Following the mixed blessings that were McGruff‘s deal with Uptown, where Heavy D tried to Sean “Puffy” Combs’ Herb’s sound for something smoother, with decidedly mixed results, the Crime Dog took it back the gutter with this self-released 1998 single featuring the mighty Mob Style, Loon and Meebo over a gritty piano loop. “They thought…
Category: The 90’s Files
Ten Early Cormega Appearances
Just after I put this together I recalled I’d already done a similar post back in 2009. Regardless, here’s a new improved look back at Cormega’s early raps from 1989 to 1997.
The Unkut Opinion: It’s Mostly (Completely) The Voice
There may only be two rapper’s with high pitched voices who I can tolerate – Milk D from Audio 2 and Ad Rock from the Beastie Boys, who also happened to have joined forces to record “Spam,” perhaps the most ear-splitting, obnoxious and completely brilliant rap song of all time. Otherwise, I have little to…
Diamond D – The Unkut Interview
Growing up in Forest Projects in the South Bronx, DJ Diamond D embarked on a career as a local DJ before teaming-up with childhood friend Master Rob to form the Ultimate Force crew and release the “I’m Not Playing” single on Strong City. Following on from yesterdays detailed breakdown of his first solo album, we…
Track By Track: Diamond D Breaks Down The Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop Album
Today marks ten years since I started Unkut Dot Com, and what better way to celebrate than to sit down with the original “Best Producer On The Mic” himself, Diamond D. Originally scheduled to take place in late 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of his classic debut album, Stunts, Blunts & Hip-Hop, it wasn’t…
A Collector’s Guide To White Rap Players
Click to enlarge. Pause. Motorbooty, aka the Greatest Music Magazine Ever, once featured this four page collection of baseball cards dedicated to the history of saltine rappers dudes and dames. Salutes to Mark Dancey and Mark Rubin for putting this pioneering work together.
Read The Label: The Hydra Entertainment Story
The independent hip-hop resurgence of the mid-90’s seems great in retrospect, but in the days before widespread internets access it was often a case of pot-luck when ordering the latest batch of vinyl via fax from Beat Street or Mr Bongos. While most artists were releasing one-shot singles on their own imprints, there soon emerged…
The Juice Crew – 1990 Tim Westwood Freestyle
Here’s a Tim Westwood sure shot from 1990, courtesy of CRC member Palmer Stallings. Biz Markie, Tragedy, Craig G, Big Daddy Kane and MC Shan all drop verses, alhough sadly there’s no sign of TJ Swan despite him apparently being in the house. Shout-out to the other radio station that crosses the signal a few…
Unkut TV: Episode 22 – Special Ed Live In Philly
Following the Kool G Rap & DJ Polo set at Treasures in Philly, Special Ed took to the stage and performed “Think About It”, “Crooklyn”, “Come On Let’s Move It” and “I Got It Made”. Basically half of the crowd had gone outside for a smoke by the time he hit the stage, but Ed’s…
The U.N. – Unreleased [1999]
A Frozen Files radio exclusive from last month, this is destined for the UN Or U Out re-release next year with a few other cuts that only did the rounds on bootlegs.
Forgotten Rap Skits: Threat – Cheating Gal Trilogy
DJ Pooh and Threat put together this trilogy of skits on the superb Sickinnahead LP in 1992, as a prospective player named Joe attempts to creep with a gal named Kim without alerting her boyfriend. Forget De La Soul and NWA skitnology, the layers at work here as Kim fakes-out her man is Oscar-worthy. Bonus…
Forgotten Rap Skits: Mr. Hood
KMD‘s Mr. Hood album was something else when it first hit the streets. Set out like some Sesame St. style concept LP that threw Ansaar teachings, light-hearted skirt chasing and De La Soul-infused coded lyrics into a blender over some of the most diverse sample sources of the day (everything from blues to Bert and…