ Premier's street sensibilities. Probably serving as DJ Premier's definitive early 90's production, the beats are hard in the way they ride so easily. Their bass heaviness was dense enough to pull strongly at the airy light jazz samples and hooks to achieve an equilibrium that became a gold standard. What you have in the end is an extremely listenable mix of two genres deeply connected to each other in their way of communication with and their origination within Black America (namely, jazz and hip-hop). While it was in no way a light weight on issues that confronted Black America in the early 90's, it didn't concentrate on them as feverishly as some of it's contemporaries. It did what a Gang Starr record always does, and that's putting the limitatations of all that are lesser in sharp relief. Squeezing 18 tracks in just over 50 minutes, the average song was just 2 to 3 minutes, but they were used very well, and are a study of minutes of near perfection. If it weren't for their 1998 comeback masterpiece "Moment of Truth", this would more than likely still stand as their best album because it garners the trait of all albums produced in that similar vein. Those were works deeply connected with the time of their inception, but age so gracefully that they still sound just as good or better still than anything today. Simply put, "Step in the Arena" is one of the most stunning albums by a rap duo when all the dynamics are right, and it holds as one of the lesser referenced but still true highlights of hip-hop's new jack phase.