Badu x Wayne

I'm late on this, but the audio/visuals are really fresh; love the drums, strings, and effects on Weezy's vocals. "Jump Up in the Air":

Health Care: The Saga Continues

Excellent opinion piece in the Times today in regards to health care.

Pursuit of Happiness (New Version)

Cudi trades in the whole slow-motion partying with Drake theme for a far better, surreal, dream-like film:

Hov meets Obama

Hov x Obama.

"Would you agree times have changed?" -- Conor Oberst

Protests Across California

Education: another tragic casualty of the recession. Californian students are crying out across the state today. NYTimes story here.

New Bright Eyes??

Be excited!! New tracks from both Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova are imminent, by way of the reissue of their One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels split album, dropping March 23rd. Here's a sneak peak:

Bright Eyes / Neva Dinova "One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels" teaser from Saddle Creek on Vimeo.

CyHi - Popular Demand Freestyle

After a stellar verse on Yelawolf's "I Wish" and a Kanye co-sign, the spotlight is on CyHi... dude is killin it right now:

Big Sean - Supa Dupa Lemonade

Big Sean goes in... looks like his debut is gonna follow Ye's highly anticipated Good Ass Job.

Any guesses on who produced this beat? Drums ringing a bell? "A Milli," anyone?

Best beat I've heard from Bangladesh since the classic Wayne collaboration.

Wayne x Drake x Eminem @ the Grammys

Super fresh!!

Bad News (for what little democracy we have left)

"Sweeping aside a century-old understanding and overruling two important precedents, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections." -- nytimes.com

LOOK OUT! Here comes corporate America, engineering an election near you!!

Here for the rest of the story.

Jay Electronica - Exhibit C

For those of you who have been living in a hip hop hole of late, the illest joint of the new year:

Jay Electronica Calls On Diddy to perform "Exhibit C" from Mikey Fresh on Vimeo.

... and a lil more 'bout hip hop's Jack Kerouac:

Gil Scot-Heron - Me and the Devil

I am beyond excited for Gil's first studio album in over fifteen years. For those of you who are unfamiliar, new ish from the man who brought you "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" years ago:

Quake Rocks Haiti

Not even fair.

In the midst of a catastrophe that would test the faith of all but the most cold-hearted, Haiti, one of the world's most desolate and impoverished nations, is in shambles following a massive earthquake. Here for the news.

Here to help.

Jay-Z - Esquire Interview

One of the best pieces of writing I've read on Jay-Z. An in-depth character piece, focusing on a duality no other rapper has quite achieved; peep the Esquire interview here.

Inception

Lookin gnarly:

Jack White - RS Interview

"I feel like I'm a lot more to do with Jay-Z than I do with the Black Keys. And I don't know what that is, it's just a feeling."

Just read a really great interview with Jack White in the Rolling Stone. Spans everything from how he relates to Jay-Z and Bob Dylan to his visions of music's future. You can read it here!!

On to the Next One

Hov's new single has grown on me since I first heard it, but it still feels flat and out of place on the BP3. Thankfully, the video outshines the song itself; peep Jay-Z's most experimental video of all time and one of the illest hip hop shorts in recent memory:

I love the shots that slowly creep up on the agitated dude's back - connects with some weird, strong, deep feeling inside of me.

Far-Out: A Space Time Chronicle

Spotted on NYTimes.com... simply amazing. Put together by Michael Benson, a photographer, journalist, and filmmaker, the book is available now. Click here to check out a slideshow of more fantastic images from the great abyss.