The Internet has ruined so many things. Once upon a time, people had to work for entertainment's gratification. I remember friends riding their bike two hours to the nearest mall for a copy of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's E 1999 Eternal on the Tuesday it dropped. I had to search for months...

While unemployment numbers are never far from the headlines, organized labor in America only seems to be part of the story when its foundations are being vilified by politicians and pundits. What was once viewed as an American pillar and an essential step towards the American dream has turned into...

In between Big Boi's "Sir Luscious Leftfoot" and Kanye West's "Dark Twisted Fantasy," hip-hop's album-of-the-year discussion focused on a rotund rapper whose lyrics detailed the cocaine trade. The big fella built a career on a few dancefloor smashes and even more tracks that made stereos thump and blunts miraculously blaze....

While most of America went to bed eagerly anticipating/nauseating over ESPN's LeBronathon (also known as "The Decision"), numerous reputable sources are reporting that Lebron James is leaning towards signing with the Miami Heat. With the two-time MVP's new Twitter account and marketing website and...

There are countless Hollywood stories of the sob and success variety, but very few about the writers behind our favorite films. After the success of films buried in childhood nostalgia, an arms race of toy-based films was set off a few years ago and many of those scripts were attached...

It's almost impossible to translate Lil Wayne's lyrics into the written word. With nearly every syllable on every one of his nearly 1000 songs of this past decade, Weezy is surly and snarly, croaking and crawling, urgent and erstwhile. But there are no accent marks for "Someone should've warned you/R-E-L-A-X...

It's hard to explain Staff Benda Bilili to anyone without sounding like someone who listens to NPR 24 hours a day. At work, at home, in the car, on the computer. Staff Benda Bilili are homeless, Congolese, paraplegic street musicians. They were paid $50 each for a song called...

Once again, Eminem just doesn't give a fuck. Perhaps he never stopped, but the results of his, ahem, care-free attitude are vastly different on his fifth major label release. Call it a return to form (with a twist), as there's a sharp lyricist's fervor -- recalling his days as a...

Until about 11:30 AM, the Los Angeles Dodgers' record-breaking dominance was baseball's top story. They were dominating the National League, a perfect 13-0 at home, breaking the modern day record for wins at home to start a season. The city of Los Angeles had more faith in the Dodgers than...

How much Tweet could a Tweetin' Twitterer Tweet if a Twitterer could Twitter while Tweetin'? If a social networking site with millions and millions of users can bubble under the surface, this was the week that Twitter's bubble burst. While NBA bloggers thought it was funny that Shaquille O'Neal...

Today wasn't all bad. I had a little turkey sausage left in the tube to go with my last two eggs and the remaining slice of bread. My Internet was turned off because of the delinquent bill, but the $2 cup of coffee that gave me access to the dub-dub-dub...

It was not a good weekend for young and handsome superstars. While the music world is aghast at Chris Brown's alleged roughing up of Rihanna, hereby making his R&B career prospects less than mine, the sports world is in a fit over Alex Rodriguez's admittance of steroid taking during his...

As my photo above depicts, I am indeed a white blogger. It's not something I ever imagined having to write in all my years covering hip-hop, an art created predominantly by black males. Maybe it's that the term, "white blogger," seems to suggest something akin to white supremacy... or maybe...

Well before Plaxico Burress caught the game winning touchdown in one of the most epic Super Bowls of all time, I knew that my first son would be named Plaxico. The day Burress joined my New York Giants, in a trade from Pittsburgh, I made up my mind. The little...

Is 2008 over yet? For most of this country, it seems as if this year ended on November 4th, on the heels of that historic election. We're done with the wars, recession, bailouts, pirates and...Autotune. Radio stations switched to all-Christmas formats earlier than ever and every online site is rolling...

Since 1991, when Soundscan started, Garth Brooks has sold more albums than any other artist. Brooks moved nearly 70 million records on the strength of poptastic country songs that spoke sweetly, snarly and simply to working class America, as well as a legendary live performance. But then, in 1999, Brooks...

The momentum to Obama's campaign is tangible at this point, but any premature assumptions feels counter-intuitively dangerous. It's as if thinking about an Obama election could derail the entire thing and start an era of Palin presidency that'll last 16 years, re-writing the constitution on the back of a hockey...