Also, it seems that artists on the anticon and Def Jux labels – even if they don’t do what Why? does – are ignored by hip-hop stations for not being dancey enough, and only being limited to new music programs on alternative stations (WFNX has “First Contact”, WBRU used to have an untitled indie rock-oriented freeform hour on Wednesday nights)

Also in my big paragraph I first posted, I forgot Atmosphere. They had one hit on both charts, both with different songs – “Modern Man’s Hustle” (2002, #18 Rap) and “You” (2008, #38 MR).

Anyway, it’s too late for Rebirth to do anything on the Modern Rock Tracks chart without involving the Beastie Boys and/or Linkin Park in a very large capacity.

i always took “party like a rockstar” as a huge parody of “white” rock culture. t-t-totally, dude.

i wonder what role masculinity is playing in all this: with the exception of MIA, whose crossover didn’t raise nearly the stink Weezy et. al is, every single rap artist whose supposedly controversial rock crossover mentioned in the article is a dude. sure, some people noted that there’s a huge indie influence on “Kala,” but that didn’t seem “daring” or “controversial” in the way Weezy playing the guitar seems. and then there’s Peaches, an electro-party rapper who also plays a lot of guitar (and talks about how much she likes to play guitar on a COS track…).

Shop Boyz fall under the “empty gestures towards ‘rock stardom’ that have little or nothing to do with rock music” category.

Also, where do the Shop Boys stand in all of this?

The “we play Eminem at KROQ now” experiment didn’t last all that long, I think.

It’s because of Coldplay. Coldplay makes any observation inane by definition.

Anyway, as far as the main question of this well-written piece- who will play Rebirth?- I’d argue that if the first single is any indication, nobody will, but only because “Prom Queen” is awful. But let’s say the album is somewhat good- Rolling Stone gives it 3 1/2 stars, some douchebag writing for Pitchfork gives it a 6.1 but claims it has moments of true Weezy brilliance, etc.- then I think rock radio will give it some spins and let its listeners decide if stations should keep playing it. This is 2009, and everybody knows who Lil Wayne is- my dad has at least heard the name, and he thinks every rap song ever written is about “ganking bitches” and “fuckin’ the hos”. Rock radio (like any other format) is willing to play whatever they think will attract listeners, and conceivably, the first rock album by the person who made the top-selling album of last year will create more than enough curiosity to attract listeners… unless, of course, the album is garbage.