The first time I heard Jeru The Damaja was in 1992, when he blew up Gang Starr's "I'm The Man" on Daily Operation. While every b-boy east of New York was trying to figure out who the man was, Jeru was touring with Gang Starr throughout Canada, England, Europe, West Bubblef#ck and the U.S. boondocks. After the Gang Starr movement parlayed, he showed you who the man really was with his unique, underground single, "Come Clean." With his single quickly approaching street-status gold, a fat recording and worldwide distribution deal, and a DJ Premier-produced album in the making, Jeru is well on his way to cleaning the music industry and ridding the stage of these snake-fake-wannabe-toy-emcees that misrepresent what the hip-hop culture is all about. Speaking on the album's title, The Sun Rises In The East, Jeru shared, "I chose that title 'cause that shit is on point as far as life is 'cause the sun always rises in the East. And I'm from East New York [in Brooklyn] and I represent the East Coast, you know what I'm sayin'? Plus, I'm the son of man and this son rises from the East. I try to make all my shit coincide with how shit is out here. Anything I kick is some kind of consistence 'cause that's just my thang. So even if it's just some old regular shit, still it's a message in there for somebody, 'cause it's a message in everything. You just have to take it." - The Source, April 1994. Art above by Torre Pentel. Revisit Jeru's The Sun Rises In The East below...
You won't find many albums that still bump front to back like this one...
