Tag: M.I.A.

The Rap Sheet: Busdriver’s New Superduo, Fashawn Shills for Weed, Cool Kids + Freddie Gibbs + Black Keys + Bun B, M.I.A. Leaks Diplo Track, Sizzurp = the New Absinthe

Rappers wanna talk to Samson. He's got the good shhhh ...

I’m not going to pretend to have coined “The Rap Sheet” as a blog header. But I am going to claim exclusive first rights to all of these rap-related stories, every single one of which has become a total Internet sensation. Yep, every single one of them … except maybe all of them.

  1. FEATURED: They Wanna Talk to Samson: Fashawn and Strong Arm Steady Shill for Their Favorite Medical Pot Dispensaries*

  2. Busdriver and Nocando Form Superduo, Flash Bang Grenada
  3. M.I.A. Leaks New Diplo-Produced Song on Twitter
  4. T.I. Gets Arrested, You Get 10 Sizzurp-Inspired Video Clips
  5. Bun B + Cool Kids + Freddie Gibbs + Black Keys = P.O.C.

* “It seems like something out of Dave Chappelle’s 1998 stoner classic, Half Baked, but could allegiances to specific medical marijuana dispensaries be rap’s next big territory war?“

(all stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)

News: M.I.A. + Yorke Guest with Major Lazer, De La Rocha Mystery Shows, Best Coast + Kid Cudi

Major Lazer gets collaborative.

Quick bloggy bits from around the L.A. underground (and up). Share ’em.

  1. FEATURED: M.I.A., Yorke, and More on Major Lazer EP*
  2. De La Rocha’s One Day as a Lion Plays Mystery L.A. Shows
  3. MP3: Dâm-Funk Goes Gangsta with Compton’s MC Eiht
  4. Watch: Best Coast, Cudi, Vampire Weekend’s Batmanglij
  5. Free Download: Calexico’s ‘Live in Nuremberg’ LP

(all stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)

* M.I.A. guests with Diplo, her one-time lover and longtime producer, on his’ new EP as Major Lazer, while Thom Yorke remixes “Jump Up.”

COACHELLA 2010: Reporting from Day One

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Jay-Z at Coachella, shot by Erik Voake

Jay-Z may run this town (or that town), but Spin Magazine staked its claim on Coachella coverage this past weekend in no uncertain terms. I was fortunate enough to be part of that journalistic wrecking crew, and on Friday, I devoted most of my otherwise fragmented attention to Jay-Z’s incredible set, which included a loving recreation of the New York skyline, and a duet with the wifey that brought down the house. Read about the 30-song set here.

I also covered Street Sweeper Social Club, Passion Pit, Echo and the Bunnymen and the Specials for the mag’s “Best and Worst Moments” roundup. Additional text by my old Filter colleague Liam Gowing, Spin Online Editor William Goodman and Deputy Editor Steve Kandell.

Photos by Andrew Herrold, Erik Voake and Matt Kiser.

Poptimist Issue 2 Debuts: Artists Of The Decade

As readers of pop culture journalism are well aware (and perhaps lamenting), the dawn of a new decade means twice the list-making. If culture can’t be quantified, well, I’m out of a job. Thus, its in the spirit of thankfulness, nostalgia and horizon-gazing that I offer to you, dear overstretched reader, the “Artists Of The Decade” as determined by myself and the good editors of Poptimist. Read it online (page 34), or pick one up ’round the streets of L.A. Huzzah!

Poptimist, Issue 2