DJ Iran unearthed some classic Strong Island history from his archives. Thanks to crate digga for the tip.
Category: Strong Island
J-1 From Hardknocks – The Unkut Interview
Hardknocks delivered something unique when they dropped the School of Hard Knocks album in 1992. It stood-out both musically and lyrically as a sophisticated blend of hardcore rhymes and groove-heavy beats that sounded nothing like any other record of the era. Then they promptly vanished…leaving a lot of unanswered questions for rap fanatics who knew…
The Unkut Guide To Marcberg Food References
Here’s a brand new Phillip “Half-A-Mill” Mlynar sure-shot: There was only one rap album that mattered in 2010 – and it wasn’t by anyone who felt the need to show their dark twisted appendage to the world. That project, Roc Marciano‘s Marcberg, was critically untouchable, the most unadulterated example of the potency of New York…
Grand Daddy I.U. – The Unkut Interview
Grand Daddy I.U. dropped a superb album on Cold Chillin’ back in 1990, spawning the popular ‘Something New’, ‘This Is A Recording’ and ‘Sugar Free’. He also made a stand-out appearance on Big L‘s album with a tongue twisting Jay-Z and most recently contributed the ‘Da Veteran’ to Marco Polo‘s latest release. Currently working on…
Keith Shocklee Discusses ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions…’
Some bonus material from my interview with Bomb Squad co-founder Keith Shocklee which covers their seminal work with Public Enemy: Keith Shocklee: ‘We’d done records before, but we’d never been totally left alone to do an album. Hank and Chuck and my cousin Eric did like 98% of the ‘Yo! Bumrush The Show’ album –…
Grand Daddy I.U. = The King of Twitter
I.U. can still kill it on the mic, as he demonstrated on ‘Da Veteran’ (available soon Marco Polo‘s The Stupendous Adventures Of Marco Polo LP).1 But don’t sleep on the man’s Twitter game – your man is dropping jewels all over this piece! Here are six of his finest moments: 1. 90’s Babies Note: You…
Supply And Demand – Scholarwise Interview
Photo: Alexander Richter Here’s another sure-shot from Phillip ‘Half-A-Mil’ Mlynar, who has managed to track down someone so obscure that even Lace Da Booms was like, ‘Oh, snap!’. Over a decade on from its 1998 release, Scaramanga‘s Seven Eyes, Seven Horns album now sounds like one of the purest statements from the mid-to-late-’90s indie rap…
Roc Marciano – The Unkut Interview, Volume 2
Photo: Alexander Richter The first time I spoke to Marciano, his UN crew had paired down to him two members and he had just landed a solo deal with SRC, with plans to put together a project for early 2008 release. Since then, he was pretty much MIA for a couple of years with the…
Roc Marciano – Marcberg Album Review
This is Critical Beatdown for 2010. While it doesn’t exactly share any similarities in terms of the beat science presented, Marcberg is a game-changer. Much like the impact of Ultramagnetic MC’s long-awaited debut, you’ve never really heard an album like this before. No guest producers, over-used hooks or any type of traditional song-structure for that…
Rakim – The Seventh Seal Album Review
Rakim has had some tough breaks over his career in the music business – having dealt with bad record contracts, a DJ of questionable ability and some misguided A&R people on his two previous solo projects, some of which he addresses on ‘Won’t Be Long’ – but this time around he’s taken his destiny into…
Are EPMD Going Senile?
So I checked out this EPMD show the other night, and it was pretty entertaining for the most part. Getting drunk and shouting along to ‘It’s My Thing’, ‘Headbanger’ and ‘So Whatcha Sayin’ is never a bad way to pass a Friday night, but there was one major fly in the ointment…the massive ENCORE FAIL…
Eric B. – The Unkut Interview
Wondering what Eric B. has been up to since Don’t Sweat The Technique? After he released his self-titled solo album in 1995, Eric focused his energies on a number of lucrative business ventures (including a chain of restaurants), which in turn offered him the opportunity to set-up a community center to help local kids stay…