A lot of good rap was released in 1994. But for my money, the finest example of the artform was demonstrated by the Intoxicated Demons from Corona, Queens. While Illmatic took rhymes to new heights, as a complete package there was nothing that approached the first long player from this trio of rap maniacs, with…
Category: Great Moments In Rap
Is it too late to shoot Harry Allen’s concept for the Miuzi Weighs A Ton video?
The ‘You’re Gonna Get Yours’/’Miuzi Weighs A Ton’/’Rebel Without A Pause’ single was the first record I ever owned, and the idea of the following video concept being shot in 1987 or 2027 would be equally inspiring. A lot better than watching them walk around London, that’s for dang sure. Click each image for a…
Dr. Knockboots or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying About Live Streams And Love Rapping Over Live Instruments
A funny thing happened today. I found myself in the precarious (although not altogether unwelcome) position of having to recant my previous hardline stance involving the combination of rapping and live instruments at shows. Following on from the underwhelming Mobb Deep reunion of 2011 and the slightly less unfortunate 50 Cent show, I was utterly…
Great Consecutive Albums Runs
I was musing about the fact that EPMD had an amazing run of three four cutting-edge albums before they parted ways the first time, which is almost unprecedented. However, as Old Man Rap Twitter pointed out, there are a few other contenders: Run-DMC – Set the pace on their first three LP’s, although Tougher Than…
Tom Silverman [Tommy Boy/NMS] – The Unkut Interview
Here’s the complete transcript of my talk with Tom Silverman, who created the Dance Music Report and Tommy Boy Records in addition to co-founding the New Music Seminar, home of the MC and DJ Battle for World Supremacy. There’s a lot that I couldn’t fit into the NMS oral history piece from last month, so…
Rap Game DeLorean
So Doc Brown shows up and says you can borrow the modified DeLoran to go back in time. Where do you go? Here are a few rap related suggestions once you’ve tired of trips to ancient Egypt, seen the dinosaurs and punched Hitler in the throat: 1. Checking out Kool Herc DJing his sister’s rent…
Ced-Gee Details His Work On Criminal Minded
Stumbled onto this piece of gold the other night thanks to TR Love – Angus Batey’s interview with Kool Keith and Ced-Gee for the liner notes of the Roadrunner edition of Critical Beatdown! Of particular interest was Ced’s breaking down his involvement with Criminal Minded: Ced-Gee: Me and Scott [La Rock] grew up together. I…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Rap Dynasties That Deserve A Biopic
What the world clearly needs is more poorly-acted dramatizations of great rap groups. No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Rap Dynasties That Deserve A Biopic
DJ Cash Money Explains The Echo Scratch
DJ Cash Money broke down the story behind this timeless piece of audio on Facebook yesterday. DJ Cash Money: Wow my man Too Tuff just sent me this…I haven’t heard this in years…The Cash Money Echo Scratch on Lady B’s Show…..Talk about taking me back? I remember the day after this was on the radio..I…
Ultimate Breaks and Beats: An Oral History
Photo: K-Prince. This one has been cooking up for long time now, but it’s finally out of the oven and ready to throw on your plate with a side of mash – the history of the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series told by the people who put them together and some of the DJ’s and…
Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew – La Di Da Di [Live from the Funhouse, 1986]
From the collection of J – Blast, Operator Emz edit. Great trolling from Doug at the start of this. Spotted at ego trip.
Video: Mantronix, T La Rock and Word of Mouth Live In The UK [1986]
Thanks to Drew Huge for spotting this classic clip of Rock Around The Clock, a hip-hop event broadcast on UK TV in 1986 featuring performances from Word of Mouth and DJ Cheese, Mantronix, T La Rock and local lads Phaze One, with commentary from Morgan Khan, Dave Pierce and John Peel (who was able to…