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…
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…
10 Tapes To Be Stuck On A Desert Island With…
Assuming you had a solar powered Sony Mega-Bass Walkman, you could do a lot worse than being stuck on a pile of sand with these joints…
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…
The 40 oz. – 40 Great Rap Songs From 2010
Having recently scraped myself off the floor, with a barely functioning liver and severely depleted bank account after a two-and-half week birthday/Christmas bender, I thought I should perhaps make a half-assed attempt to assemble 40 rap songs that didn’t induce nausea or feature any of Lil Wayne’s weed carriers. Basically just a lot of stuff…
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…
What Didn’t Suck In 2010 Rap?
I’m going to assemble my picks for the Best of 2010 over the next couple of days if anybody gives a crap. What were your Top 5 albums or songs that you’re still fucking with as we wind down for the holiday season?
Mario Rodriguez – The Unkut Interview, Part 2
The second half of my conversation with Mario, who speaks on some of the more technical aspects of engineering and mixing, as well as working on Ready To Die and winning a Latin Grammy. Robbie: How many songs that were left off Hell On Earth? Mario Rodriguez: There were a lot of song that weren’t…
Even Free Rap Shows Are A Rip-Off Now
So there was a free show the other night featuring Jean Grae and Pharoahe Monch, which isn’t really a big deal since I never really pay to get in anyways and I don’t really know a song that either of ’em have done for the last five years, but eff it. First thing I noticed…
Mario Rodriguez – The Unkut Interview, Part 1
With a career in the music industry spanning over 30 years, Mario ‘Not Rude’ Rodriguez has worked on a lot of records as an engineer and mixer. Amongst his hip-hop projects, he’s been involved with records from Mobb Deep, LL Cool J, Biggie Smalls and Public Enemy to name a few. For the first part…