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Guru & Solar - The Ownerz
Interview By: Pharoh Talib
 Guru knows a thing or two about finding quality producers. In Gangstarr’s early days Guru dabbled with a variety of producers until he found a staple after DJ Premier sent him a beat tape. The gruff voiced emcee knew he had his man in Primo and so the two came together like hand claps to make history as a legendary Hip-Hop group putting out classic albums like Step into the Arena and Moment of Truth. In 1993, Guru started doing his side thing by experimenting and fusing jazz and hip-hop to establish his definitive Jazzmatazz series.
 Even though it’s been a wrap for Gangstarr for a few years now everything has come full circle for Guru as he comes back with his fourth installment of Jazzmatazz. He not only struck gold for a second time teaming up with his new “super” producer Solar he’s also became an owner, as title of Gangstarr’s final album foreshadowed. After being frustrated with the poli-tricks of being pinned under a major label Guru and his new partner went indy and started their own upstart imprint, 7 Grand Records, in 2004. Their main focus is to bring the artistic integrity back to Hip-Hop, and that starts with their current project Jazzmatazz Volume 4: The Hip Hop Jazz Messenger: “Back to the Future”, which dropped this summer.
Nobodysmiling.com : Can you talk about the recording process you guys went through for Jazzmatazz 4?
Solar : Basically, for both of us, we knew we needed a fresh version because the part three or part four of anything it sucks. Know what I mean? So we really went back, we studied what was going on, what worked with the first three, what didn’t work, and I went off to do my own homework and started lacing tracks. I started lacing tracks that were gonna work. They were concepts, songs, not just beats. And Guru went and started addin’ his rhymes and the album started to take shape. Every night we would be in the studio constructing different songs and we got to the point where we knew we had the album and then we just started filling in with the features.
Nobodysmiling.com : Did you guys use musicians with live instruments or did you guys dig in the crates for old jazz samples?
Solar : The album contains no sampling so of course that’s live musicianship. But we dug in the crates to research the history of jazz because jazz and hip-hop do share a common history. You don’t really have hip-hop without jazz that’s why I put Bob James on a track with Common and Guru.
Nobodysmiling.com : That’s dope. How did you guys go about selecting who you wanted to feature on the project as far as jazz musicians and rap artists?
Guru : That just comes into play what the whole concept of Jazzmatazz. What it is, is that it represents the art of collaboration as opposed to getting somebody on the record that can help you sell records, or something that is not so natural. With Jazzmatazz everything has to work, there has to be a chemistry. Once we got to that point would guess who would be best for each track and we’d shout ideas to each other. Once we picked those people out we’d reach out to them. Fortunately, everybody was ‘bout it ‘bout it because they had a respect for the Jazzmatazz legacy. Once they heard the track they were really open and we just took it from there.
Nobodysmiling.com : How did you guys get up? I know you was with previously with Primo all these many years until you started doing your Jazzmatazz thing outside of the Gangstarr umbrella but how did you end up hooking up with Solar?
Guru : Well, what it is, is that me and Solar started 7 Grand Records back in 2004. A mutual friend introduced us about six years ago. And we just hit it off as friends and we started hanging.
Solar : Jazzmatazz was always separate from Gangstarr. Guru always produced the whole Jazzmatazz series as a situation to bring his creativity forward in his own way. Jazzmatazz, in the beginning, they let him do his thing but his situation with his label…his creativity was always tantamount to him. And when I met him back in 2002 his creativity was no longer being heard, his voice wasn’t being heard no more. That’s what led to Guru getting out of his situation and starting 7 Grand records. It was a necessity for him to be free and creative and happy and comfortable with his creativity. At the same time, it also benefits hip-hop because the principles that existed in hip-hop to begin with was free thought, it was free expression. This wasn’t at the discretion of corporations. The corporations have taken over so in order to make a record like Street Scriptures, to make Jazzmatazz, there has to be a plan in place to make that happen.
Nobodysmiling.com : Solar let me ask you this. What is your background prior to linking up with Guru?
