Running a little low on creative inspiration and have an album to hand in by the end of the week? Don’t sweat it – just update one of your old hits with a slightly updated version of the original beat and/or lyrics and throw on a ’2K at the end and you’re good to go.
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Catch me chopping it up with these two Wu-Tang troopers in the latest edition of HHC Digital.
Robbie: You’re doing your thing on Twitter. Is that another way to reach out to the fans?
Raekwon: It’s just all about interacting. I want my fans to know that outside of music y’all can still be close to me. There’s so many different, new, modern-day technology shit that’s going that we gotta coincide with. To me, I think it’s good ‘cos it gives you a hands-on with your fans – even more closer than them just waiting to hear you on the radio or waiting for your album. It’s like, ‘Yo, you can catch me in the lab, nigga! What’s good? I’m making me a turkey burger right now. How ya doing?’ I think that shit is hot right there! [chuckles] I think that’s live! Word up!
Somebody may call me and be like, ‘Yo! Tomorrow’s my birthday, kid!’ I wanna hit a nigga back and be like, ‘Happy birthday, man! Enjoy your day, this is what you should go do.’ Or if you having a bad day, if it’s something I could help you on, that’s what I’m here for. I mean at the end of the day, y’all made me who I am, so I feel like it’s owed to do that to the fans. Especially at times they wanna be heard from – I appreciate that.
So you can confirm that you’re writing your own Twitter updates? You don’t have someone typing it for you?
Nah, all that shit is in the phones right now, so you know it’s not a problem to just say something real quick or whatever, whatever. After I found out a long time ago – like maybe four years ago – that it was like two or three other Raekwons acting like they was me, I had to really step in and really fix that shit. ‘Cos I would hate for fans to be lead by somebody else and not know that they talking to the wrong person. So I had to come in and really fix that situation.
With all the talk of the music industry in being decline, print media on it’s last legs and the so-called ‘power of blogs’, it seems that the art of music criticism is also at a cross roads of sorts. Now that Pruane can make a name for himself as a pop-culture reviewer, who gives a crap what some college graduate thinks about the latest El-P CD?
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Joell Ortiz did a top notch job on his new Covers The Classics mixtape over at OnSmash, but not everyone is worthy of putting their own stamp on classic hip-hop staples. As Ricky Bobby‘s pop told us, if you’re not first, you’re last. Here are five rap remakes that win:
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When The Best of Organized Konfusion dropped a few years back, it featured a couple of extras for O.K. stans – the Wake-Up Show freestyle session they did with Nas, and this vaulted track which I place around the Extinction Agenda era. I’ve got to get around to typing up the interview I did with Po one of these days as well…
Organized Konfusion - ‘Passion’
Another cut which I didn’t catch until years later was the hidden CD bonus track from The Equinox, which features the whole Medicine Men crew going for broke.
Bonus: Organized Konfusion feat. Ill Rahlos- ‘Hidden Track’
From Ol’ Dirty‘s admission that he “got burnt twice but it was only gonorrhea” to KRS-One‘s request that you “do me a favor and wear your hat”, getting burnt has been a staple of tasteless rap tracks forever. There are dozens of cautionary tales revolving around hitting it raw, but these five are the most graphic, and therefore the most entertaining.1
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When 4,5,6 collaborator T-Ray declared that, “G Rap is the realest. Nas, Pun, Raekwon – all of them owe their styles to him. He’s like the Muddy Waters of hip-hop” – he summarized exactly why the Kool Genius of Rap continues to influence the style and technique of today’s finest rappers. By combining a wicked sense of humor (‘Operation CB’) with flawless brag rap credentials (‘Kool Is Back’) and a gift for engrossing narrative (‘Streets of New York’), G Rap proved to be far more versatile than his contemporaries during the eighties and light-years ahead of other gun-talk rappers through-out the early nineties.
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^ This looks effin’ epic…..
