This was the jawn that finally made Jay Electronica the talk of the internet. Then I started seeing dude on magazine covers. I first saw his name on this site back in ‘05. Crazy…

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2007/08/22/rob-viktum-progress-an-audio-tribute-to-the-cambodian-people/

Rob Viktum of the Beat Fanatic fam is best known for this masterpiece among many others (Hangar 18 remixes, Snack Packs, A’ight New Drink, etc). Don’t sleep on it…

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2007/09/27/the-are-featuring-dem-damb-jacksons-instrumentals-bonus-tracks-bw-featuring-dem-damb-jacksons-vocal-version/

The ARE of K-Otix/The Legendary K.O. freaks some Jackson 5ive material with an all star lineup of emcees. I still play this jawn regularly.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2007/10/08/lupes-midnight-marauder-fiasco/

This post inspired a companion piece on Poisonous Paragraphs regarding Lupe’s fiasco. Then he made an album called “L.A.S.E.R.S” that he submitted to Atlantic which is still currently U.N.R.E.L.E.A.S.E.D.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/03/31/j-dilla-interviews-conducted-by-the-dusbusters/

Classic Dilla interview featured on Rappers I Know. The page was still bookmarked on my old laptop.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/09/08/hisd-summer-sessions/

If Hueston Independent Spit District wasn’t on your radar after this post then your name better be Hellen Keller…

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/09/19/jay-electronica-just-blaze-collabo/

I wonder what will happen with this jawn?

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/11/19/dj-enuff-spins-black-milk-give-the-drummer-sum-on-hot-97/

DJ Enuff comes to his damn senses and plays a Black Milk banger on the radio. I guess that means Enuff will just pick whatever song is hot and play it on the air without reservations or asking if it’s OK to first, huh? *Side eye*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/11/24/roger-riley-teddy-troutman-death-of-autotune/

Classic post. Roger Riley & Teddy Troutman did all they could to kill AutoTune. The highlight? Hearing cats say ‘We might go to Hell for this!”in AutoTune as a Biggie instrumental played. Hilarious.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/11/26/questlove-vs-jay-dee-the-little-brother-beat-story/

Yet another classic swipe from Okayplayer that hit FWMJ ‘s site making it easier to read all at once. If you read this story and still can’t appreciate the genius that is James Yancey then I feel sorry for your mothers.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/12/01/fwmj-jay-electronica-present-scratches-demo-tape-volume-i/

More Jay Electronica. These demos are better than some finished albums I was forced to listen to and review over the past three years and change.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/12/04/jay-dee-the-notorious-big/

Yet another classic Dilla tale that crossed over from Okayplayer to Rappers I Know. Know your Hip Hop history. And the winner is? Not that thinner kid…(thanks DeePhunk for the clarification)

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/12/19/fwmj-jay-electronica-present-scratches-demo-tape-volume-i-swagger-jacksons-revenge/

Another song? *Faints*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2008/12/25/hassaan-mackey/

Christmas 2008, I was introduced to an emcee named Hassan Mackey by none other than SlopFunkDust of Beat Fanatic. It turns out to Slop was the guy who replaced local DJ/producer Fakts Obe as he quit just after The Perceptionists LP was done. Slop was also in charge of the Rawkus 50 campaign. Slop was also known as T The Beat Specialist. Now I’m anticipating Hassan Mackey’s upcoming release with Apollo Brown. Crazy, right?

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/02/15/danny-brown-contra-featuring-elzhi-produced-by-apollo-brown/

The first time I can say without any reservation that another rapper actually got Elzhi on record. Apollo Brown on the boards. Classic shit. CHECK! © Danny Brown

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/03/20/o-rly/

I once wrote on Twitter that if Charles Hamilton was a video game character his special move would be to shoot himself in the foot repeatedly. Yeah, that…

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/03/30/black-spade-ftw/

Black Spade>>>>>>>>Charles Hamilton. Fuck Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Dr. Robotnik, Dr. Light, Dr. Wiley, Rush, RockmanX & Charles Hamilton’s entire endocrine system. I really mean it! © Dipset

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/04/07/elzhi-the-genesis-snippet-off-elmatic/

Word? Elzhi’s doing a mixtape re-imaging Nas’ ‘Illmatic”? I can’t wait! I sure hope no other emcee pops up and drops an Illmatic tribute before he does.. *Pulls out a Snickers bar*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/04/16/noisemakers-w-peter-rosenberg-featuring-q-tip/

So wait…Busta Rhymes was also a member of A Tribe Called Quest? *Hyperventilates into a paper bag*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/04/30/in-store-beat-session-with-jaisu-and-s-type/

This video featuring two cats from Scotland who call themselves the Tartan Bullies alerted me to the existence of S-Type & Jaisu. Now both are featured prominently on Bloggerhouse’s Scrunchface Show podcasts. Saw ‘em here first.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/05/19/j-bizness-reason-beats-pieces-crunchy-candy-instrumentals/

J. Bizness is a beast and veteran of the Red Tune Beat Battles. His first instrumental project was featured here.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/05/25/new-vohnbeatz/

Strange Fruit Project’s own Symbolyc One began posting up videos of his then 11 year old son VohnBeatz making his OWN slaps. I’m not a smiley dude but this shit makes me proud to see. I later featured him on Poisonous Paragraphs and even retagged his ‘New Kid On The Block” beat tape. He’s the future…

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/06/04/snap-snappage-volume-i-mixtape/

Frank’s favorite emcee damn near became my favorite too after I heard this mixtape.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/06/08/sigh/

Facepalms fah e’erybody.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/06/18/jaisu-on-the-boards-with-the-heat/

This muhfucka named Jaisu making hot beats on video. Get. in. my. iPod! Now I have all of these beats on my hard drive and you don’t. Don’t you wish you were us? I do and I’M ALREADY ME!

