[pdf-embedder url=”http://www.unkut.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/CRC-Rapper-Report-Card.pdf”] Link to full size version After last week’s Jadakiss impromptu grading as a rapper, I got to thinking about how other rappers might fare if I scored them using Kool Moe Dee‘s patented Rapper Report Card system. For the purposes of this test, I simply plucked a name out of mid-air and scored…
Author: Robbie Ettelson
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Why producer albums are almost never worthwhile
Anyone want to hear a twenty track album with six random rappers crammed onto every song? Nah, didn’t think so. No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Why producer albums are almost never worthwhile
Download: A Salute To AZ
AZ is a great rapper who also made his mark as a Conservative Rap Coalition style icon thanks to his affinity for sweater vests, polos and sensible shirts. While he had to work a little harder than most to escape Nas’ shadow (I’ve deliberately excluded anything involving him here), when he has the right beat…
Do you need to have made a classic album to be considered one of the greatest?
While I was trolling Jadakiss apologists today for calling his new album Top Five Dead or Alive, lamenting his complete inability to ever make an official album with more than three good songs, a thought struck me – maybe you don’t actually need a certified classic album to be considered one of the best of…
Download: A Salute To Non-Album B-Sides [Nineties Edition, Vol. 2]
By popular demand – and because there were so many tracks that I had to leave off the first volume – here’s part two of the nineties edition of Non-Album B-Sides. Thanks to everyone who suggested some of the stuff that I forgot about the first time around, and I hope you appreciate that I’ve…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Little records? Big deal!
The rap 7″ scene is outta control and I’m calling shenanigans. No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Little records? Big deal!
Download: A Salute To Non-Album B-Sides [Nineties Edition, Vol. 1]
After reading through the responses to the ‘Death of the b-side’ article, it was clear to me that the streets were fiending for a ZR&T collection of b-sides. There turned out to be so many great songs to choose from that I’ve had to split it up by the decade to fit everything on. Expect…
The one that got away…
After eleven years, my dream of one day interviewing Godfather Don has finally been put to rest. Having previously tried to get Hydra Records honcho Jerry Famolari to connect me with this reclusive character in the late 00’s and then being contacted by a member of Don’s band several years later – who offered to…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Looking back at Snoop’s sophomore struggle
As part of some cruel joke, my editor at Acclaim thought it would be amusing to force me to listen to Snoop Doggy Dogg’s second album, which was released nineteen years ago today. No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Looking back at Snoop’s sophomore struggle
Download: A Salute To New Flips of Old Breaks
This is a slightly different approach to the usual ‘A Salute To…’ series, in that it’s a collection of face-offs of two tracks that flip a well-worn loop in a fresh new way, plus a couple of bonus instrumentals that rework classic breaks. It’s worth noting that Diamond D beat Salaam Remi to the punch…
DJ Pizzo [HipHopSite.com] – The Unkut Interview
I did some work with DJ Pizzo this year over at Cuepoint, but previous to that I’d been a loyal customer of the main mail-order hip-hop stores, one of which was HipHopSite, which was founded by Pizzo and Warren Peace in 1996. He explained how the wild west that was the early internet allowed their…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Mourning The Death of the B-Side
Records are the bane of my existance, as they’re an absolute bitch to transport when you move, are highly susceptible to flood damage and take up far too much space around the house. The one thing they do have going for them, however, is the b-side. http://www.acclaimmag.com/music/country-old-rap-men-mourning-death-b-side/