Posting this just because Havoc used a loop instead of those keyboard beats he was stuck on for a while, not to mention it fills the Hoody Rap quota for the month with the Raekwon and Styles P spots. Hav’s new solo LP, 13, is out tomorrow on Nature Sounds.
A trio of Hoody Rap veterans – Hannibal Stax, Big Noyd and Panchi of NYGz – join forces for this track from DJ Skizz‘s forthcoming B.Q.E. (Brooklyn-Queens Experience) project.
Just helped out on this piece over at Takin’ Mines:
Released just a week after the one year anniversary of Nas’ Illmatic, Mobb Deep’s Loud debut, The Infamous, is nothing short of a masterpiece. Although historically, Illmatic has been held to the standard as the best rap album of all time, it’s fair to consider The Infamous as the equivalent of Da Vinci’s Virgin and Child with St. Anne, to his former Mona Lisa.. Illmatic. Imagine younger, mischievous twin brothers to your high school’s star quarterback/prom king.. that’s them Mobb Deep boys Hav and P, compared to Esco (yes, even though Nas was wavin’ automatic guns at Nuns). Well enough of the analogies, we’ll leave that to our words and their raps, as featured in today’s special edition of Rewind Wednesdays.
Marco Polo combines minds with Tragedy for this remix of Adrian Younge and The Delfonics “Stand Up”, with Fizzy Wo on the hook. Newport Authority 2 drops soon.
Here’s some Rap Radio gold courtesy of my man’s Will C:
“Tragedy the Intelligent Hoodlum back to back with Craig G live on arguably the greatest rap radio show of all time. This is the Marley Marl In Control Rap Show on 107.5 WBLS from what appears to be April or May 1989. Seeing as Trag Invasion is one of my favorite songs off of Tragedy’s debut LP, it’s cool to hear him kicking those rhymes over Craig’s Take The Bait beat. Another lost slice of the good stuff!”
Like many of you, the first time I heard Nasty Nas was through his stirring performance on Main Source’s seminal “Live At The BBQ”, but it was initial exposure to “Halftime” on a local radio show that really got me amped. I was so impressed with the track that I eventually went on to describe it as “The Best Brag Rap Song of The 90’s”: “The lyrics are a ‘Good Combination’ of declarations of poetic superiority, explanations of his daily operations, product name checks, witty punchlines, casual blasphemy and a healthy dose of Eff The Police sentiment. What more could a rap fan ask for?” (more…)
Best song name ever? NORE and the Intelligent Hoodlum re-connect like Voltron. Bonus points for the Akinyele mention. Student of the Game drops next week.
For anybody that didn’t cop this when it dropped, this is mandatory viewing for any QB Rap fiends. Featuring Killa Sha, MC Tee, Blaq Poet, Capone, Havoc, Marley Marl and more.
Continuing my talk with Spyder-D, we discuss his relationship with Sparky-D, the saga of Kool Moe Dee ripping-off his song, record label headaches and why Run won’t talk to him anymore.
Robbie: Was the Tuff City compilation of your early work an authorized release?
Spyder-D: I wouldn’t be surprised if Tuff City didn’t have something to do with the bootlegging of “Big Apple Rappin’”, ‘cos I didn’t technically give the right to do “Big Apple Rappin’”, before I found out they were already planning on doing it, so I believe they’d been in contact with the dude. It was somewhat authorized. Aaron Fuchs – ha and I have had a love/hate relationship for a long time. Aaron is a guy who’s love for hip-hop and his understanding of it, I recognized early on. He was a pioneer in that sense. He understood where hip-hop was going and that it was here to stay a long time before a lot of other people did, and I always loved that about him. But he’s as crooked as lightening bolt! (more…)
Spyder-D has quite the forgotten legacy. He was the first MC to release a record on his own label (“Big Apple Rappin’”, 1980), was sporting the pork-pie hat that inspired Run-DMC, helped “The Smurf” dance spread across America and stalked Vaughn Mason, all before 1985. He later had a song ripped-off by Kool Moe Dee, discovered Sparky-D and eventually became the manager of Power Play Studios in the 90′s.
Robbie: How did you first get introduced to rhyming?
Spyder-D: In Queens, we were kinda following what the guys in The Bronx and Manhattan were doing. A couple of people I knew had become DJ’s, one being Davey DMX – at the time was David Reeves, Jnr. We went to school together and I was playing trumpet in his band. This was the mid-70’s, but by ‘76, ‘77 the DJ scene was starting to knock bands off the scene. These guys started hijacking power from the light poles and throwing instant parties in parks and whatnot. The area of Queens I lived in, they had Liberty Park, Jamaica Park and then the park I lived closest at was Henderson Park. Once a DJ crew would roll-up and tap into the light pole to get their power, word would spread like wildfire. People would come, literally, from miles around to be at that park jam. That was my introduction to it, and I wasn’t into it at the time, but it was very intriguing. It attracted all of the ladies, so I was like, “Wow! There’s a lotta chicks rolling up here!” The DJ or the rappers, that was where all the chicks was flocking to, so that part of it appealed to me. Then when Sugarhill broke out with “Rapper’s Delight” they took it to another level. That’s when I said, “OK, I’ve got to get into this”. Being a recording artist of any kind was always appealing to me from growing-up and listening to the Jacksons and Parliament-Funkadelic. I’ll never forget, 60 Minutes did a piece on Peter Brown, showing how they did the multi-layer recording. That was it for me. Rapping was now a recorded music, and the combination of those two became a very powerful ingredient that made me say, “I’m going to do this”. I wrote my first rhymes in 1978. (more…)
Queens battle MC veteran Mikey D hit up Unkut HQ the other day to make the following announcement:
Mikey D: All through the years, since the 80’s, with [LL] Cool J, each interview that I have the topic of the conversation is always about me and him. Although we went through what we went through, me looking back as a grown man, technically he didn’t do anything to me that was wrong. He did everything that he was supposed to do! But I got caught-up in people’s misery. You know how they say “misery needs company”, so by me still drinking 40 oz’s and still trying to hold on to being the “baddest MC in the neighborhood” title – and you’ve got these miserable people in your ears all the time, hating on him for what he’s doing? Of course I fell into that. I’m going to keep it real and say to him that I apologize for any form of disrespect. I can’t fault a man for my failures. After I left the beer and all of the negative people alone, that’s when I started seeing clearly. Melle Mel also, what happened happened at the New Music Seminar, that was 25 years ago. Let’s get over it. I want to apologize to both of them as a man, because we are all under the same umbrella. Let’s get it poppin’!
Mikey’s new crew Elements of Hip-Hop consists of Mikey D on the mic, DJ Mercury (who worked with Professor X) and Philly DJ legend Grand Wizard Rasheen. Calm Before The Storm drops April 2, with Day of Destruction following later in the year.
Portrait by Pritt Kelsi