All that talk about classic albums the other week got me thinking, can a front loaded rap album stand up against something that’s strong from start to finish? The legacy of top-heavy LPs
Category: The 80’s Files
Which four rap classics should Harvard have honoured first?
The good news is that Harvard University will be honouring a minimum of ten hip-hop classics every year for future study and appreciation. The bad news, it seems, is that they’ve put 9th Wonder in charge of curating it and notate everything with links to Rap Dummy. I’m assuming that the enormous importance of pioneering…
Ranking KRS-One’s First Nine Albums
Every other week some bullshit blogger ranks Kanye West albums, so here’s a ranking that’s actually worth a damn. I stopped after 1997 because I haven’t enjoyed any of them enough to remember much about them after point.
Kool G Rap and DJ Polo – Keep It Swingin’ [Original Version]
This was a tip sent in by Michael, via a Philly Flava forum rip taken from a Crates of JR post – the original version of Kool G Rap and DJ Polo’s ‘Keep It Swingin’,’ a track that wound up as an inferior remix on the Rated XXX compilation in much the same way as…
Download: A Salute To Just-Ice
Finishing up Just-Ice Week with fifteen choice cuts from the man who can ‘bench press anything.’ Download: A Salute To Just-Ice
D.J. Whiz Kid – House tape [1981]
Another sure-shot treat from Troy L’s tape collection, demonstrating how advanced DJ Whiz Kid’s turntable techniques were in 1981. Part 2:
Download: A Salute To Pumpkin
Here’s a soundtrack to yesterday’s interview, presented in approximately chronological order. Download: A Salute To Pumpkin
King of the Beat – An interview with Pumpkin’s nephew
Little is known about the legendary drummer/producer behind classic rap jams from Enjoy, Profile and Tuff City, so when his nephew Koolie Kookoo hit me up this past December I jumped at the chance to find out more about the great man. Here are some of Koolie’s favourite memories and anecdotes of his uncle. Robbie:…
Download: A Salute To Non-Album B-Sides [80’s Edition, Volume 1]
As promised, here’s the first part of the Eighties Edition. This period is a little trickier, as for much of it rap was still a ‘singles’ medium, so many artists never even got to release albums at all, which opens the playing field pretty wide. To keep it manageable, I’ve stuck to crews and soloists…
Searching For Subliminals – A masterclass in paranoia
The sad truth is that there are legions of unpaid interns working for ‘culture’ websites whose prime objective is to scour the lyrics of Drake/Kanye/Jay-Z for anything even vaguely resembling a subliminal diss. While a lot of late eighties rap could be relied on for rival MCs to straight-up call out the competition by name,…
Three Bizarre Incidents Involving Rap on British TV
All of these clips are equal parts bizarre and amazing. The first features interviews with Schoolly-D and Mantronix while they were on tour in the UK, while overlaying ‘witty’ comments and alleged statistics about violence at rap shows in a manner which suggests that the producers of the segment were either taking the piss or…
Download: A Salute To Ice-T
When I first went to high school, I remember I’d memorized the entire intro to Rhyme Pays and would recite it to pretty girls for reasons which now escape me. Let’s just say it was a simpler time. Ice-T‘s first four albums combined humor, slick talk and social commentary in a way which set him…