The most important thing you can do on the internets this decade is vote in the 2nd Annual Weed Carrier Awards, now expanded to cover sports, film, TV and comic books.
You’ve seen my picks for the year already, but since I moved back into my Mom’s Basement so that I could reclaim my title as “the O.G Boom-Bap dinosaur blog don” and finally interview Kool G Rap in the process, I have no idea what happened in the outside world.
What was the best and worst of the year in rap? Be it songs, events or disturbing trends? Speak ya clout or forever hold ya dome in shame…
Black Thought - ‘Toca Tuesdays Freestyle’
One of the reasons you persevere with this rap shit just might be those increasingly rare moments when the flow, cadence and wordplay combine into a moment of pure rap supremacy. Back in Feb 2010, Black Thought had one of these moments when he unleashed two non-stop verbal tidal waves as he proceeded to demonstrate what might commonly be referred to as ‘blacking out’. Even though he was suffering from strep throat or whatever happens from too much cot-damn rappin’, it served as a refresher to – those of us who have become too accustomed to associating him with ‘sophisticated’ Roots songs – just how raw he can get.
It also got me thinking – what is your favorite moment of an MC absolutely slaughtering a beat or ‘blacking out’?
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…
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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?
Before I wind-up the Perfect Remix polls with The 45 King edition, I thought I’d give all the remixes that missed out a chance to make the final cut. Whether it was a favorite of yours that didn’t make the original eight per artist (Large Pro‘s Resurrection remixes, for example), or something from a producer or crew that didn’t have enough classics re-workings to get a round of their own, here’s your chance to nominate for the Wild Card Round. What needs to make the cut?
Why do I own the original press kit for Lord Finesse‘s Return of the Funkyman? As well as the CD, tape, original vinyl and 2xLP re-issue? No idea, really. I mean it’s a great album, but when is enough enough in terms of collecting? What I want to know is:
What is the weirdest/most obscure piece of hip-hop memorabilia in your collection?
For the second round knock out, let’s focus on the work Showbiz was contributed to his D.I.T.C. peoples. The final round will of course be dedicated to his classic work with Andre The Giant…
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Mistakes were made in the last ‘Search For The Best Beat’ feature…namely, Alchemist has too may cot damn tracks! This time I’ve selected a producer who is a little more restrained in terms of his musical output, but still a beast on the beat – the Bronx Bomber himself, Show. While his early work featured a signature sound that was easily identifiable, Show’s style developed into a tighter, more refined minimalism by the time Goodfellas was released. While the majority of his work has been with his Diggin’ In The Crates crew and Wildlife, he’s contributed tracks for a select few over the years. The first round is dedicated to production outside of his immediate D.I.T.C. circle. Hopefully we can get this one sorted out in three round this time.
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Some things are hard to define. What exactly is the role of the ‘Executive Producer’ on an album? Is it the guy who paid for the record to be made? The dude who decided which beats to use and which guests to invite? Or the character who sat up the back and simply nodded his head in approval as each song was completed? Truth be told, it can be any of those things and more. Same thing applies to the credit of ‘Producer’ on a rap record. While songs recorded in a studio by a band would have somebody sitting at the mixing desk, yelling out, ‘Cut!’ or ‘Can you redo that guitar solo?’, hip-hop and dance music is a different beast altogether. While you might think that’s it’s simply a case whoever made the beat, it isn’t that simple a lot of the time.
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2010 will mark the sixth year of Unkut Dot Com‘s time online, so it might be a good chance to shake things up a little over here. With the ground-breaking work of establishing the Conservative Rap Coalition and another surprise project in the works, is there anything else you’d like to see at Unkut in the future? I’ve been considering adding coverage of video games and even toyed with the idea of a compiling a printed collection of the best of the site…but what else is needed to continue to get dumb on these crumbs for another six years? More booze? More broads? Or as CAP once put it, ‘Not bigger, not better….but MOAR!’
Speak ya clout.