You / Light Up My Life

This is...just the coolest.

Dr. Charles Limb, an otolaryngologist from Johns Hopkins, is conducting experiments trying to get at the neurological basis of musical creativity. Specifically: he put jazz musicians and freestyle rappers in an fMRI machine to learn how activity in the brain changes when musicians improvise v. when they perform memorized material.

I know this TED talk is 17 min, but you can hack it: you're on spring break!
No? Okay fine, here are the results highlights: 10'30" and 15'40". (But it really is worth watching the whole thing. And besides: what a charismatic otolaryngologist!)




(via metafilter)

The One And Only

This video is:
1) a reward for turning in all those final papers (hooray you're done!)
2) preparation for an upcoming Madtown concert
3) (there might not be any singing/rapping, but check out that ostinato, right?)
4) Happy Holidays, etc etc.

And so, without further ado:
Snoop Dogg Reads the Grinch

[It's Got] 99 Problems

I don't know how many of you have been following the Anthology of Rap kerfuffle, but NPR's Jacob Ganz lays it all out.

In brief: the 900+ page anthology of lyrics came out last week - and already people are counting up errors. What does it say when a book about rap put out by Yale University Press and meant for scholars and scholarship seems to be based on online sources without proper fact checks?
Just something (a lot of things) to think about on this Monday afternoon.

Seriously, check out the NPR article.
Then there's the Slate review that started it all.
And an NPR interview with Anthology of Rap editor Adam Bradley, plus an excerpt from the book.

Rubber Ducky / You're The One

And HOT OFF THE PRESS:



Update: Turns out Katy and her Perries never got air time thanks to some disgruntled parents. Even so: IT HAPPENED.


(So comprehensive: squidoo)

My Baby Loves A Bunch Of Authors

Excellent article of the day: Famous Rappers and their 20th Century Literary Counterparts.

The comments (hilarious, by the way) seem to indicate some people are scandalized, but I say: WHY NOT.

(via flavorwire)

Can't Leave Rap Alone / The Game Needs Me

The Encyclopedia of White Rappers: An alphabetical listing of all the white rappers who have recorded albums with major record labels.

I don't know quite what to say about this. Okay.

(via trendhunter)