NO TRIVIA

July 12, 2012 – The history of hip-hop is predicated upon someone doing something that somebody else told them they weren't allowed to do. At the beginning, it was idyllic mythmaking stuff like turning a turntable into a musical instrument and scratching the damn records. Then, it's N.W.A and other rappers deciding that violent lyrics no longer have to be a metonym for mad skills and can mean actually murdering people.

July 11, 2012 – As of late, the best releases from the Stones Throw/Madlib Invazion camp have been exercises in extremes.

July 9, 2012 – Above the Law's KMG the Illustrator, who died on Saturday, begins "Murder Rap" from the West Coast group's 1990 debut Livin' Like Hustlers with some Flavor Flav-like words of encouragement for his rhyming partner and producer, Cold 187um: "Yo, Cold 187, they tryin' to give you a murder rap / And you ain't even like that / Yo, serve the niggas, cause they deserve to get dissed." KMG often played the tough-guy cheerleader to Cold 187's sw

July 6, 2012 – Heads up to anybody who was entertained by my interview a few months back with underground comics dude and Lil B cover artist Benjamin Marra. His latest comic book, Lincoln Washington: Free Man, is now available to purchase, via Traditional Comics. Like Marra's Gangsta Rap Posse, it's a pulpy, often absurd satire in the guise of a revenge tale that's not for the squeamish or easily offended.

July 5, 2012 – There is an Internet niche for everything, so who even knows what "slept-on" means anymore.

July 5, 2012 – Ubiquitous major-label last great hope 2 Chainz makes four appearances on this list. None of those appearances are on any of his own songs, though he is a nice addition to each and everyone of them, particularly "Beez In The Trap," where he mentions Nicki Minaj's "doo-hickey." But this is just the story of major-label rap music this year: A whole lot of nothing you didn't ask for, to get to that something you actually want to hear.