Engineer All-Star Marley Marl came from the era when a remix often meant turning-up the drums, dropping out the main loop occasionally and adding a horn blast and some echo, but even when the additions were relatively minor, they proved to be incredibly effective. The remixed versions of ‘Vapors’ and ‘Shootin’ The Gift’ both maintain their original loops, but manage to sound ten times better with the addition of some extra horns and vocal samples, while the additional sounds added to the 12″ versions of ‘Droppin’ Science’ and ‘The Symphony’ take already great songs to another level. The King Tee and 3rd Bass remakes add completely new bases to the tracks, giving them a much-needed face-lift, while the ‘Jingling Baby’ remix is the perfect example of how to build upon a solid foundation and turn into a timeless classic. (more…)
Another track from up-and-coming Will Vill, from his Superstar Jay hosted mixtape I Came To Bring The Sword, due to drop in three weeks from now. Chaze from GRIM Team on the production.
Noah Callahan-Bever, the current E-I-C over at Complex just opened the vaults from his past life as a freelance writer, sharing a couple of outstanding pieces he did on Paul Juice back in 2002. I copped the XXL issue when it dropped, but seem to have misplaced my copy somewhere in my magazine graveyard so it was great to read this one again. The Large and Nas cover feature for Mass Appeal I missed altogether. Salute!
Last week I received a book in the mail to review, called The BeatTips Manual, by Amir “Sa’id” Said. I haven’t finished it yet, since I’m also in the middle of reading How To Wreck A Nice Beach, but one of the first sections I checked-out were the interview transcriptions at the back. One in particular – an extended discussion with Marley Marl – contained some quotes which put a very different spin on the Marley story. According to Marley, he had been working on stuff for Biz Markie‘s second album when he severed ties with Cold Chillin’ over financial disagreements. In order to spite him, the label didn’t give him credit for producing Biz’s smash single ‘Just A Friend’, so Marley took another track that he’d made for the Diabolical and remixed his favorite song from LL Cool J‘s Walking Like A Panther – ‘Jingling Baby’. Of course we all know how much of a classic that turned out to be, as it spear-headed LL’s resurgence and resulted in the two of them creating the classic Mama Said Knock You Out album. (more…)
If there is one tried-and-tested topic of talk to get rap addicts animated, it’s imaginary battles. You know, shit like, ‘What would have happened if the Fu-Schnickens had squared-off against Das-Efx, yo?’ OK, maybe not so much that example, but you get the idea. Here are a few to chew over:
LL Cool J vs Kool Moe Dee, circa 1985: Like it or not, but Teddy Riley‘s syrupy New Jack tracks lost the war for KMD when he took it to Jack The Ripper in the late 80′s. But if LL had tried to take-out Moe Dee in ’84, ’85, when he was still wet behind the ears? The Space Invader of Rap would have buried Todd.
KRS-One vs. Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap: Maybe it was all that Crazy Glue I was huffing this afternoon, but I have a feeling that KS-One in his prime could have taken out any of these three legends in a live face-off. Ra and G Rap were never really battle specialists to my knowledge, and even though Kane wrecked a few contenders in his early days, I’ve got a feeling that the Blastmaster‘s off-the-head ability and general blood-thirsty attitude when you caught him on an off day could have been enough to knock the mighty Dark Gable onto the canvas, in the right conditions. (more…)
Last year Timeless Truth created a watershed moment for Hip-Hop, for ‘Lo heads and for NYC in general. Their ‘Priceless’ video shoot at the Brooklyn Bridge brought together a few dozen hardbody collectors of the lifestyle and more importantly it was the first time I had ever politicked with Thirstin’ Howl the 3rd on some brotherhood shit. Of course I knew of Thirst since he was in the streets. Everyone knew of each other, Decepticons, Lo-Lifes, A-Team, and there was an uneasy peace that existed to this day. (more…)
No leaks, no bullshit. Just 51 minutes of Bronx-bred hardcore rap from Smiley The Ghetto Child over beats from Chaze, DJ Premier, Ski Beatz, E-Blaze and more. Hosted by DJ Doo Wop, where else but Unkut Dot Com are you going to catch this first?
I learned some crazy shit doing my thing in New York City over the past forty years. Basically, the world is a huge place, but the people that vibe along the same frequency is the smaller subset and y’all will always find each other. That is what used to happen at record stores when you would go there on a Tuesday and meet up with other hip-Hop heads who were trying to copp that same release dropping that day.
I was on the Jamaica Ave strip with a bunch of my homies doing some shit called ‘Sneaker Fiends Unite!’ We travel around the city looking for kicks comeups and peeping how gentrification changes the urban landscape. At a store on the strip this husky dude told me that my ‘Lo scarf was official. I gave him some dap for recognizing that shit. Real recognize real always. Dude said he had some pieces to deal. This is the language that collectors use when they are selling and swapping I.T.’s (items). We exchanged maths and kept it moving.
Later that night when I got back to the lab and started uploading the video footage I had made that afternoon I stopped by UnKut for a minute to just check in on the old head rap scene. If you don’t cut your NahRight or 2DopeBoyz with some UnKut shit you will get rap diabetes from all the saccharine in the game right now. Funny story, true story is that very day Robbie had a drop on his page featuring the dude that I politicked with in that sneaker store – Meyhem Lauren (more…)
A little something from Kill Devil Hills, the latest in DJ Muggs series of projects which find him putting the classic one MC, one producer theory to the test. You can cop it on the 30th of August through Fat Beats.
DJ Muggs Vs. Ill Bill feat. Sean Price, O.C. & Sick Jaken - ‘Trouble Shooters’
My peoples, Timeless Truth, were invited to Fat Beats last week to record some video for U.K. superstar DJ Sarah Love. Timeless Truth always represents the Polo Ralph Lauren lifestyle to the fullest. It is deeper than just getting dipped and making sure you are color coordinated. Its about your presentation to attain the lavish lifestyle through rhyme or crime. (more…)
