ARTICLES BY JON CARAMANICA
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
June, 2002: We first met Turf Talk back when he was still Young, splayed out on the floor of Vallejo's 80 West Music like the eager kid that he was. In the main studio room was Jay Tee, lately of Latino Velvet but most notably of N2Deep (they of the lone hit "Back To The Hotel"), sitting in front of a computer, cueing up a track. Plopped down on a huge beanbag in the center of the room is the Yay Ambassador, E-40, the king of slang and a legend to connoisseurs....
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  POCKETS DUMB FAT
Dude named Crazy Crook calls into Hot 97's "Street Soldiers" the other night, when they've got a special show devoted to gangs and hip-hop. "All these niggas out there banging in these rap videos," he wondered, "I just wanna know: Is they real with it?" Nice message for the kids there, CC, but the theory-praxis divide is worth examining. Right now, the only thing more played out in rap than flag-waving (I see you, Capo!) is that second-oldest profession on the planet. ...
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 FREE PIMP C!
The Benefits of a Well-Designed LifePimp C is half of UGK, and he's one of the coldest Southern rapper/producers never to get his due. Though UGK had a couple of breakthrough moments-guesting on Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'" and Three 6 Mafia's "Sippin' On Some Syrup"-they're still a connoisseur's choice that few truly appreciate. Until they ...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
In case nobody told you, Atlanta is the new Atlanta. Check it out: A knock on the door. Who is it? I would happen to know. The one with the flow. Who did it? It was me, I suppose. JD's in the Rolls, Luda's in the Cut Supreme, and those fools are riding right the fuck out of town. It's getting too ic...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
If I lose my voice, nigga, I'ma flow online"-Jadakiss
Here I go again, looking to J-A-Double for a little philosophical guidance, but these are fraught times, and these young'uns in the game stand to benefit from some of this highly decorated veteran's guidance. Ask the Anticon massive-internet...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
A couple of months ago in his Skinema column, the dun Chris Nieratko-known for "pussy demolishing" and ordering six-packs of beer during snowstorms from delivery guys desperate for the money-put me on blast for my hip-hop scholarship, but also made the very worthwhile suggestion that perhaps I shoul...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
LAs per usual, Jadakiss knows what's up, and he knew that shit a couple of years before the rest of us. "Let's hit the dancefloor," he blankly told a would-be overnight-celebrity on 2001's "Knock Yourself Out." "I'll show you how to do my dance."...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
Just like the best below-the-radar hip-hop instrumental of all-time is East Flatbush Project's "Tried By 12" (freestyle bed for discerning rappers up and down the FDR Drive, the Belt Parkway, and the Deegan), the worst-kept-secret of house music has always been "Hot Music," by Soho, one of the recor...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
Last month, we lamented the legal troubles of Diddy's other manservant, Prettyboy Loon. But having already rode for Harlemworld with our stink-pink "FREE LOON" tee, it's time to focus our attention on someone who needs it more: Pimp C. For those who think "Big Pimpin'" was the first Southern rap tra...
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 POCKETS DUMB FAT
Listen, Columbo. You're mad because your money comes slow, and what you make in a year, I make at one show. So quit hating-Harlemworld's back up in this bitch, back like it left something. And Santana's Town ain't playing. Jim Jones, whose comedy-rap contributions to the Dip Set album were not to be...
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 GRAB IT AND GO BOOM
What Ever Happened to L'Trimm?You think being a female rapper in 2002 is tough? What about being a prim sixteen-year-old semi-nymphet from Miami with one of the raunchiest hits the 80s ever had?...
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 HOOKED ON ELECTRONICS
knifehandchop Is Going to Jail TooBilly Pollard makes music on his computer and still lives with his mom, but don't hold that against him. As knifehandchop, the 21-year-old Torontonian is shaking dance floors out of four-on-the-floor complacency and using his plunderphonic speedcore style to expose the frailties of pop music....
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 KISS MY WHITE TECHNO ASS
Latin Terrorist Kid606 Likes His Booty Bass Rawer Than Anal SexIf you airlifted a stack of techno equipment into South Central LA, spent a year training disenfranchised shortys and then initiated a full-on race war riot, you'd have a Kid606 track. Formerly a gabba specialist and package-mailer with the folks over at Vinyl Communications, the Kid's now freaking ...
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