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/07/02/paten-locke-aka-dj-therapy-brava/

DJ Therapy or Paten Locke. Either name results in the same thing. Hot shit! If you never copped an Asamov, AB’s or Paten Locke release then the reason we’re having all of these natural disasters lately is YOUR fault. Fix it. Now.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/07/10/questlove-flips-philip-michael-thomas-shes-a-liar/

If you know producers (and I do) then you’d know that one thing they do when they get bored is try to challenge themselves by flipping or reworking records that are deemed unusable. Questo finds a way (no Ummah) to freak Phillip Michael Thomas’ “She’s A Liar”. A record Cynthia Horner of “Right On!” magazine fellated back in the days. She also said Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs’ album was hot so…. (I’m old by the way)

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/08/07/the-are-iran/

The ARE cooking up some more marvelous shit in honor of the Iran elections. My Twitter avatar was green during this time.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/08/12/slum-village-actin-normal-video-premiere/

RIP Baatin. This should’ve been on the album and it should’ve had Frank’s cover on it but that is neither here nor there.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/10/19/crown-nation-archie-whitewater/

This was the first time I saw Crown Nation on a blog other than my own outside of Detroit. Detroit Hip Hop runs shit…and I’m from BOSTON. Real recognize real.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/10/28/jay-electronica-exhibit-c-produced-by-just-blaze-radio-rip/

I wonder if this is gonna spark some kind of mania across the the internets where people are worked into a mad frenzy over getting a CDQ version of it? *Walks away whistling*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/12/01/slum-village-villa-manifesto-ep-artwork/

More excellent FWMJ graphic design work. I wonder if Frank actually met his deadline, though? *Silence*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/12/22/blackberryjones-king-of-chop/

I love seeing producers do live chops. It brings me back to the days where I had my entire in house production team working on beats that I’d have to eventually Ong Bak people before they got paid for them. This shit is sick. I still play this for heads from time to time.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2009/12/27/my-brother-dj-enuff-asks-why-am-i-not-playing-jay-electronica-on-hot-97/

Yeah. Enuff pissed me off with this one. You’re a damn DJ & a grown man. Play the fuckin’ record if you want to already! He made it the pick of the week later. The next day he posted up a blog asking the bloggersphere what winter coat should he rock before leaving the crib.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/02/15/wearetheworld-2010-sucks/

Frank actually shut down the site to protest the overall suckfest that was “We Are The World 2010”. Is AutoTune dead yet? How close is ELMatic to being completed? When can we expect a Jay Electronica album? Tell me if isn’t really happening! *Spins totem to make sure this is the real world & NOT a dream*

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/03/08/fwmjs-rappers-i-know-presents-danny-brown-detroit-state-of-mind-4/

Danny Brown makes yet another step toward becoming your favorite rapper.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/03/16/danny-brown-the-hybrid/

Slightly more than a week later, Danny Brown attempts to solidify his dominance over iPods & Zunes *side eye* across the globe. And succeeds…

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/03/18/dela-the-robert-glasper-beattape/

Dela. Robert Glasper. Also search for The Niyat’s project as it just missed to cut. You won’t be disappointed.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/03/23/trek-life-j-bizness-rhymes-within-reason-ep/

J. Bizness. Trek Life. Shut yo’ ass up & download it already.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/04/01/the-greatest-band-youll-never-hear-again-part-i/

Frank introduced the internets & the bloggerverse to Neon Collars. Then he broke the sad news via Twitter that they’d just broke up. Should coulda woulda. AGAIN. Cop the EP from iTunes. Damn damn damn James! © Florida Evans

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/06/01/the-stuyvesants/

This is an instrumental project that people will be discussing for years down the line. How can I guarantee that will be true? Because I’ll be doing it. Do the right thing.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/06/12/producers-i-know-presents-ayepee-beat-library-prod-apatight/

Apatight is a member of the Producers I Know collective and has been featured prominently on Bloggerhouse & The Scrunchface Show. Hot shit.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/07/28/the-are-brokn-englsh-are-x-b-e-album/

The ARE once again makes some undeniable heat with Brokn Englsh. Bananas.

http://www.rappersiknow.com/2010/07/29/slum-village-breakup-interviews/

I’m one of the most cynical people you may ever meet but these sobering audio clips really make it painfully clear that Slum Village is no more. No more Little Brother. No more Slum Village. But DipSet is reunited! Shit makes me wanna do 5 straight shots of Drano.

There you go. 50 classic Rappers I Know posts. Some of your favorites may be missing. Like the one where Frank showed Miss info “2 Girls, 1 Cup”. Or the one where Frank was tryna grab up on Chilli talnbout “she smells so damb good!”. Or the one where Questo called Frank a hater. Or the OTHER Jay Electronica posts. Or all of those Drake posts homie from T.Dot posted up that Slop clowned. This has been one hell of a ride and one hell of a blog. If it wasn’t for Rappers I Know, imagine how much the bloggerverse would’ve sucked in general? Salute to the whole RIK crew.