This is the worst news I’ve heard in a long time – K.L. from Kamakazee/Screwball has passed away after an asthma attack. Kenny Lou might have seemed like “the other guy” from Screwball, but he was really the heart of the crew since the beginning. When they finally dropped the Y2K album in 2000 after…
Author: Robbie Ettelson
A Tribute To TJ Swan
New information has finally come to light regarding the never-released TJ Swan album. Over the past four years I’ve asked a number of people if they’ve ever heard the Swan album that Marley Marl always used to mention in interviews. Here’s the story so far: DJ Ivory (P Brothers): “They made it. There are master…
Great Moments In Rap Pt. 2 – Kane and G Rap Head To Head
Another snippet from the Dr. Butcher sessions, detailing what could be argued is the greatest “unofficial” rap song ever recorded. Robbie: It seems like even G Rap and Kane had a friendly rivalry. Dr. Butcher: Absolutely! I’m sure you’ve heard the version of ‘Raw’ with G Rap and Kane freestylin’ on it. The story behind…
Kool Keith Talks Beat Digging
This is classic Keith: If you look at a lot of the music industry, they got rid of a lot of the bands that make rough-edge stuff. It’s like Slade, they used to play mean bass lines. They got rid of the keys that don’t match and the tough bass lines. They more or less…
Manipulated Jacksons – The Are Interview
Russel Gonzalez learned from the best. In his early days, he was hanging out with DJ Premier in their hometown of Houston, and got tips on using his first sampler from Rap-A-Lot producer Crazy C. By ’94 he had formed K-Otix with local rappers Mike and D, and they made a name for themselves amongst…
Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J
Rounding of the look at songs going at Kool Moe Dee is impossible without the contributions of LL Cool J. For anyone not familiar with this epic war of words, Moe took shots at LL for what he saw as biting his style. Not only did he attack LL verbally, but his album cover spelled…
Large Pro – Not A Big TV Fan
Ya man Paul Juice really doesn’t dig the ol’ idiot box much, as he dedicated the better part of two vaulted tracks to vent on the boob tube. Bad things that television might make you do, according to the Large Professor: 1. Wonder if Theo got good grades. 2. Discover who’s the next millionaire to…
Dr. Butcher Could Care Less About Run-DMC
Last December I was lucky enough to speak to Dr. Butcher for a couple hours, and he blessed me with some amazing stories about everything from his work to Kool G Rap, Akinyele and MF Grimm, plus a whole lot of shit I didn’t even know he was involved in. I’m not quite ready to…
Pete Rock – NY’s Finest Review
In some ways, the latest Pete Rock project is more of that same old timeless PR sound, but the thing that sets it apart this time around is the varied line-up of guests on board to lend vocal assists. While both of the Soul Survivor LP’s (and even Petestrumentals to a lesser extent) gave us…
B-Boy Records: The Archives – Album Review
You can’t go wrong with this compilation, since even if you own most of the B-Boy Records discography on 12″, it’ll save you the trouble of ripping all them shits onto your hard drive. Not only that, but the Traffic crew have mined through some of the original reels to provide us with some unheard…
Brother J Interview/X-Clan Vs BDP
Here’s one from the vaults – an interview with Brother J from the end of 2006 that was published in Modern Fix. I lost the original transcript where we discuss his production but until I get a chance to re-type it this will have to do. His comments on the BDP situation are especially interesting….
Effed-Up Movie Night – Fantastic Planet
It’s tough to pin down why this movie freaked me out when I was kid, but with it’s combination of bizarre sci-fi plot, creepy animation and acid-drenched soundtrack, Fantastic Planet is not a flick you forget in a hurry. A French animated film from 1973 (La Planète sauvage), it’s been very influential both in terms…