''Moment of Truth'' is the fifth album by hip hop duo

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts rapper Guru. For the entirety of their association, they were based out of Brooklyn, New York. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2 ...

, released on March 31, 1998 by

Noo Trybe Records Noo Trybe Records was an American hip hop record label established in 1994 by Eric L. Brooks and operated as a sublabel of Virgin Records. It worked with several independent hip hop labels including Rap-A-Lot Records and AWOL. History A portion ...

and

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

. Gang Starr recorded ''Moment of Truth'' in sessions at

D&D Studios D&D Studios was a recording studio located in New York City on the west side of 37th street. Artists that recorded there include Jay-Z, Foxy Brown, The Notorious B.I.G., Fat Joe, Nas, Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja, Afu-Ra, KRS-One, Frankie Cu ...

. It is widely regarded as Gang Starr's magnum opus, and one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.

Commercial performance

The album is the group's most commercially successful album to date. ''Moment of Truth'' debuted at #1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. The album sold 97,000 copies in its first week. It went on to sell over 500,000 copies and was certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on May 7, 1998. The lead single, "You Know My Steez," became the duo's second ''Billboard'' Hot 100 appearance in 1997, peaking at #76. ''Spin'' magazine ranked it as the #16 album of 1998. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' also ranked it as the 16th best album of 1998.

In popular culture

The album's title track was featured in the 2011

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

film ''

The Lincoln Lawyer ''The Lincoln Lawyer'' is a 2005 novel, the 16th by American crime writer Michael Connelly. It introduces Los Angeles attorney Mickey Haller, half-brother of Connelly's mainstay character Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It was adapted as ...

''. The title track also appeared in the soundtrack of the 2001 video game ''

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 ''Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2'' is a sports video game developed by Z-Axis and Full Fat and published by Acclaim Entertainment under their Acclaim Max Sports label. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in August 2001, and in the following months ...

'' as well as an episode during the third season of the television show

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...

. The song ''Work'' appears on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

promos for '' SC6 with Michael/Jemele''. ''Work'' also appeared in the 1998 movie "Caught Up" starring Bokeem Woodbine and was included on the soundtrack.

Track listing

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Chart positions from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine

References

1998 albums Gang Starr albums Albums produced by DJ Premier Albums produced by Guru Virgin Records albums {{1990s-hip-hop-album-stub