There are voices in rap that command attention, Gifted Universal Rhymes Unlimited was one of those voices.
Remember the first time you heard Manifest?
That Night in Tunisia loop,
the scratched up hook (turntable as an instrument)
and then the voice.

Bostons own.

There are beats in hip hop that demand you to listen.

The Mass Appeal beat is designed to be easy listening

“Elevator music” as Premier described it, it was all a plan to pull you in.

Appeal to the ears then hit em with the message.

“No way you’ll never make it”

Gang Starr was of that educating lineage of Hip Hop
Word, Sound, Power.

The whole thing is a lecture in the perils of those attempting (again) to cross over and get massive radio play.  Gang Starr wasn’t about selling out, they didn’t have a gold hit until 1999’s Moment of Truth,  a full decade after their debut.

It didn’t matter though.  Stats didn’t matter until after the 2000’s.

Look at the list of the potential groups that had Billboard hits from 1993-4 he could have had in his sights,  Mad Cobra, Ice Cube, Positive K, Digable Planets, Snow, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Onyx, MC Lyte, Lords of the Underground, Salt-n-Pepa, Boss, Domino, OutKast, Warren G, Da Brat, Kriss Kross, Craig Mack, 69Boyz…

The times were changing then.  The core audience was shifting.

They all were paranoid cause they were sonned like Elroy.

R.I.P. Keith Elam