My old drinking buddy Phillip Mlynar penned Lyricist Lounge: An Oral History this week, which reminded me of just how disappointing the actual album dedicated to that place was. As a record buyer during that period, I fondly recall that period in the mid to late 90’s when MF Doom, Juggaknots, Jigmastas and Scaramanga were…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Twelve Examples of Unholy Rap Crossovers with Rock Stars
AKA ‘How Run-DMC and Aerosmith fucked it up for everybody.’ No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Twelve Examples of Unholy Rap Crossovers with Rock Stars
Download: Mobb Deep – Soundtrack and Compilation Cuts
Twelve non-LP Mobb Deep tracks that were officially released on someone else’s album, as opposed to the seemingly endless supply of stuff that never got a proper retail release. UPDATE: By popular demand, now available as a Zippyshare Records and Tapes download…
Download: A Salute To Jigmastas
DJ Spinna and Kriminal provided the 1996 indy stand-out single, ‘Beyond Real’/’Dead Man Walking,’ which proved to be the one of the highlights of an extensive discography over the next six years. Spinna was in high demand during this period for his signature lush production style which combined restrained sampling and original riffs for an…
GQ Magazine are out here sharking our whole movement
It’s almost as if this Clay Skipper guy read the entire Weed Carriers website from front-to-back and tried to act like he birthed this shit. First Google obliterated all traces of my Guide To Glo Gang Weed Carriers post after Blood Money was murdered the day after I profiled him, and now this? This is…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: The Selective Memory of Rap Fans
A.K.A. Where were the celebrations and think-pieces for the twentieth anniversary of To The East, Blackwards? No Country For Old (Rap) Men: The Selective Memory of Rap Fans
The One That Got Away
Every music nut has a tale of the time they found some crazy shit at a record shop, for some reason didn’t cop it, and the memory remains the ether that burns their soul slow to this very day. For me, it was seeing what I recall to be a copy of Big Daddy Kane‘s…
Stetsasonic – Just Say Stet [Demo version]
Scan courtesy of Press Rewind I didn’t get hip to Stetsasonic‘s brand of BK brilliance until I heard KRS-One shout them out and tracked down their In Full Gear album, but On Fire is worth your time for the classic ‘Go Stetsa’ and ‘My Rhyme.’ Here’s the stripped down demo version of their debut single,…
Download: A Salute To The Blackwatch Movement
I had the good fortune of connecting with Paradise The Architect from X-Clan on the phone last week for an interview, which gave me cause to revisit the Blackwatch discography, since he was heavily involved of producing everything under the banner until Brother J started Dark Sun Riders in the mid 90’s. For extra good…
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Fifteen Years On – Remembering The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem‘s second major label album cemented him as a rap superstar. But does it still hold up in 2015? No Country For Old (Rap) Men: Fifteen Years On – Remembering The Marshall Mathers LP
Download: A Salute To Greg Nice Solo Guest Shots
Eff a Fatman Scoop, the only old guy you need yelling on your records is Greg N-I-C-E. While recent years have seen king of the human echo chamber reduced to consorting with the likes of Jason Nevins and Talib Kweli, there was a time when having this man on your hook was money in the…
Him-Lo – Philly Fanatics
Him-Lo‘s ode to his hometown, as heard on his Late Nite Dinnaz At Da Brothal EP on Chopped Herring.