The Ownerz

1	Intro (HQ, Goo, Panch) 0:47
2	Put Up or Shut Up / Krumbsnatcha 3:16
3	Werdz from the Ghetto Child 1:11
4	Sabotage 2:25
5	Rite Where U Stand / Jadakiss 3:40
6	Skills 3:21
7	Deadly Habitz 4:15
8	Nice Girl, Wrong Place / Boy Big 3:33
9	Peace of Mine 3:03
10	Who Got Gunz / M.O.P. 3:37
11	Capture (Militia, Pt. 3) / Big Shug 3:24
12	Playtawin 3:12
13	Riot Akt 4:04
14	(Hiney) 1:33
15	Same Team, No Games 3:46
16	In This Life... / Snoop Dogg 3:07
17	The Ownerz 2:58
18	Zonin' 2:56
19	Eulogy 2:56

Barnes & Noble

Since pioneering the jazz-informed hip-hop that rose to popularity in the early '90s, Gang Starr's Guru and DJ Premier have been a model of consistency. With their seventh album, The Ownerz, the duo once again produce the same high-quality beats and uncompromising, streetwise raps that snagged an underground following. Thumping with just enough boom-bap and bounce to please longtime fans, The Ownerz balances pistol-packing rhymes ("Who Got Gunz," with Fat Joe and M.O.P.) with social commentary ("Deadly Habitz") and ghetto thug tales ("Sabotage"). Guru's wide-mouthed monotone is as nimble as it is straightforward, and Premier's beats -- chock-full of hardcore edge-scratches, disparate vocal snatches, chopped-up horn and string samples, and heavy drum kicks -- are as sharp as ever, even if the album suffers from a scarcity of ear-snagging hooks (see "Nice Girl, Wrong Place"). Although their star has yet to shine platinum, Guru and Premier have always kept the music first. On the funky, hypnotic first single, "Skills," Guru summarizes: "It's the music that the streets love / Each thug is now reppin' this with deep love / Gang Starr dueling again, ruling again / Watch as we do it again." Gang Starr may not rule the bling-bling world of modern-day hip-hop, but they are lords of the underground. Brett Johnson

All Music Guide

Quite a few chart-topping rappers came and went during the five years between Gang Starr's fifth and sixth LPs. So many, in fact, that it's tempting to think that commercial rap had taken a turn for the worse simply because the duo hadn't been back to tend the fires since 1998. Angry and intelligent as they'd ever been, Guru and DJ Premier came right back with guns blazing, ridiculing radio DJs and program directors as "f*cking robots" and proving their case with an album full of tough, kinetic hip-hop that blows away anything on the rap charts. Guru, never the most talented rapper on the East Coast, tightened his flow considerably to match his cutting verse, and DJ Premier only continued waxing lyrical with turntables and samplers. (Compared to his outside productions during the interim, it's clear he was holding back for Gang Starr a few can't-miss productions: "Put Up or Shut Up," "Skillz," the title track.) Guru's wordplay and imagery are vivid, whether he's relating yet another inner-city tale ("Sabotage"), excoriating the record industry ("Deadly Habitz"), or casually making a play for a girl ("Nice Girl, Wrong Place"). Surprisingly, most of the guest features are pedestrian, including the lame guns-and-gangstas posturing of "Who Got Gunz" featuring Fat Joe and M.O.P. or "Capture (Militia Pt. 3)" featuring Big Shug and Freddie Foxxx. Also a letdown is Snoop Dogg's "In This Life...," the return of a favor Premier did for him on two tracks for his Paid tha Cost to Be da Bo$$ LP of a year back. (The only great collaboration is Jadakiss' full-flowing rap on "Rite Where U Stand.") All the Gang Starr trademarks are in place, from Premier's perfect upchoruses to Guru's reedy voice cutting or instructing, and sounding better than ever. John Bush

Vibe

1/2 Few groups embody good old-fashioned hip-hop like Keith "Guru" Elam, 36, and Chris Martin, aka DJ Premier, 34, who still encompass the breadth of hip hop before it splintered into subgenres -- each too good to recognize the others. Noah Callahan-Bever