Pen & Pixel

Gang Starr’s fourth album, the 1994 opus Hard to Earn, was built to maintain the respect of the streets, according to its architect, DJ Premier. Eschewing the melodic loops and jazz samples of their earlier recordings, Preemo explored dark and chaotic beats that meshed with Guru’s increasingly complex rhymes about street culture and inner-city politics. Although considered one of the last shots of true NYC underground before the oncoming wave of hip-hop commercialism, Hard to Earn was a critical and financial success—a revered masterpiece and an enduring classic that has held up artistically since its release nearly three decades ago.

Def Jam’s publicist from 1984 to 1990, Bill Adler talks Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and why hip-hop needs its own hall of fame.