CNN group member emcee Noreaga said it best when he explained that if “y’all don’t know about G Rap, y’all don’t know about RAP.” In case you didn’t get it, he was talking about the legendary G Rap, a true hip-hop icon, whose full name is “Kool Genius of Rap.” If you don’t know about him, chances are you don’t know that much about rap music in general. Kool G released classic material in the late ’80s and early ’90s with his partner in rhyme DJ Polo. His innovative style combined insightful and picturesque descriptions of street life with superb control of rhyme structure and delivery. G Rap’s intelligent and perfectly metered rhymes flip back and forth from slow and smooth to bouncing off his tongue in a measured mile-a-minute delivery, a style which was later emulated by rap greats like Big L and the early (circa 1995) Jay-Z. Rolling Stone describes G Rap as stepping onto the scene “deliver[ing] lyrically innovative street sagas with a gritty realism which few had heard before.” A perfect example of G Rap’s rhymes is a verse from “The Streets of New York” which was featured on 1990’s Wanted: Dead or Alive album. On the song, Rap rhymes “Drug dealers drive around looking hard. Knowing they’re sending their brothers and sisters to the graveyard. Every day is a main event. Some old lady limps. The pushers and pimps eat shrimps. It gets tiring, the sight of a gun firing. They must desire for the sound of a siren. A bag lady dies in an alleyway–She’s seen the last of her days inside the subways.” Unlike other ’80s greats, G Rap has maintained his ability to stay abreast with the up-and-coming competition and has continued to perfect his delivery of fast, perfectly metered, brilliant rhymes. Check G Rap out live here in Burlington on Wednesday, October 12th at Nectar’s. Like my man N.O.R.E said, learn something about G Rap, and learn something about rap itself in the process.