Hip-hop. History. Hilarity.

2007 was a great year for hip-hop. Jay-Z has released what will be known as the penultimate classic of pusher-rap, a narrative concept album that reflects the full spectrum of emotion and tragedy. Rhythms that seem diegetic to the world as inscribed. Aesop Rock back to form, impressionist and tweaked, the place he's created now folding the scattered past in with the crumbling future. Pharaohe Monch back from exile, veterate yet hungry. OneBelo with "R.E.B.I.R.T.H., still absorbing this one. Talib Kweli. El-P. etc etc

I'm reading a book called "A Continent for the Taking" about African history. Most of it recent, but also discussing the pre-slave-trade state of things. I don't mean to blame the white man for everything, none of us alive can change the past. But we literally tore Africa apart. The British Empire fought west African empires for nearly a century before they submitted. History only becomes real to me when I know details. And I don't have the time I wish I did to collect them.

My wallet was stolen from under my nose. The gentlemen that swiped it immediately went to McDonald's and spent over $200 on my credit card. And rented a DVD from a Redbox DVD vending machine. Whiskey-tango-foxtrot. Hamburgers? I'm not liable for any of these charges, and this will be nothing more than a hassle. But I couldn't have come up with a better "spending spree" for the morons of 'merikuh to go on.