![]() ![]() After the third encore Premier warned Guru loudly, "You sure this one's going to rhyme?" and at close to 1am the last songs didn't. The renowned synergy between DJ Premier and MC Guru was as fresh as it was five years ago, yet it progressively showed signs of tiredness and age. The baby hip-hoppers seemed as comfortable with the old tunes from No More Mr Nice Guy as they were funking around to Gang's new single, The Skills. Although Gang Starr has been around for over 10 years, it was surprising to see a crowd mostly made up of 18- to 23-year-olds. Songs like The Militia and Full Clip still hold the deep bass ghetto-blasting energy of olden days. The beginning of the show was packed with energy and the support of two guest MCs-cum-instigators worked wonders for the crowd. They made a good choice by opening with the classics from their LP Full Clip (an album that is more lyrically driven and musically traditional than their new The Ownerz). Forget the failed audience-spirit-raising techniques of De La Soul (who spent their gig trying to get the passive Kiwi audience to leave its inhibitions behind.) Guru blasting water guns and basking in the attention of their fans managed to bring the roof down without making a disproportionate effort. Jim July believed the murderer was a neighbor with whom the couple had been feuding, but no one was ever convicted of the crime.By FEDERICO MONSALVE So the veteran old-school hip-hop duo Gang Starr stomped onto the St James stage sporting a presence that said nothing more than "So what?" They were not pretending toughness with the homie-strut type of dismissal or the James Dean detachment but performed with the methodical carelessness of veteran musicians who have developed a technique that works, and are sticking to it. On her way home, someone ambushed and fatally wounded her with two shotgun blasts to her back. Belle accompanied her young lover for part of the journey but turned back before reaching Fort Smith. In 1889, July was arrested for robbery and summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to face charges. Belle wasted no time in finding a third companion, a Creek Indian named Jim July, an outlaw who was 15 years her junior. In 1886, Belle again lost a husband to violent death when Sam Starr was killed in a gunfight with an old enemy. The Starrs managed to elude capture for nearly a decade, but in 1883 they were arrested for horse theft and both served five months in the Detroit federal prison.įreed from prison, the couple immediately resumed their criminal careers. There she met a young Cherokee named Sam Starr, who eventually became her common-law husband and new criminal partner. ![]() Pursued by the law, she drifted into Oklahoma Indian Territory, where she led a band of cattle and horse thieves. In 1874, a member of his own gang killed Reed, and Belle was suddenly on her own. Riding her mare, Venus, and sporting velvet skirts and plumed hats, Belle played the role of a “bandit queen” for several years. She joined him in stealing cattle, horses, and money in the Dallas area. Belle was apparently untroubled by her new husband’s reputation and she had become his partner in crime by 1869. ![]() Regardless, Belle’s relationship with Younger was short-lived, and in 1866 she became Reed’s wife. Rumor had it that Younger fathered Belle’s first child, Pearl, though the father might have actually been another outlaw, Jim Reed. In 1866, she met Cole Younger, a member of the James-Younger gang that was gaining notoriety for a series of daring bank and train robberies. In Texas, Belle began her life-long pattern of associating with men of questionable character. Devastated, the Shirley family abandoned Missouri to try to make a fresh start in Texas. Seemingly headed for an unexciting but respectable middle-class life, her fate was changed by the outbreak of the Civil War, which ruined her father’s business as a Carthage innkeeper and claimed the life of her brother Edwin. Born Myra Belle Shirley on a small farm near Carthage, Missouri, in 1848, she received an education in the classics and became a competent pianist. The outlaw Belle Starr is killed when an unknown assailant fatally wounds the famous “Bandit Queen” with two shotgun blasts from behind.Īs with the lives of other famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James, fanciful accounts printed in newspapers and dime novels made Belle Starr’s harsh and violent life appear far more romantic than it actually was. ![]()
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