Cary Guy (born December 13, 1961), better known as Big Shug, is an American rapper from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, a co-founder of

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American Hip-hop, hip hop duo, consisting of Houston-born record producer DJ Premier and Boston-based rapper Guru (rapper), Guru. Gang Starr was at its height from 1989 to 2003, and is considered a widely influential MC-and-pr ...

and a member of the Gang Starr Foundation collective.

Biography

Born in Boston, Cary spent much of his early life in Boston's Mattapan area (known locally as "Murdapan").Cordor, Cyril
Biography
, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-03-19 Growing up, he forged a friendship with rapper

Guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

, leading to them eventually founding the group

Morehouse College Morehouse College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Men's colleges in the United States, men's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, ...

with Shug's younger brother DJ Suave D. The group disbanded when Shug was imprisoned and eventually Guru moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, where he added

DJ Premier Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo), is an American record producer and DJ. He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop's greatest producers by publications such as '' ...

to Gang Starr. On his release, Shug again hooked up with Guru, joined the Gang Starr Foundation, and contributed to each of Gang Starr's albums, beginning with '' Hard to Earn'' in 1994 (on "F.A.L.A."). He also appeared on

DJ Krush , better known by his stage name DJ Krush, is a Japanese record producer and DJ. He is known for his atmospheric instrumental production which incorporates sound elements from nature, and extensive use of jazz and soul samples. Early life Ishi ...

's '' Meiso'' in 1995 as well as "The Militia" from 1998's '' Moment of Truth'', and contributed to Guru's Jazzmatazz albums.Frampton. Megan
Gang Starr
, TrouserPress During the 1990s, Shug recorded a few 12-inch singles produced by DJ Premier for Payday and

Chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

, but his first proper solo album, ''Who's Hard'' was not released until 2005 and half of the songs were handled by DJ Premier. He signed to New York's Babygrande in 2007, and released his second album, ''Streetchamp''. The album was produced by

MoSS Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

and DJ Premier and features guest appearances from DJ Premier and Sean Price.Brown, Marisa " - ''Streetchamp'' Review, allmusic, Macrovision CorporationHartlaub, Joe (2007)

, music-reviewer.com A third solo album, ''Otherside of the Game'', was released in November 2008, and features DJ Premier, Bumpy Knuckles, Billy Danze of M.O.P., Termanology, Blaq Poet, and Singapore Kane. He performed at the 2009 Boston hemp fest. He is featured on the single "Tap Out", which appears on M-Dot & DJ Jean Maron's 2010 album Run MPC. The video of "tap out" was directed by Steven TAPIA. In 2010 he also collaborated with (artist) Aztech and (producer) Reel Drama on their album Hybrid Genetics. In 2010 he collaborated with west coast hip hop artist Spinz on a song called "Round Tha World" that was recorded while touring Europe. In 2012 he worked again with Dj Jean Maron for the release of the official remix of "Heavy" a posse cut with M-Dot, Benefit & B.A.M (M.O.P/Lil Fame's cousin). In 2013 Guy appeared in two movies. In the HBO movie " Clear History," he was door security for the band

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In " The Heat," starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, he was "Tough Guy #2." He also appeared in Boston-based films "The Town", and "Black Mass". Big Shug released his sixth studio album "Triple OGzus" in March 2015. Shug's upcoming project is entitled "The Living Room Project" according to his Instagram page. As of January 2019, there is no word on the release date of the album. In January 2019, Big Shug announced his new album will be entitled “The Diamond Report” while “The Living Room Project” has been rumored to have been shelved or pushed off but Shug has not confirmed this. A promotional single entitled "Still Big" for Shug's new album coming out later that month was released on October 7. On October 25, 2019, Big Shug released his seventh studio album "The Diamond Report". On the same day, Shug released the first single from the album "EMF" which was produced by long time friend of Guy, DJ Premier. The following week, Big Shug was featured on Gang Starr's newest album " One of the Best Yet" on two tracks, "One of the Best Yet (Big Shug Interlude)" and "Take Flight (Militia, Pt. 4)". Big Shug's music is known to frequently be featured on DJ Premier's radio show on Sirius XM. In late 2024 Big Shug announced that his eighth album would be titled "Undefeated" and fully produced by DJ Premier. The album is currently slated for an early 2025 release.

Discography

*''Never Say Die: The Pre-Album'' (2005) *''Who's Hard?'' (2005) *''Street Champ'' (2007) *''Otherside of the Game'' (2008) *''I.M. 4-EVA'' (2012) *''Triple OGzus'' (2015) *''The Diamond Report'' (2019) *''Undefeated'' (with

) (2025)

References

External links

*Hernandez, Pedro (2007)
Big Shug :: Street Champ :: Babygrande Records
, RapReviews
Big Shug Interview
, DJBooth.net
Big Shug Interview
, Riotsound.com *Kordich, Jason (2007)
The Street Champ Speaks: An interview with Big Shug
, Jive Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Shug 1961 births Living people Male actors from Boston African-American male rappers 20th-century American male rappers 21st-century American male rappers People from Mattapan East Coast hip-hop musicians Rappers from Boston 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians American hip-hop singers Gang Starr Foundation members