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Spotlight

Terrific Twitter Trio of the Week

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Lots of musicians tweet — but all that Twitters is not gold.

That’s why you’ll want to check out SPIN.com every Friday to see whose tweets we’re reading this week — then update your TweetDeck! (Obligatory Self-Promotion: …while you’re at it, be sure to follow @SPINmagazine!)

  • Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij
    @matsoR

    Why You Should Follow: Rostam Batmanglij — who has a backwards Twitter name, just like his bandmate Ezra Koenig (@arzE) — is a modern-day Renaissance man. When he’s not juggling instruments, writing songs, and producing tracks for Vampire Weekend, he’s collaborating with Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles on the electro-funk group Discovery and joining forces with Kid Cudi and Best Coast on the song “All Summer.” But even when he’s at his busiest, he still finds time to tweet. Expect lots of D.C. hometown pride (“If your area code is 202, then I got love for you”), Vampire Weekend secrets (“first ten seconds of horchata is just harmonium and vocals”), and links to his awesome Tumblr, which showcases iPad artwork, videos filmed backstage at Radiohead concerts, and pictures of mouth-watering vegetarian pizza. Bonus points: He often tweets at fans — sometimes even encouraging them to quit smoking!

    Best Tweet of the Week: “People can be proud of their national soccer team if they want. I can’t identify too much with it though… Makes a lot more sense to me to be proud of your country’s equal rights and open-mindedness.”

  • Nicki Minaj
    @NICKIMINAJ

    Why You Should Follow: This up-and-coming rapper and singer — whose debut album is set to drop in November — has taken the hip-hop world by storm. Her second single, “Your Love,” made her the first female artist to top the Billboard Rap Charts unaccompanied since 2002, and she’s gaining momentum on the Billboard Hot 100 as well. Even Lil’ Kim has taken note, lashing out at the Young Money phenom for “stealing her look.” But don’t expect any beef from Minaj. Though she’s flashing a fist (and knuckle ring) in her Twitter background, she preaches nothing but love in her tweets. Hardly a day goes by when she doesn’t encourage her followers to think positively or chase their dreams. When she’s not posting inspirational quotes or Bible verses, she’s re-tweeting and responding to messages from fans and prompting communication with them (“How’s every1 doing? If u feel great press 1, feeling so-so press 2, feeling twisted press 3, ready to beat sumbody ass press 4”).

    Best Tweet of the Week: “Thank u guys very much for the feedback on the Video. #YourLove means the world to me,” after the music video for “Your Love” premiered on MTV this past Wednesday.

  • Eminem
    @Eminem

    Why You Should Follow: The sobered, more mature rapper just released his seventh studio album, Recovery, in June, and now he’s making an appearance on our August cover, which hits newsstands soon. Though he’s not a big tweeter (and rarely posts anything personal, unless it’s about his new high score on Donkey Kong), he’s still worth following, if only for the giveaways — he frequently uses Twitter to give out concert tickets, VIP passes, T-shirts, and more. He also pays homage to the rap legends that inspired him while he was growing up (“Happy birthday 2Pac. We miss you”) and gives shout-outs to the people he collaborates with, like Rihanna, B.o.B., and Keyshia Cole. And in case you’re wondering whether it’s actually him tweeting or not, he recently wrote, “Yes I’m really typing this,” clearing up any doubts his followers might have had.

    Best Tweet of the Week: He hasn’t tweeted in a couple of weeks, but don’t worry, he’ll be back, especially when he plays a few shows with Jay-Z in Detroit in September.