Skits in-between songs on rap albums is one of the worst trends to happen to hip-hop. But every now and then, you hear one that is pure gold. Excellent work, Mr. Giles.
Cam’Ron - ‘Old Head’ [skit]
What’s you’re favorite skit from a rap LP or mixtape?
There have been a lot of tracks suggested that I haven’t included because…I just like these shit’s better. As Shakespeare once said, ‘My bad’. Here are another ten winners from the brother with a haircut you can set your watch to.
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For the second round I’ve chosen the best ten suggestions from the last bunch of comments. The third installment will probably be more obscure or slept-on shit. It’s also pretty clear that ALC saves most of his best work for his boys from the Mobb…
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Alan The Chemist disproves the theory that weed smokers are unproductive, as his discography of around 450 retail tracks goes to show. The tough part is figuring out what his finest work had been so far. To set things off, here are ten ALC beats that win, as selected off the top of my head. More to follow tomorrow…
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Ron G & Apache
I don’t mess with modern R&B but how can you front on the way that The Youngest In Charge did it back then? Anyone can make blends and mash-ups these days thanks to the wonders of software, but what’s fucking with what dude was doing with two turntables, a mic and a four track? Not a cot-damn thing, that’s what.
Respect due to whoever uploaded this…
Here’s the good news…there was no fruity shit going on between Guru and Solar. Everything else? Fucked the fuck up.
Phillip Mlynar investigates for the Village Voice
Or you can keep track of the latest thanks to the broad who hacked Solar’s email via this Twitter feed.
Phillip ‘Prime Minister’ Mlynar explains why Rest In Peace is not the word to play.
Mourn you ’til I join you? Not in the spit-on-the-grave world of rap. Guru‘s passing has shown once more than when it comes to death, hip-hop has no idea how to handle itself with dignity and grace. Being a legendary rapper and part of one of hip-hop’s most beloved groups didn’t stop the ex-Gang Starr man from being pronounced dead on Twitter when he wasn’t, having a soap-opera-style drama unfold in the wake of his death, and seeing his life ‘celebrated’ by a stream of rubbish, pixelated YouTube videos. But that’s pretty much par for the course when it comes to hip-hop deaths. Why? Here’s five starters…
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I’m still waiting for my vinyl and CD to arrive on my door-step, but in the meantime – Dallas holds it down for the crown at the Marcberg in-store at Fat Beats.
J-Love‘s tribute to Sha Lumi is now available on iTunes. Track listing after the jump.
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Photo: Alexander Richter
Here’s another sure-shot from Phillip ‘Half-A-Mil’ Mlynar, who has managed to track down someone so obscure that even Lace Da Booms was like, ‘Oh, snap!’.
Over a decade on from its 1998 release, Scaramanga‘s Seven Eyes, Seven Horns album now sounds like one of the purest statements from the mid-to-late-’90s indie rap scene. Poster boys Mos Def and Talib Kweli quickly came to drop the anti-commercial stance they wore as a badge in favor of attempting to become fixtures in the mainstream firmament themselves. El-P headed left-field with his Def Jux endeavor. A litany of random – and randomly-named – emcees chilled into obscurity after dropping one-off dope 12-inches. But listening to Scara spitting street scriptures over a batch of raw beats sounds like everything the movement was meant to be: Uncompromising and uncut hip-hop that didn’t once think to even cock a glance at the pop charts, let alone dream of becoming a household name.
A large part of the album’s success is down to the lesser-heralded Scholarwise, who provided the majority of beats on the project (at least on the preferable 12-track-long vinyl version), as well as the occasional chorus rap and guest verse. Intermingled with assists from Godfather Don, Goldfinghaz and D.I.T.C‘s Showbiz, Scholar’s production doesn’t just stand up to par – it defines the vibe of the album. His preference for sparse, gritty beats buoyed the Scaramanga persona, with the emcee in fine fettle reminiscing about pearl Fila suits and dropping references to Queens crack kingpins Fat Cat and Montana (all while avoiding any of the science-text-book references that blight Sir Menelik songs).
Currently at work on a new E.P. project that should see release before the summer’s out, here’s Scholar’s rap reminisce…
Phillip: When did you start making hip-hop music?
Scholarwise: Well my first crew was The Underground Brigade, back in the late-’80s. That was the crew of dudes I grew up around the way with. I was born in Brooklyn, I came up on Long Island, and pretty much lived in Hempstead, which is where Public Enemy are from. Hempstead is where 510 South Franklin [Studios] is, so being young and hungry at the time and reading the back of album and liner notes, we found out that Public Enemy’s business address was 510 South Franklin Avenue.
One day we just rolled up there and that’s how I met my mentor, Paul Shabazz. He was doing R&B at the time – and still does – and it’s crazy ‘cos the way 510 South Franklin is situated, the Bomb Squad was upstairs and Paul rented a studio from Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler. Paul had a band and that’s where they rehearsed. When we rolled up there Public Enemy was in full swing and 510 was a hub of activity. We posted outside, and there happened to be a Public Enemy tour bus outside. It was like dumb luck!
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The rapper formerly known as Nutrageous (who also featured on a couple of Counter Strike joints) has just dropped a video for this superior track with two of the Wastelandz finest. Produced by Reef, clip directed by Javier Goin.
Photo: Alexander Richter
The first time I spoke to Marciano, his UN crew had paired down to him two members and he had just landed a solo deal with SRC, with plans to put together a project for early 2008 release. Since then, he was pretty much MIA for a couple of years with the exception of a couple of tracks on J-Love tapes and the superb ‘Snow’. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an advance of his Marcberg album appeared and exceeded all my expectations, proving to be the best album I’d heard in a long time. It wasn’t long before I’d arranged a follow-up interview with Roc to find out a little about what had happened since we last spoke and how exactly he managed to deliver such a remarkably strong solo debut.
Robbie: Are you happy with the way the album’s come together?
Roc Marciano: Oh yeah, man. I saw the project through the way I wanted to do it. I drove the ship from beginning to end – I’m definitely happy about that.
Did leaving the SRC deal provide more creative control on the project?
Exactly. I mean I had creative control anyway – I was driving the ship over at SRC! Wasn’t really no difference, there just no politics with this [Fat Beats situation], so that was a beautiful thing.
The new album doesn’t sound like anything else out there right now, kinda the same way that Critical Beatdown hit me.
I always wanted to produce an album from beginning to end, and this was my opportunity to do it. I’m definitely gonna continue producing my own music, but I’m a start working with more producers on some of these future projects. But as of right now? I had to see this one through. It’s something I always wanted to do, ‘cos I’ve always liked how albums sound when they come from one stable. I didn’t want a compilation album of beats for my record – I wanted all my shit to come from my veins. All that music – I feel represents me – in that stage of my life, and now I’m moving on to the next stage. That’s something I always wanted to do, and I got that done. To produce a album all way through got me feeling like the greats…I grew-up loving niggas like Large Professor and shit like that. That’s why I love Nice & Smooth’s first album and shit – well, you know I love all Nice & Smooth albums, but I liked that Teddy Ted, Special K… that chemistry when one team’s working on the album. Slick Rick’s first album – him and Vance Wright. Even up to 36 Chambers and The Infamous – all that shit coming from one unit made the albums just sound like home-cooked food.
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This is how it should be done…
Diaz Brothers feat. Soni - ‘Gone Too Soon’
