Gang Starr – “Bad Name (Remix)” (Feat. Method Man & Redman)

Gang Starr, the duo of Guru and DJ Premier, were one of the defining New York rap groups of the ’90s, and they remain the greatest, purest exemplars of that era’s boom-bap sound. Guru died in 2010, but last year, Premier assembled a bunch of the group’s unreleased tracks, dropping the posthumous Gang Starr album One Of The Best Yet. And today, two of the duo’s contemporaries have jumped on a remix.

“Bad Name” was one of the early singles from One Of The Best Yet, and it had Guru sounding off about the problems he had with latter-day rap music. On the remix, the great ’90s knuckleheads Method Man and Redman, still rapping together after all these years, both sound off on the same subject. This time, they have a new hook: Guru is gone, and none of the “weirdo” rappers of today can measure up to him.

This is standard-issue grumpy-old-man rap stuff, but it’s also a chance to hear Method Man and Redman rapping on a DJ Premier beat. That alone makes it worth hearing; please recall that Meth and Premier once made a Limp Bizkit single into something that justifiably got airplay on rap radio. Listen to the “Bad Name” remix below.

The “Bad Name” remix is out now on the streaming services. Also, Gang Starr will somehow take part in Gods Of Rap II, a three-date UK tour that will also feature Nas, DMX, and the Lox.