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Krush Groove the novel now exists. FINALLY.

Posted in Beastie Boys, books, movies, music, nostalgia, pop culture, rap, Run-DMC with tags books, Movie Novelizations, nostalgia, Photoshop, rap, Run-DMC, The Fat Boys on September 21, 2016 by Paxton

In the latest episode of the Cult Film Club podcast, we are talking about one of my favorite movies, Krush Groove, from 1985. It’s a fun discussion and a great look back at essentially the genesis of my interest in rap, which was around early 1985 when the first Fat Boys album and Run-DMC’s second album, King of Rock, was released.

Later that year, in October 1985, the movie Krush Groove was released. I did a small review of the movie back in 2010 for the 25th anniversary. Check out episode #36 of the Cult Film Club podcast for my more in depth thoughts on the movie.

What I really want to talk about is, why wasn’t there a Krush Groove novelization? The obvious answer is that it was a movie focusing on the music industry and it may have been hard to translate that since there are at least 3 music video sized interludes in the movie. But that shouldn’t have stopped them. I just finished reading the novelization to Jason X and that book expands the sparse 1 hour and 20 minute movie into a 400+ page novel. You telling me something couldn’t be done with Krush Groove?

So, to correct this rather EGREGIOUS oversight, I created my own Krush Groove novelization based mostly on the design of the soundtrack album cover.

I think it goes without saying that I would have read the sh*t out of this book.

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Two random vintage rap magazine ads

Posted in music, nostalgia, pop culture, rap with tags advertising, music, nostalgia, pop culture, rap on April 22, 2016 by Paxton

I don’t have any more NWA specific scans, but here are two random hip-hop scans.

Here’s an ad for Def Jam records from the early 90s. Notice the separate pics for the members of 3rd Bass (MC Serch, Prime Minister Pete Nice and Daddy Rich) who broke up right before this ad. MC Serch’s pic is from his one and only solo album, The Return of the Product, which was actually a pretty good album. Pete Nice & Daddy Rich’s solo album wasn’t quite as good, but it’s not bad for 90s rap.

Here it is, the coup de grace. An ad for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s second album, You Gotta Believe. It was a followup to their hit debut Music for the People. I’ll admit, I owned this album and I still to this day think the title track is pretty good.

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Dr Dre in-depth interview with The Source (1992)

Posted in music, nostalgia, pop culture, rap with tags music, nostalgia, NWA, pop culture, rap on April 20, 2016 by Paxton

Continuing this week to show you scans of old rap/hip hop magazines featuring the members of NWA.

Today we are looking at the November 1992 issue of The Source magazine.

The magazine featured an in depth cover interview with Dr Dre promoting the upcoming release of his solo debut, The Chronic, on Death Row Records.

Dre talks about a lot of things in the article including his new album, the break up with NWA, his beef with Eazy-E and his brand new record label. Very interesting look into the head space of one Andre Young right before he’d change the face of rap with that aforementioned solo album.

He even gets candid about the “Dee Barnes” incident (mentioned in yesterday’s Rap Masters magazine scan), his buddy DOC’s car wreck and The World Class Wreckin’ Cru. It’s a good read.

The article also has two sidebars, both interviews. One is with DOC and the other is with Snoop Dogg who very recently made his debut on Dr Dre’s song Deep Cover and will soon come into prominence due to his heavy appearance on The Chronic.

Here’s the article.

Moving Target 01 Moving Target 02

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NWA in Rap Masters magazine (1991)

Posted in music, rap with tags music, NWA, pop culture, rap on April 19, 2016 by Paxton

This week the Nerd Lunch Podcast is comin’ Straight Outta Compton with a very special drilldown on the rap super group NWA. To celebrate, I thought I’d dig out some of my old rap magazines and showcase some old pictures and ads featuring the group.

This is Rap Masters magazine from July 1991. It features a cover story about NWA.

Here’s the actual article. It’s about the press NWA has received recently, good and bad, due to antics from the group. It starts by discussing Dr Dre attacking Dee Barnes at a Def Jam party because she allowed former member Ice Cube to “dis” them on her show. The article mentions that it was a party to celebrate the group BWP’s new album and Dre’s attack upstaged the group’s release party. The article also talks about Eazy-E’s invite and attending of a Republican dinner which also caught many headlines that summer. Lots of press to hype NWA’s upcoming second album, the article says.

Unfortunately, the article is unfinished. It says at the bottom that the article continues on “page 60”, but it must mean in another magazine because the only thing I found on page 60 was the rest of the Ice-T article that is showcased on the cover.

Check back tomorrow for some more rap magazine scans from the early 90s.

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Nerd Lunch Extra Helping – Run-DMC

Posted in movies, music, rap, Run-DMC with tags movies, music, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcasts, pop culture, rap, Run-DMC on September 18, 2013 by Paxton

While Nerd Lunch is on hiatus, I got together with Matt Ringler from Schlock Treatment and Tim Lybarger from The Neighborhood Archive to discuss Run-DMC and their entire musical catalog. But since this week is the 25th anniversary of their fourth album, Tougher Than Leather, we try to focus on that.

tougher_than_leather

We begin by talking about our first experiences with rap music. We talk about how we discovered Run-DMC, our favorite Run-DMC albums and songs and we even touch on the long forgotten Tougher than Leather movie that was released the same year as the album.

Lots to talk about and discuss in this episode. So don’t be a sucker MC. Download this episode today and relive the glory days of one of raps greatest musical groups.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

Or listen to this awesomeness online right here.

Nerd To Dos:

We didn’t do them this episode, but Matt and Tim do have some related recommended reading for you to check out.

Matt says for a good history on rap as a genre, check out Dan Charnas’ The Big Payback.

Tim recommends Adam Bradley’s Book of Rhymes.

Suprisingly, I’ve not read any books on the subject of hip hop. That kind of surprises me that I haven’t yet. But, a book I’ve had my eye on for a few years now is:

Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay