While Self Induced Illness and Clarified Butter had some great songs on them, it wasn’t until this years Respect The Fly Shit that Meyhem Lauren really hit his stride as far as establishing a comprehensive sound, courtesy of Harry Fraud and Tommy Mas. With a wider range of tempos, Meyhem was able to break out…
Category: Killa Queens
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Should We Care About Mobb Deep Breaking Up?
Months after it went down, I finally talk about the alleged Mobb Deep situation: No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Should We Care About Mobb Deep Breaking Up?
Neek The Exotic – The Unkut Interview
Neek The Exotic has been known as the hyper-energetic understudy to Large Pro for his entire career, but this year he’s decided to branch out on his own two with the release of his Real Deal Hip-Hop EP in a couple of weeks and the Hustle Don’t Stop LP to follow. Battling poor phone reception,…
Geechie Dan – The Unkut Interview, Part 1
Some of the best stories in hip-hop come from the local talent that never made the step into the record game. Queens native Geechie Dan shares some memories about his experiences as a local MC and hanging out with a young LL Cool J and Mikey D in his prime. Robbie: When did you start…
Everybody Hates Nas
Did you find yourself giggling like a schoolgirl who just shot her first can of 4-Loko when news broke this week of Nas’ tax problems? Find yourself Tweeting things like ‘#naslost’ at random? Then you may be one of the millions of rap fans who have developed a deep-seated condition known as Nas Envy. Let’s…
Five Great LL Cool J Anecdotes
The homie Dallas Penn laced me with this vintage flick of Drewski aka Dr. Butcher chilling out the front of his crib in Corona, Queens with Todd James, courtesy of Aman-Ra‘s archives, which inspired me to go back through the Unkut vaults to recall six of my favorite LL Cool J stories from my extensive…
Tragedy Khadafi – The Unkut Interview, Part 2
Continuing from Part 1, Trag discusses dealing with depression, mentoring MC’s and the origin of his military state of mind. Robbie: Can you tell me more about the fall-out from your second album? Tragedy Khadafi: I’ve been rhyming since I was nine and I started writing songs when I was eleven, so I’ve been rhyming…
Tragedy Khadafi – The Unkut Interview, Part 1
Photo: ARMEN Tragedy Khadafi is considered to be the blueprint of the Queensbridge style of rhyming, which has become world-renowned thanks to artists like Nas, Mobb Deep and Cormega. Even though he never achieved the commercial acclaim of some of those who followed in his footsteps – due to a variety of personal and professional…
Searching For The Perfect Remix: Marley Marl
Engineer All-Star Marley Marl came from the era when a remix often meant turning-up the drums, dropping out the main loop occasionally and adding a horn blast and some echo, but even when the additions were relatively minor, they proved to be incredibly effective. The remixed versions of ‘Vapors’ and ‘Shootin’ The Gift’ both maintain…
Did Russell Simmons Blackball Marley Marl?
Last week I received a book in the mail to review, called The BeatTips Manual, by Amir “Sa’id” Said. I haven’t finished it yet, since I’m also in the middle of reading How To Wreck A Nice Beach, but one of the first sections I checked-out were the interview transcriptions at the back. One in…
The ‘Lo-End Theory In The Streets…
I learned some crazy shit doing my thing in New York City over the past forty years. Basically, the world is a huge place, but the people that vibe along the same frequency is the smaller subset and y’all will always find each other. That is what used to happen at record stores when you…
The Long, Drawn-Out Death of Fat Beats…
Dallas Penn contributes this drop in the first of a series of guest spots while his site is on hiatus: Fat Beats was like your older uncle who you didn’t visit as often so that when you got the news of his death it was from the other folks who still brought him his wine…