It’s been a second. Last time I was blogging about rap, the blogosphere, as we were somehow coerced to call it, was just winding down. Now, it’s all but gone. Credit where credit is due. Robbie at Unkut is still doing his excellent thing, although the wonderful in-depth interviews with Flavor Unit members are a thing of the past. There are only so many Flavor Unit members to talk to, after all, and Robbie did pretty much everyone in the prime of Unkut.
Martorialist on his grizzly too. And not on some occasional ‘post a song, will this do?’ thing, but still clocking up over 100 posts a year. It’s the place to go to find out that Saigon has just released a video of his mixtape gem Stocking Cap.
Last time I did this, I was about to launch Wiggaz With Attitude. Time before that, it was the Fat Lace blog in its several guises. At that point in life, there were still enough magazines around to write about hip-hop for. Now, there’s hardly a one. The leap from blog to printed magazine wasn’t always a thing – blogs were very much their own thing – but now the opportunity isn’t even there.
Why am I doing it again? New book, innit. But not just that. A year spent trawling through my cuttings and files in the loft, where they share space with the Christmas tree, Trunki’s that the kids are too old for and some carpet offcuts we should really fly tip has got me itching to right some wrongs, and wrong some rights.
Adventures in Rap will be about the book, with different angles on the stories that are in there. Some of the memorabilia that I talk about. Embarrassing photos taken on outmoded phones with 2mp cameras. It won’t just be that though.
There’ll be plenty of HHC stuff. I want to revisit albums I absolutely pasted in print and see if I was wrong. I want to check those 5 out of 5’s and see I was right.
I think we can all agree that we need to hear the voices of more middle-aged white cisgender men from the north of England on all matters hip-hop as well, right? So I’ll be reheating some beloved* Fat Lace ideas too. Crap Graf back. Rappers Retirements Homes back. Yes, I’m still taking photos of any shop, building or van that has a name even vaguely related to a hip-hop artist. What else am I supposed to do?
Oh, and I’ll finally share that complete documentary about Boostin’ Kev that I promised everyone about seven years ago. Soz.
*Beloved by me, at least.
certainly here for the new blog era
Fact check, I sold the Trunkis on Facebook Marketplace to make space for your enormous rap memorabilia collection. The kids will now holiday using blue Ikea bags (and be happy about it).
Welcome back like the crap Ma$e comeback single.