Dallas Penn and eskay let the people know that Unkut Dot Com is in their personal Top 5, which holds a lot more weight with me than where I got placed on the ‘official’ VYBE [sic] list. Maybe it had something to do with my comments that I’d “rather be in Hustler” after they “threw me a bone” and ranked Unkut #19 in the “30 Best Music Web Spots” list from 2007….
Drew Huge wrote a great piece about fallen soldier Tony D for The Guardian.
Hilarious review of the new Slim Shady record by Combat Jack.
Spine Magazine THIMK dug-up a Leaders of the New School demo from the ill-fated T.I.M.E. sessions called Emotional.
Superb recollections of the legendary Dondi, written by the most recent subject of an Unkut interview – Dante Ross.
Another Hipster Rap article. No mention of the Biggest Douchebag In Hipster Rap Poll? Research fail.
This is a great short film which any sports nut or record collector can relate to:
A movie about busting packs, baseball cards, being a collector and how value changes over time.
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski (aka the third member of the Internets Celebritites), featuring Joe Rock and his store: The Baseball Card Dugout in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
“From QB to overseas…bare witness”.
Taken from the Heavyweight LP.
Recordkingz feat. Tragedy - ‘I Cried’
Sure, I’m a Finesse fan. He’s the only rapper I ever asked to sign anything, so when I had a chance to get my hands on the original press kit for his seminal Return of the Funkyman, best believe I went in.
Every now and then, new stuff comes out that I don’t hate. These are some of those moments…
Delta feat. Milano - ‘Mean’
Adelaide, Australia meets Uptown, NYC. Taken from The Second Story, out now.
FT - ‘I’m Back’
Black Milk on the beats for this entry from the Purple Pain mixtape.
Nutrageous - ‘Cruisin’ In NYC’
French Scottish producer Jay Large laces Flushing’s Nut. From The Red Zone EP.
El Michels Affair - ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’
Live remakes of Wu-Tang classics? Approved!
Freestyle Professors - ‘Grit Dat Grime’
The latest installment from these Bronx Bombers, taken from the Confuse A Few EP (limited edition vinyl).
Rap and the wild west – it seems like a logical combination, right? Both feature fitted hats, burners, a constant stream of curses and a whole lotta whores, so it was only a matter of time until MC’s started trading their Jeep Cherokee‘s for horses. Here are some of them most memorable combination’s of beats, rhymes and leather chaps.
*Pours straight whisky into a dirty glass and shuffles a deck cards*
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Large Paul’s lab.
Good to see that Large has stayed busy the last couple of years, contributing his unmistakable sound to a varied range of rap dudes…1
Reks - ‘Stages’
Earatik Statik - ‘No Problems’ [Xtra P Remix]
Krumb Snatcha – ‘Mind Power’
Styles P – ‘The Struggle’
Boot Camp Click - ‘Worldwide’
“We used to all work at the Statue Of Liberty – it was me, U-God, Method Man, Deck and Hass – and that’s where I met Hass. Me and Meth used to go to public school together, back when he was just Clifford Smith and I was just Kim Sharpton. Me and him used to play trumpet together – he modeled his trumpeting style on Clifford Smith, the trumpeter, ‘cos our band teacher used to say he reminded him of him – which was pure bullshit. When I heard the real Clifford Smith I was like, ‘Get the fuck outta here!’
“Son used to enjoy Clifford The Big Red Dog books… I’ma show you how well I know this cat. But son was in Stapleton – I wasn’t no hood dude like that, so I wasn’t gonna rock with him in Stapleton. And I knew Rakeem [RZA] from back when he used to rock with this dude Forest, who calls himself Ishem now. Rakeem and Forest, they used to have they thing, ‘cos Rakeem ain’t no emcee. He wack! He a wack rapper, kid. But Cappadonna, who used to be called Original God at the time, he was ridiculous. Back then, Cappadonna was the Slick Rick of Staten Island.”
Grab the first free digital edition of The Original – which was the old school mini-mag from the back of Hip-Hop Connection that I contributed to in the paper and ink era – for the full interview.
