NO TRIVIA

August 18, 2012 – I think I wandered into a rap blogger version of a Beckett play the other night. I drove all around southern New Jersey on a Thursday evening, pulling into every supermarket and pharmacy with a Redbox trying to rent month-old Wiz Khalifa and Snopp Dogg straight-to-DVD-vehicle Mac & Devin Go To High School, only to discover that it is either sold out or not carried in that specific RedBox.

August 17, 2012 – Back In March, producer Ryan Hemsworth's mix for the website Live For the Funk singlehandedly made the beyond played-out mash-up vital again. That hour-and-then-some, kitchen-sink piling-on of music from anywhere and everywhere even took the time to sonically connects all its dots (Grimes slamming into Mariah!), featured an inspired mash-up of Three Six Mafia's "Late Nite Tip," and the Microphones' "Instrumental" off The Glow Pt. 2.

August 14, 2012 – Right up there with the endless search for the gay rapper, the biggest waste-of-time hip-hop controversy involves whether an MC has or hasn't used a ghostwriter. And apparently, even one of hip-hop culture's finest chroniclers couldn't resist the chance to throw someone under the bus.

August 10, 2012 – Have you checked out Gwyneth Paltrow's "Summer Jams" playlist over at Jay-Z's Life + Times website? It's a slideshow with YouTube embeds of her choices and brief, naively moronic comments from the famous actress about each song. Or, maybe an intern added the comments, it's hard to tell.

August 3, 2012 – Rick Ross' God Forgives, I Don't is another epic, empty Rick Ross album. He's repeating the success of Deeper Than Rap and Teflon Don — both entertaining, well-crafted listens that did all the things that they needed to do, but nothing more.

August 3, 2012 – Totally disagree with Noz and the Cocaine Blunts peanut gallery: At the very least, Nas' Life Is Good is, well, good. A few weeks after its release, there are still plenty of little details grabbing my ears.