"Boston native Guru (born Keith Elam) and Texas import DJ Premier (born Christopher Martin) came together in New York in 1988 to create an unprecedented brand of hip-hop. Gang Starr combines jazz influences with straight-ahead lyrics in the style of rap forefathers Run-D.M.C.... Full Clip boasts all 17 singles the band released between 1989 and 1998, including a remix of "Manifest," the song that helped put Gang Starr on the hip-hop map with its use of a bassline from a Thelonius Monk jazz piece... The songs "Code of the Streets," from the film "Menace II Society," and "DWYCK," a 1994 B-side featuring fellow hip-hop group Nice and Smooth, also appear on the collection. The album introduces "Full Clip," "Discipline" and "All 4 Tha Ca$h," songs recorded at D&D Studios in Manhattan earlier this year. "Full Clip" finds Guru playing the role of hip-hop wise man, condemning those who rap "childish nonsense" and lie about who they really are. Meanwhile, DJ Premier offers a jazz-inflected guitar strum. "I've always been one of those MCs that's been allowed to speak out on ... a type of MC," Guru, 35, said. "Not everybody can do it. ... It's like I'm not just a kid on the block without a record deal." ... In February D.I.T.C. member Big L (born Lamont Coleman) was shot and killed as he left his apartment in Harlem. Guru and Premier said the shooting affected them deeply; an excerpt from a March tribute concert for Big L begins the album. On it, Premier shouts the words "Big L, rest in peace" in the seconds before "Full Clip." Incidents such as the murders of Big L and the Lost Boyz' Freaky Tah (born Raymond Rogers) two weeks later made Guru more guarded, he said. "It makes the chip on my shoulder bigger," Guru said. 'My occupation has hazards that come with it that don't come with a lot of other jobs. I take it real seriously. So if somebody's coming at me with a vibe that they're not taking it real seriously, then I'm going the other way.'" - MTV. Full Clip was released - to/for the fans - on this day in 1999. R.I.P., Big L and Guru. Revisit it below...