The first time I attempted to interview Sadat X happened to be the day before he was headed to jail, so it’s fair to say that he wasn’t exactly thrilled to be spending his final hours of freedom taking on the phone to some jag-off such as myself. It turned out to be of of…
Category: Rap Veterans
Video: The Juice Crew All-Stars – Live At The Apollo [1988]
Although this looks like it was filmed on Dick Tracey‘s bionic wristwatch, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. The debut performance of the ‘Juice Crew All-Stars World Tour 1988’ at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, backed by five DJ’s at once – DJ Chilly Q, DJ Polo, Mr. Cee, Cool V and Marley…
J. Force – The Unkut Interview
Best known for his two independent singles and involvement with Marley Marl’s Future Flavas radio show, Staten Island’s J.Force revealed that he has a long history in the rap game dating back to the late 80’s when he sat down to share his story with me recently. Robbie: How did you start in the music…
Prince Paul – The Unkut Interview
While talking to Prince Paul and his son, Pforreal, last week, I couldn’t resist asking Paul Snr. some questions about his days as the DJ for Stetsasonic. When P had to leave early to sort out some traffic tickets, I took the opportunity to kick it with the Prop Master about his history in the…
Funkmaster Flex – Chris Lighty Tribute Mix
Funkmaster Flex goes in on his dedication to the Violators.
Keyboard Money Mike – The Unkut Interview
After beginning his career as a child prodigy of sorts, Keyboard Money Mike went on to have a long and varied career in the music game, and was involved in the earliest records of Ultramagentic MC’s and KRS-One before he was made the Vice President of B-Boy Records. These days he’s involved with everything from…
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…
Sorry Doug E. Fresh – Lord Finesse Is The World’s Greatest Entertainer
Turns out not all free rap show’s suck. The other night Lord Finesse blessed us with an encore performance that was nothing short of unfuckwittable. Figuring that the Funkyman would do a quick 15 minutes set and maybe spin some records and bounce, it turned out that he delivered an hour of lyrical gems –…
Ghostface Killah & Raekwon The Chef – The Lost Unkut Interview
Around the time of Stark’s R&B album and Chef’s Cuban sequel, I interviewed the two of them for Hip-Hop Connection Digital. Here are some of the parts that I didn’t feature in the original piece that mainly cover some of the old days of Staten Island rap. Robbie: What were the early days like on…
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…
Vintage Tape of KRS-One & Scott La Rock Discussing The Bridge Is Over
Original Concept‘s Doctor Dre used to have a radio show called The Operating Room back in the days, and he just happened to get BDP into the studio just as the Bridge Wars started popping-off. There is no other way to describe these recordings other than effin’ awesome. The late, great DJ Scott La Rock…