Category Archives: The Wrap Up

Here’s hoping Guru gets better: Walmart in trouble for promoting Ice Cube’s The Players Club as Black History (allhiphop.com) Jneiro Jarel announces Android Love Mayhem EP for April 13 (jneirojarel.blogspot.com) RIP Chilly B of Newcleus (pitchfork.com) Guru goes into cardiac … Continue reading →

When was the last time I posted a “Wrap Up”? I can’t remember… Google shuts down music blogs, Internet deems the action “musicblogocide” (guardian.co.uk) MTV/Viacom, Real Networks spins off Rhapsody (multichannel.com) MTV no longer known as “Music Television,” now known … Continue reading →

Rest in peace to J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye: Complete list of winners at the worst Grammy Awards ceremony…since last year (grammy.com) Rapper Apache of Flavor Unit, “Gangsta Bitch” fame dies (allhiphop.com) US Justice Department approves … Continue reading →

The love I lost: Dessa on female performers in hip hop (myspace.com) Al Green producer Willie Mitchell dead at 81 (pollstar.com) Paste magazine survives in ’09, turns profit (audiencedevelopment.com) 10 reasons to be cautiously optimistic about rap in ’10 (latimes.com) … Continue reading →

The feelings you missed: Organized Konfusion’s DJ Omega Supreme dies from cancer (allhiphop.com) MF Doom’s Operation Doomsday gets reissued again, this time in a deluxe package (stonesthrow.com) M-Eighty breaks Guinness World Record for longest freestyle (hiphopdx.com) Five legal cases that … Continue reading →

As the days get shorter, the news gets slower: Giant magazine bites the dust, moves to online (nymag.com) Pioneering social network Friendster changes owners, shifts focus to Asia (reuters.com) 2010 Grammy Award nominations announced (grammy.com) RIP Monty Stark from Stark … Continue reading →

On January 1, I posted a list of “Ten anticipated albums for 2009.” How did I do? As the year draws to a close, it appears that out of 20 albums on the list, 15 were released (counting Thavius Beck’s … Continue reading →

This week’s clippings: Charles Hamilton finally emerges from seclusion (twitter.com) Ta-Nehisi Coates on Rakim and The Seventh Seal (ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com) Twitter prepares long-anticipated move to advertising model (wired.com) Saul Williams essay on Morehouse College’s new dress code (essence.com) Mercury Prize winner … Continue reading →

Someone has to care: Rob Swift remembers Roc Raida (cocaineblunts.com) Google sets Chrome OS launch for 2010 (wired.com) MySpace purchases Imeem (cnet.com) Wale hits top 25 of Billboard charts (rollingstone.com) New Natural Elements album (wernervonwallenrod.blogspot.com) Fweeee!: Sole and the Skyrider … Continue reading →

A wrap up of last week’s news, yo: Google music search goes official (mtv.com) Madlib announces 12-months of “The Madlib Medicine Show” (stonesthrow.com) Preview of Jeff Chang’s 2010 book Who We Be in The Believer (cantstopwontstop.com) Georgia Anne Muldrow releases … Continue reading →

Leave a good lookin’ corpse: Facebook and MySpace’s racial, social, economic disparities (npr.org) Public Enemy works on fan-funded album (allhiphop.com) Rumors anticipating new Google, Facebook music programs  spread (nytimes.com) Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, the Roots, others file lawsuit … Continue reading →

From the left of the map: A few good suggestions for distributing music journalism across digital platforms (wired.com) Proto-rap poet Amiri Baraka celebrates 75th birthday (nj.com) Pharrell Williams tries to turn N.E.R.D. into the next Black Eyed Peas (complex.com) Common … Continue reading →

From now on, this column will be published on Monday Friday Sunday whenever I feel like it: Warner Music and YouTube end standoff, agree on new revenue-sharing deal (nytimes.com) URB puts print edition on “hiatus” after 19 years, goes completely … Continue reading →

Two-week old, three-day late, Kanye-enhanced edition: Infamous warez crew RNS busted by FBI (wired.com) Del the Funky Homosapien in car accident while on tour (myspace.com) DJ Kon from crate-digging heroes Kon & Amir hospitalized for serious illness (playinforkeeps.blogspot.com) Harry Allen … Continue reading →

The Wrap Up will now publish Fridays instead of sporadically on Mondays: Slaughterhouse debut opens at number 25 on Billboard album chart (billboard.com) New blog dedicated to recently deceased producer Tony D (rememberingtonyd.blogspot.com) This is why I don’t post leaks … Continue reading →

The lost weekends: Kanye, Em, Cudi, various pop wanksters earn VMA noms (mtv.com) Beastie Boys’ MCA completes cancer surgery, begins recovery (rollingstone.com) More on Baatin’s passing (allhiphop.com) After prematurely calling Charles Hamilton the next-gen rapper to blow, The Fader hopes … Continue reading →

Old news is good news: Speech Debelle’s debut album earns UK Mercury Music Prize nomination (billboard.com) DJ Shiftee wins DMC US DJ finals (amoeba.com) Jay-Z replaces Beastie Boys at All Points West, marking first U.S. festival appearance (rollingstone.com) Blue Sky … Continue reading →

Litigious nation: Common sued over classic debut single “Take It EZ” (rollingstone.com) Lil Wayne’s lawsuit over DJ Drama’s Dedication series thrown out of court (allhiphop.com) Paste magazine survives through successful fundraising campaign (foliomag.com) Dead prez’s M-1 accompanies humanitarian mission to … Continue reading →

Let’s make a deal: Brother Ali’s DJ BK-One finishes album for Rhymesayers (myspace.com) Online radio stations strike compromise with music labels (nytimes.com) B-more rapper Rye Rye cancels A-Trak tour dates due to pregnancy (rollingstone.com) K’naan’s Troubadour on short list for … Continue reading →

Selling out or selling in?: Pirate Bay becomes latest torrent site to go legit (wired.com) Q-Tip finally able to legally issue Kamaal the Abstract (hiphopdx.com) Tanya Morgan’s Von Pea and Donwill contribute to “The Daily Show” (hiphopdx.com) Drake signs with … Continue reading →