Originally printed in Modern Fix #51. Despite having maintained his position as one of hip-hop’s most enduring tough guys for the last twenty years, Blaq Poet refuses to be stuck in the past. As he proclaims on “Bang This” (the opening track on his latest album): “My mindstate is ’88. but my style is ’09…I’m…
Category: Steady Bootleggin’
Holding it down for angry loners & the unemployable
Skits That Don’t Suck – Ass-Breath Killers
I notice that there’s plenty of Coup action over at Whoola Town and the Dub B U HQ, but the highlight of their impressive new album (out this week) has to be the hilarious skits. There have been some entertaining portrayal of square white guys over the years on interludes, but “Yes ‘Em To Death”…
Lost Ultra Tracks Part 2 – Clear Versions
Just when you thought the Ced Gee Special was over and done, I received a little something in my inbox from a guy calling himself Tim Frog. He sent me versions of the unrelesed mixes of “MC Champions” (sadly it cuts out before MC James gets on) and “Message From The Boss” that are a…
Forgotten Beefs Part 6 – MF Doom vs Parker Lewis
Sorry to confuse any UK rap fans, but the Parker Lewis I’m referring to isn’t in fact the British MC/producer who provided the beat for the first song on Fishscale (Lewis Parker), but the name of the lead character from that TV show that tried to recreate the whole Ferris Buellers Day Off vibe. In…
Lakim Shabazz – The Voice of Power
Without a doubt, Lakim Shabazz was the busiest member of the Flavor Unit during their peak period, with two solo long-players to his credit and guest shots on every 45 King album that featured vocals. This little guy with the voice of a giant was also staunch representative of the 5% Nation of Islam, which…
Who’s The Champion?
This will be the last Ghostface post for a while, but since the retail version of Fishscale has been finalised, I thought I’d highlight a couple of things that didn’t make the final cut. “Charlie Brown” didn’t make it, nor did “Murder Goons” (aka “Hot 97”). To really confuse everyone, there seem to be three…
The Fresh One
As one of the least prolific members of the original Flavor Unit, Markey Fresh still made quite an impression based upon his performance on “The King Is Here” alone. A brilliant slice of lo-fi theme music declaring the superiority of New Jersey’s king of the beats, this staple of Red Alert‘s Kiss-FM show exists in…
Thanks Kayslay!
(far right) The Drama King before he discovered fried foods. As a result of Bol pointing out that the XXL site is up, I got my hands on a little Ironman exclusive that didn’t make the album. For those of you who don’t fuck with streaming audio, I flipped it into an mp3. Don’t say…
Super Heavy-Duty Tough Work – 45 King Bootleg LP
This is a strange one. While the logos on the label would have us believe that DJ Mark The 45 King recorded an album for Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam following the hit he gave Jay-Z (“Hard Knock Life”) in 1998, there’s really no reason to think this is anything but a bootlegger scam (the whole “Mark 45…
Now, That’s More Like It
While I certainly had some reservations about an album from GFK and Zev, this new leak is renewing my enthusiasm for the project. Ghostface Killah & MF Doom – Angels Rejected album titles for this album (so far): Face/Off The Masked Avengers Ghosts of Doom Doomface Ghostdoom We Got The Internet Goin’ Nuts Pt. 2…
Hearing Every Dope Beat With Dope Voices
Despite the fact that his classic debut single served as the inspiration for the name of his crew, Latee remains as one of the more enigmatic members of the New Jersey collective. Anyone who used to catch Kool DJ Red Alert‘s show on KISS-FM would instantly recognise the block-rocking Fatback riff and earth-shattering kick drum…
Rae And Ghost United
Last Friday, a new Fishscale bootleg/advance hit the “streets” of the internets, but at fourteen tracks deep, I’m 99% sure that it’s nowhere near the offical version (for starters, “Charlie Brown” and “Big Girl” from the sampler aren’t on it). Nevertheless, at least some of these songs will turn up on the real album, so…