GANG STARR : Urban Musician’s Rap on Paying the Rent

Gang Starr’s name describes the poles of contemporary rap--the first word relating to the hard-core gangstas, the second to the lighter-weight pop stars. But the Brooklyn-based duo doesn’t really fit into either category, and thus has had a hard time finding a visible place on the charts.

“It’s frustrating at times to see things do well with meaningless lyrics or gangsta hard-core sensationalism,” said Keith Elan, who raps under the name Guru. The pop side of things strikes Elan, who said that he is in his mid-20s, as too frivolous for his tastes.

“Myself, I’m too serious to be jumping around or doing tongue twisters,” he said. But he finds most “serious” rap one-dimensional and exploitative.

“Everyone talks about street knowledge, but that encompasses trying to stay alive,” he said. “You’re not going to stay alive with a gun or silly drugs. For us it represents the street and spirituality and intellect. That’s what we need to survive in an urban environment.”

The same sensibilities apply to the music provided by Elan’s partner, DJ Premier (Chris Martin). Rather than the conventional funk and pop sources, Gang Starr’s tracks are drawn largely from jazz, giving the duo’s two albums, 1990’s “Step in the Arena” and the recent “Daily Operation,” a distinctively warm character. Gang Starr’s broad attitude reflects Elan’s upbringing. He’s the son of Boston’s first black judge, but rebelled in his teens and in 1982 fled to Brooklyn “to try to make it in music.” But it was a path with a detour, as Elan pursued studies in business at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

“I did it as a challenge to my father,” he explained. “He said, ‘You’re a bum.’ I said, ‘Watch.’ But he and I are good friends now.

Ironically, it is his education that makes him part of a community within the rap world.

“Kool Moe Dee went to college, and Chuck D., Tone-Loc and KRS-One,” he said.

“You’ve got to be business-minded. If you’re just in it to lay back and get money and girls, fine. But this is my career. This is how I pay my rent.”