Here’s 47 minutes of old Chicago rap records. Track listing to follow soon. Download: CRC Early Chicago Rap Mix
Who really made the beat for Biz Markie’s ‘Just A Friend’?
From what I’ve been able to piece together, Dan The Beatman (aka DJ Danny Dan who made a record for Select with his girlfriend, The Female Dream) made the original beat and recorded it with Paul C. at 1212 Studios (as told to Big Daddy magazine for issue 12): Could this YouTube upload of an…
The Townhouse Three feat. Chucky D and Butch Cassidy – N41
When The Bomb Squad’s Keith Shocklee told me about this song in 2008, I was thinking I didn’t have a snowflake’s chance in hell to ever hear it. Luckily, Long Island resident Lloyd Means has taken the time to upload his extensive collection of Spectrum City / The Mr. Bill Show recordings from WBAU, featuring…
Eric B. Interview from Blitz Magazine [UK, 1988]
Eric B. is not one of the most talkative characters I’ve encountered in my days as a bloke who rings up rap music legends. Considering that I was unable to verify anything he told me, the whole thing was an exercise in frustration and bewilderment. Our conversation in 2009 included a declaration that Queens invented…
Ultramagnetic MC’s – Ain’t It Good To You [Remix]
Bootlegged in 2013 from an acetate that Red Alert sold on ebay…or just taped off of someone’s Walkman. New music, new raps and an incredible new chorus. Can we blame Eddie O’Loughlin for ditching this in favour of the hip-house remix of ‘Travelling At The Speed of Thought’? This was on my Destroying All Germs…
That Time The Source Magazine Asked The Rap World Their Top Five of LPs of 1991
Everyone who put their own album on their list needs to take a long, hard look at themselves, with the exception of Greg Nice who took it to another level. If I’d been asked to list my own Five Favourite Albums of 1991 in January of 1992, based on what I listened to the most…
Pre-Order: Unkut Dot Com 20th Anniversary T-Shirt
The first cab off the rank to celebrate this site surviving twenty years is a one-off run of t-shirts, designed by Aeon Hand (f.k.a. Theotis Jones) and featuring some of the illustrations from Past The Margin. Pre-order the size you want by the 23rd March 2024 and it will be sent out in early April….
Godfather Don – The Unkut Interview
It took me exactly twenty years to get Godfather Don on the phone, which makes sense now that I know that by the time I started this site he had already changed his focus to playing jazz. This being my first phone interview since the ill-fated Just-Ice session in 2016, I had no idea how…
17 Albums That Should Have Never Been Released On Single Vinyl
Since this was published in 2004, at least half of these have been re-issued in 2LP format – but with mixed results. Sometimes the labels will just dump the CD master onto two platters, rather than mastering it properly, if the comment section of train-spotting, audiophile sickos on Discogs is to be believed. The real…
Street Smartz feat. O.C. and Pharoahe Monch – Metal Thangz [Unreleased Remix]
Nine years later I finally found this, as it was included on this 2019 compilation of O.C. demos, radio spots and remixes. grass was onto something, this is far and away the best version of this song. This also inspired me to go back to that radio session he did over an early incarnation of…
Dingos In The Bronx
Recalling that Cornell University has a large digital archive, featuring an extensive collection of early rap flyers and photos, I stumbled onto a section chronicling the first 1,400 records in Bambatta’s original collection. Much like one of your old share-house mates might have done, Bam went through a phase where he would write his name…
Grünt Radio’s SL 1200 Show Presents: Past The Margin Tribute Mix
Straight outta Paris, Bachir and SLurg (who used to frequent the comment section here back in the day) host a radio show every Sunday where they focus on a particular theme. For the 81st episode, they constructed a mix featuring everyone featured in the Past The Margin book, proving that Unkut.com is now Australia’s second-most…