NO TRIVIA

April 6, 2012 – For the second week in a row, I am going to use this space to mourn the death of a weirdo cult figure only tangentially related to hip-hop. This time, it's director African-American filmmaker Jamaa Fanaka, best known for the 1979 prison fight flick Penitentiary. Dialogue from the film is sampled on plenty of hip-hop songs and it's the origin of cult rapper Lil 1/2 Dead's name.

April 6, 2012 – Simon Reynolds' Retromania thesis — we've become weighed down by the past and as a result, the 2000s lacks its own signature sound — seems pretty spot-on to me. But I'm beginning to suspect there actually is a distinct "2000s sound." It's the druggy, know-it-when-you-hear-it haze of synths and manipulated vocals that are heard across multiple genres.

April 6, 2012 – Alternate title for this little listicle: THE FIVE MOST SLEPT-ON ALBUMS OF THE SPIN NO TRIVIA ERA. Cutting the year into quarters and gauging where music is at that actually kind-of-random moment is a bit of a cheat. But the sheer amount of rap launched via the Internet necessitates slowing up and seeing what you missed.

April 5, 2012 – Recently, Entertainment Weekly reported that a biopic about the final, troubled years of the Wu-Tang Clan's Ol' Dirty Bastard was in the works. The big news was that Michael Kenneth Williams, best known as Omar from The Wire, would play ODB. The Wire and Wu-Tang, two things that every rap nerd loves, right?

March 30, 2012 – Writer Harry Crews died on Wednesday. He was 76. What's that have to do with rap music? Well, not too much, though I'd encourage you to hunt down one of his novels if you're near a pretty good library (which you're probably not), or an okay used book store (even less likely). I'd recommend Car, about a dude who decides to eat a Ford Maverick.

March 29, 2012 – If you watch one rap video with awkward dancing today, make sure it's Western Tink's "Fancy Schmancy," and not, T.I.'s "Hot Wheels," an attempt to wedge Iggy Azalea into T.I., Travis Porter, and Young Dro's world with little to no success.