In a pretty fascinating article done by the Guardian UK’s blog system, Jack Arnott takes a close look at the nature of hip hop and the ghostwriting behind it.
We all know that ghostwriting happens, but I guess a lot of us don’t quite understand just how prevalent it is.  Arnott notes that Nas was the ghostwriter behind Will Smith’s classic opus “Gettin Jiggy wit it“.  Not something you’d usually associate with the “If I ruled the world” star, no?
What’s even crazier is the fact that Puffy’s I’ll be Missing You, …

Yeah, the title says it all.  Visit this article at Huffingtonpost.com to see Cindy McCain make the argument that Governor Palin has national security experience because Alaska is close to Russia.  And she’s being serious.

Hip-hop photography is an underappreciated art.  Unlike photography associated with other genres of music (particularly jazz and rock), hip-hop photography is less established, and frankly, less respected.  Maybe it’s because the genre is still relatively young, or maybe it’s because many wrongly assume that hip-hop photography means tough looking gangster-types looking menacingly at the camera.
Fortunately, that’s usually not the case.  Take Beth Fladung, for example.  She takes compelling shots of hip-hop luminaries and their urban environs.  Her photos are evocative and atmospheric.  If you don’t believe me, check out the attached photos …

Foreign Exchange, the group comprised of Little Brother’s Phonte and Dutch producer Nicolay, are preparing to release their second album, Leave It All Behind.  In order to build hype for the project, they’ve apparently released a couple of teaser videos.  I’m not exactly sure what exactly they’re trying to convey, but the short clips are interesting nonetheless.  Check ‘em out, courtesy of Hip Hop Is Deadly:

FE-LIAB-1 from Foreign Exchange on Vimeo.

Foreign Exchange – LIAB2 from Foreign Exchange on Vimeo. 
Next up is a tune called “Highway” by Kayda-Luz.  I can’t remember how I …

The East Coast Avengers, a hip hop group made up of Esoteric (of 7L & Esoteric fame), trademarc, and DC the Midi Alien, has made been making all kinds of waves lately.
They released a track called “Kill Bill O’Reilly”, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

Michelle Malkin, another conservative commenter and Bill O fan, stood up for him and ignorantly defended Bill against the attacks.   Her infamous quote “Do they have anything better to do?…Rides to pimp? Hos to diss? Bling to steal?” is especially amusing considering those …

This morning, as I was recovering from the greatest live speech I’ve ever witnessed – political or otherwise, I thought the ‘08 presidential race had reached its emotional peak.  And then I visited Slate.com, and learned that John McCain had picked little known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.  McCain may not be my favourite politician, but the man clearly knows how to raise the stakes.  Palin is a stunning (pun intended), risky choice, and has added an entirely new twist to an already riveting campaign.
Just think of …

Check out this documentary about the Wigan Casino, one of the most important clubs of the northern soul scene.  It features some excellent clips of cats gettin’ their dance on, as well as some dope music.  Courtesy of Universoul Productions, this video is a bit long but definitely worth a peek:

We posted earlier about the Large Hadron Collider, a huge scientific installation over at CERN in Europe.
Some nerdy scientist-types have decided to make a little rap video about it, and I have to say as far as nerd rap goes, this isn’t terrible.
Check it out below.

[Update:
Apparently we're not the only ones impressed.  The New York Times, and the AP have both covered it.]

Recently, several of the producers affiliated with 215hiphop.com released Beats & Rhymes: The Remixes.  Featuring remixes of some absolute classic, this album is ambitious but inconsistent: a number of the tracks are outstanding, while others are below par.  The “Billie Jean” remix, though, is definitely worth the download on its own.
Check it out below, and then visit 215hiphop to download the entire album.
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (DJ ‘Lil Dave Remix)
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]