Music Essentials: Young Guru

The backbone of numerous hip-hop anthems, Young Guru‘s contribution to the genre is forever indebted. The New York-based audio engineer, record producer and DJ’s decade of experience in the industry can be found over iconic hits like Jay Z’s “Dirt Off Your Shoulder,” “99 Problems,” and other timeless numbers from 10 of Hova’s 11 albums, to more esoteric collaborations with the likes of Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli and MF DOOM. With an acute mind-set, Guru often transcends his philosophy towards society, politics and the music industry onto his production and those who share studio time with him, earning numerous shout-outs from Jay-Z and the Roc-A-Fella camp, who continue to draw inspiration from Guru’s artistry. We were lucky to catch up with Young Guru to see what he held in his Music Essentials. While DJ and production tools sees the likes of his latest headphone collaboration with AIAIAI, needles, and drum sticks to accompany the Akai MPC Studio sampler, his appetite in literature stretches from gadget reviews, an issue of Wax Poetics magazine, to studies on the human race in The Ethics of Star Trek. Sufficing a selection that shows clarity for today’s technology, in addition to inspirations from other greats like Jay Electronica and J Dilla, Guru also presents his Star Trek and Star Wars figurine collection, showing off his trekkie side with little shame.