Just found this interview from Modern Fix magazine, which was my first published cover feature, that I never put on the site. Ironically, A-Trak would prove to be heavily involved with the dreaded Hipster Rap invasion which Unkut was so instrumental in shutting down… While most of us were trying to score a six-pack and…
Category: Interviews
Q & A’s
Lakim Shabazz – The Unkut Interview, Part 1
With the exception of Queen Latifah, Lakim Shabazz proved to be the most prolific of the original Flavor Unit line-up, releasing two albums and a long list of guest spots on 45 King projects during his time at Tuff City. Despite his diminutive frame, Lakim wielded “the voice of power” with authority, as he combined…
Freshco – The Unkut Interview, Part 2
Concluding my talk with Freshco, he details what went down in the New Music Seminar in 1990, teaming up with DJ Miz, the mutual respect he shared with other top-tier lyricists and why his career as an MC didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped. Robbie: How did you get involved with the NMS? Freshco:…
Freshco – The Unkut Interview, Part 1
Freshco is best remembered as the being the winner of the 1990 New Music Seminar Battle For World Supremacy MC Battle who teamed up with the winner of the DJ Battle from that same year, DJ Miz. That story was covered in detail in the documentary World Supreme Hip-Hop, but there is a lot more…
Ron Delite [Priority One] – The Unkut Interview
One of the lesser-known albums released through Aaron Fuch‘s Tuff City label was Priority One‘s Total Chaos, which featured Bronx-born MC Ron Delite and Louie Louie doing their thing with claim “Featuring Mixes By The 45 King” scrawled across the cover. As a result of internal conflicts and label pressures, the project was’t everything Ron…
Unsigned Skype: Cole James Cash
Although I ignore pretty much everything that turns up randomly in my email, the notes for this album caught my eye: “Shoutout to New York for giving me my entire style of production that I essentially ripped off from producers much better than myself. Shoutout to my worthless deadbeat of a father for abandoning my…
Cappadonna – The Unkut Mini Interview
Cappadonna released a new double album last month titled Eyrth, Wynd and Fyre, which focused on more message-orientated tracks. I caught up with him for a quick discussion that provided as many jewels as it did dead-ends. He also explained he makes his music “the best way I know how, by milking this cow”, which…
MC Uptown Recalls Growing-Up With Biggie
Seems like the perfect time to revisit Uptown‘s memories of his friendship with Biggie Smalls… Uptown: I was about 10, 11 years old. I grew up in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York – about three blocks from where Biggie Smalls lived. Me and a whole bunch of friends would go around in the neighborhood and do…
Spyder-D – The Unkut Interview, Part 2
Continuing my talk with Spyder-D, we discuss his relationship with Sparky-D, the saga of Kool Moe Dee ripping-off his song, record label headaches and why Run won’t talk to him anymore. Robbie: Was the Tuff City compilation of your early work an authorized release? Spyder-D: I wouldn’t be surprised if Tuff City didn’t have something…
Spyder-D – The Unkut Interview, Part 1
Photo: Talib Haqq Spyder-D has quite the forgotten legacy. He was the first MC to release a record on his own label (“Big Apple Rappin’”, 1980), was sporting the pork-pie hat that inspired Run-DMC, helped “The Smurf” dance spread across America and stalked Vaughn Mason, all before 1985. He later had a song ripped-off by…
Black Rob – The Unkut Mini Interview, Part One
When I caught Black Rob on a patchy phone line this evening, he was in the studio recording new material for Life Story 2, and as a result was only able to spare ten minutes. Nevertheless, I was able to fill in a couple of the blanks in regards to his history in the rap…
Dante Ross Responds To The Uptown Interview
Since he was the topic of much of the Uptown interview posted yesterday, it’s only right that Dante Ross should be able to give us his version of events. This is what he just left in the comment section for those of you who already read the piece: Ok now there’s a lot of inaccuracies…