Redman & Method Man Hop on Virulent Remix of Gang Starr's "Bad Name"
“Word to God if Guru were still here, a lot of you weirdos wouldn’t have a real career.”
DJ Premier’s reuniting of Gang Starr late last year was welcomed by hip-hop fans young and old. The legendary super-producer scoured his immense archive of Guru verses, bringing back their seminal sound 16 years later with a new album aptly titled One of the Best Yet. Now Premier is back with a remix of one of the project’s standouts, “Bad Name,” tapping Redman and Method Man for blistering cameos.
“My plan all along was to include and do special remixes after One Of The Best Yet was released and I knew Red & Meth would be perfect for the remix of ‘Bad Name’ and they both really wanted to be a part of this remix for me and Guru,” Premier noted to Rolling Stone. “I did a new arrangement and its so dope with Red and Meth putting their spin on it. Meth is the perfect closer and Redman blacks out.”
Over the reworked instrumental, Redman and Method Man bring out their hard-nosed bars and brisk flows, reworking Guru’s lyrics in their own idiosyncratic styles. All three MCs intermingle with one another effortlessly, revitalizing the East Coast’s golden era sound. On the second verse, Redman raps “Lil n***as beef on the internet, big boys beef when the brand incorrect/Overall most of these n***as only beef with mine when they bring extra dinner guests/What happened to the street code, media gave n***as a cheat code.” Method Man follows this up with equal virulence on the closeout verse: “Word to God if Guru were still here, a lot of you weirdos wouldn’t have a real career/Just wannabe gangsters but you wouldn’t have Premier/Back in my day these wankstas they wouldn’t last a year.”
You can stream the remix of “Bad Name” below.
In related news, Gang Starr, Nas, and DMX are set to lead “Gods of Rap II Tour.”
