NO TRIVIA

February 29, 2012 – The video for San Jose rapper Antwon's "Helicopter," released last week, intercuts footage from the 1968 Steve McQueen tough guy car chase movie Bullitt, and dreamy, slo-mo footage of Olde English malt liquor, with Antwon wandering around, munching on a massive plate of food (as much Sriracha is consumed in the video as Old Gold, it seems), and chilling out with friends, including Squadda B and Mondre M.A.N. of Main Attrakionz.

February 29, 2012 – As a teary-eyed Octavia Spencer exited the Hollywood and Highland Center stage, in her hand, the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Minny, the feisty black maid from The Help, a sweeping, percussion-heavy, electro soul jam played the 84th Academy Awards to commercial. The camera flew over the crowd and landed on the house band, briefly treating viewers to Sheila E.

February 28, 2012 – On cLOUDLIFE's opening track "Chap 3," Squadda B briefly croons Jim Jones' hook for Cam'ron's "The Dopeman," and the song's whole conceit is pretty much cribbed from Juelz Santana's endlessly quotable, OCD playa verse from "Hey Ma" (“Get in the car, don't touch nothing, sit in the car”). Presumably, this is the first time a Dipset tribute has been soundtracked by a beat from the Anticon collective, right?

February 28, 2012 – January and February were light on event records. Rick Ross' overrated Rich Forever seemed to demand we take it seriously simply because it's stuffed with starpower and executes its gangsta-rap cliches adroitly — and that just isn't enough.

February 24, 2012 – Some of you are probably familiar with my semi-frequent column over the past year, and December's "Hip-Hop Issue," which I was fortunate enough to help put together. A few of you may even remember No Trivia as my once-fruitful personal rap blog, before it turned into pretty much nothing but a repository for links to writings for SPIN, Pitchfork, Village Voice, and other publications.