Solar : Mine is not that of a professional producer. So I didn’t meet Guru under the guise of me trying to advance my career. I was doing quite well for myself working with homeless children when I met Guru. We started out as friends for quite a bit of time before it got to the point where Guru was unhappy to the point where it was making him miserable, he was drinking too much and he was getting into trouble…I was like, “Why don’t just start your own label?” My history is basically that of a New Yorker. I’m a thoroughbred New Yorker that was raised on hip-hop, loves hip-hop, and I am really a product of hip-hop. And it shaped me. It shaped who I am. I’ve been blessed with the talent that I have and that talent allowed me to reach so many millions of people. And guru was able to discover that talent. He’s known for that. He discovered the talent of his last producer. So if he says your beats are hot and he says that you got it you just can’t dismiss that. You gotta give it a little thought. The chemistry was there. You argue with what’s right. When I heard his voice on my beats I knew it was something that was meant to be.
Nobodysmiling.com : How did you, as a producer, approach this knowing what’s been laid down previously in this series and, as you said you wasn’t a “professional producer” prior to this but, how did you approach it working with a legend in the rap game?
Solar : You gotta remember that on this particular album you got Common, Bob James, Damian Marley, Slum Village, Kem, Bobby Valentino so, this album is filled with legends…
Nobodysmiling.com : As a new producer how did you ready yourself to be able to tackle a project of this magnitude?
Solar : How I prepared for the project was to just immerse myself in the music so I can know what I was trying to do. Therefore I wasn’t fooling around in the dark. Once I had a handle on the album I knew the album, I knew what album I wanted to make. I was confident in the music I was making and I gave each artist one track and that was it. Each of them responded to that one track. My approach not to come at it as some egotistical cat on some, “Yo! I’m the hottest producer, I’m the newest producer…” I came at it from the angle of ‘who are these artists gonna respond to?’ I spoke to them in a language that they understood and that’s of music. I spoke to them as men, as intelligent beings and not as an egomaniacal, diabolical nutcase. I spoke to them as a man that loves hip-hop that’s trying to get that across to the fan base. All the collaborators that made music outside of hip-hop understood that we were reaching for a new fan base to listen to their music. And to get these young heads out there to know that there is more to music than just banging on a drum machine and keyboard.
Guru : When we linked up he didn’t even try to sell me on the idea of getting me involved in his production like that. We were friends first and I think that’s what makes the chemistry that much more intense. We put out our first album together in 2005. The Guru Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures was one of the most slept on but most successful independent albums of that time. On that album we had Talib Kweli, we had Jean Grae, we had B Real, we had Styles P… That album was slept on but we still sold close to 200,000. That album enabled us to get a bigger distribution situation for the Jazzmatazz. So now you got the growth and emergence of 7 Grand Records as a movement. And, basically, all of this is what makes everything different from what I was doing before.
Nobodysmiling.com : Talk about your transition from Gangstarr to being CEO of 7 Grand Records?
Guru : This is something that I’ve always wanted to do. What Gangstarr represented was three principles: street knowledge, intelligence and spirituality. Those principals are being taken to the next level by 7 Grand, by myself and Solar. This is just something that I always wanted to do. Every artist that I admire was able to reinvent, recreate, evolve and stay relevant with the times. So I was looking for a new sound and things to do and ways to grow. This is all representative of growth.
Nobodysmiling.com : Talk about your day-to-day working as CEO. How has that process been for you?
Guru : You know it’s a lot of hard work for me. We got employees worldwide and so I gotta keep the laptop with me. Gotta keep the phone on even when I’m in the gym. It’s busy and hectic but at the same time it’s rewarding because the buck stops here. Plus I want heads out there to understand that we’re just selling you music not perfume…we’re not selling you clothes, Champaign and malt liquor or vodka. We’re just selling good hip-hop.
Nobodysmiling.com : Are you guys looking to break new talent under your label or is it only a platform for your music? What’s the future of 7 Grand consist of?
Guru : We’re focusing on Jazzmatazz right now, what’s going on here and around the world…still touring. At the same time, we have future projects coming, new groups. Anybody that wants to holla at us and do so through Myspace at Myspace.com/ Guru7grand or on our website Jazzmatazz.net.
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