Idolator

Greetings from "at large"! Like any good penitent, my self-imposed blogging exile has included certain dietary restrictions. Fer instance consuming as little music released in 2008 as possible. But spending the day slopping about in music-related nostalgia is still OK, because otherwise I would have to turn to Jack Van Impe reruns or honest work. That's why this weekend, while Maura was taking in the horror what Fat Mike and/or the Get Up kids wrought, I was at the Rock The Bells tour, a package deal involving hip-hop's geriatric giants that is not a "festival" but a "hip-hop platform," presumably because it's easy for socially conscious rappers to steal juice from political terminology in an election year. We (meaning me and photographer Frank Hamilton) scammed our way in with Idolator's press credentials (and strategic puppy dog eyes), so the usual guilt meant I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself if I didn't type something up after the fact. (Plus Maura made me.) What did we learn? Well, for one thing, we learned that if your blog ass tries to stand on concrete in a "golden age of hip-hop" gulag for 12 hours, it seriously fucks your back up. (According to Maura's account from emo-ville, this is a pan-genre festival problem.) Two, that if our nation's enemies (except for those Iranian fibbers) had targeted Columbia, Md., with their nuclear whatnot on Sunday, they'd have evaporated just about every rapper that made my high school years tolerable. To wit: More »

This summer's edition of the Rock The Bells tour—which will make stops in 10 cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Vancouver—will be headlined by A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Rakim, and the reunited Pharcyde; each of the shows will be hosted by Supernatural and B-Real. The lineup will change from city to city, with artists on the ever-rotating undercard including Santogold, Method Man & Redman, Wale, Dead Prez, and Kid Sister. Confirmed lineup after the jump. More »

So author Norman Mailer, called "pugnacious" or "a genius" or "a jerk" or all three in no less than 8,000 obituaries, kicked this weekend. Meaning everyone's rushing to squeeze Mailer references into articles where they might not fit so good. Like this Mpls./St. Paul Magazine review of a Rakim/Ghostface Killah/Brother Ali concert in Minneapolis. Which springboards off Mailer's infamous tract "The White Negro." Because it seems that "deep down, back in '56, Mailer wished he could flow like that, wished he could approach anything as 'far out' as Rakim doing what he do." A full 12 years before Rakim was born, even. Oh, and you also learn Ghostface is the "McCartneyesque 'cute one.'" More »