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I can’t say that I particularly liked New Kids On The Block back in the day, but I’m sure some people will be excited to know that they have reunited.

To celebrate this momentous occasion (!), the group appeared this morning on the NBC show Today. You might be happy to know that they announced plans to release a new album and go on a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their platinum-selling Hangin’ Tough record.

Donnie Wahlberg, who shocked absolutely nobody by being an extremely mediocre actor, has been writing new material with the other members of the group - I can only hope his songwriting skills are of a higher standard than his performance in Dreamcatcher (seriously, that film was a big steaming pile of turd).

I’m sure Danny Wood will be the happiest of them all about this reunion, as his last group where possibly the worst thing to come out of Britain since Jade Goody. If you can’t remember Upper Street, count yourself lucky - the sight of a bunch of ex-boyband members squabbling like children on MTV was incredibly embarrassing to watch (incidentally I happened to notice Jimmy Constable, formerly of 911, on The One Show last night - how the mighty have fallen).

Will they be able to come up with something as good as Hangin’ Tough again? Will Marky Mark make a special appearance and show everyone his pants? Does anyone care?

These questions and more will surely be answered in the not-too-distant future.

I’ve got nothing against any of the modern day rap artistes, just to get that out of the way! However the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Curtis Blow, Public Enemy, N.W.A. and The Sugarhill Gang (who might not mean much to your average person) are rightly considered of a much higher standard.

I’ve not always been a fan of hip-hop (or rap, is there any difference really?) - in fact I absolutely refused to even entertain the idea of ever listening to this kind of music when I was younger.

I’m fairly sure it was hearing The Message by Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five that really got me interested in what else was out there, and it just kind of went on from there.

What I’m getting at is that you shouldn’t really ever judge a book by its cover. If you keep a truely open mind, you’ll encounter things that you never thought imaginable and have experiences you’ll never forget.

All this from listening to Grandmaster Flash - how very bloody mental!

I’ll leave you with some classic Young MC.

Ciao.

Vanilla Ice has never been relevant, even when everybody was "getting down" to Ice Ice Baby.

I mean if you actually disect the lyrics of the song they make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I thought I would highlight some of the shit he goes on about during his hit.

"Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly": Correct me if I’m wrong, but a harpoon goes quite fast in a forward direction. Why would it take a whole day and night?

"I rock a mic like a vandal": I see. What you’re telling me is that you’re using your microphone as a tool of destruction. How ruddy bloody hard you must be.

"Wax a chump like a candle": You’ve lost me here Vanilla.

"Love it or leave it you better gain weight": So your song will make me fat? How rude!

I could go on for ages, but I won’t.

The sad thing is that I quite like some of The Iceman’s stuff (seriously - "Cool As Ice" and "Ninja Rap" are both good), so this demolition of his most popular work might seem a bit weird. I just get confused by musicians who make up crap just because it happens to rhyme. I’m also confused by the fact that Rob Van Winkle seems to believe that he was once important, when really all he did was knick a sample off of Queen and speak bollocks over the top of it.

If you want REAL rap, seek out Louis Theroux.

He’s straight up gangsta.

I genuinely think that MC Hammer is misunderstood.

Yes he spunked most of his cash on useless crap (the guy had a mirrored bathroom, a gold jacuzzi and a bowling alley for Christ’s sake!), but he still found the time to share with the world such classics as U Can’t Touch This, Too Legit To Quit and The Addams Family Groove - without these wonderful examples, where would we be?

Stuck listening to Vanilla Ice probably.

Actually, he’s another one who has been treated badly - Ice, Ice Baby is the only rap (I use the term loosely) song that I know all the lyrics to. Possibly not a very valid reason for showing sympathy for him, but it works for me.

So if anyone ever dares to criticise the greatness of Hammer, all I can say is this - stop, hammertime!