hip hop

We can't be sure that Busta Rhymes' fast rapping ability on "Look at Me Now' is the result of talent or of a tic developed from minor head trauma.

If P. Diddy can change his name and Willie Nelson can release a reggae album, why can't Snoop Dogg do both? The 40-year-old rapper formally announced today that he would be changing his name to Snoop Lion and abandoning rap to focus on reggae.

At a recent press conference, the newly-christened Snoop Lion described his life-changing visit to a Rastafarian temple while in Jamaica recording for his new album:

"I didn't know that until I went to the temple, where the High Priest asked me what my name was, and I said, 'Snoop Dogg.' And he looked me in my eyes and said, 'No more. You are the light; you are the lion.' From that moment on, it's like I had started to understand why I was there."

[news.com.au]

When they're together, they're a Jay-Z song. When she's by herself, she's an N.W.A. song. GENIUS.

Vinyl junkies and nerdy hip-hop heads are no doubt salivating at this awesome R2D2-styled turntable. It looks like a heavily modded Technics 1200, so it's not too out of the question to find one on Craigslist to build a C3PO counterpart.

[boingboing]

No, really you guys. It's really him.

"Get some chi..." HEY THAT'S RACIST.

Jay-Z is a true American fisher.

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansari is already noted BFFs with Kanye West and Jay-Z (he makes a brief cameo in the music video for "Otis"), so Tumblr site Emceez Ansari helpfully lets us know what it would be like if he were a rapper, too.

Okay, so MAYBE it's inappropriate to make a joke about Soulja Boy being a holy soulja in a holy war against hip-hop.

At a certain point in your life you realize that many stars of the music industry are more celebrity than musician.

I'm a little disappointed to discover that Lil Wayne was not, as a child, what the cover to Tha Carter III suggested he was.

Rapper Bilal ordered at the McDonald's drive-thru entirely in verse. It looks like he drove away before he could get his hamburger, but maybe next time he'll stay to see if they get his order right.