At last, a decent rap album

He barely registers on the cultural radar, but Chicago-born rapper Common comfortably shifts a million copies every time he releases a CD.

You might have seen him in gangster movie Smokin' Aces (he plays henchman to mob supergrass Buddy "aces" Israel) but his music is as far from the gun-toting posturing of gangsta rap as it's possible to be without adorning Will Smith's big-toothed perma-grin.

"I feel as a black man, with so much going on in our community and being put down so much, we need spiritual encouragement," he told the Chicago Tribune this week. "Sometimes children don't get enough encouragement to live a healthy lifestyle."

His socially-concious lyrics deal with topics like urban violence, conflict diamonds, and (gasp!) love. It might sound terribly worthy but Common tempers it all with a sense of tabloidy humour - referencing Finding Nemo, Jennifer Aniston's breakup with Vince Vaughn and that music video with OK Go! dancing on a treadmill

It doesn't hurt, of course, that he's best buddies with Kanye West - who produced his last, Grammy-nominated, album, Be - and who returns on his latest release Finding Forever.

West gives the album an expansive, commercial sound, with some very recognisable samples (Nina Simone) and some big name pulling power (will.i.am and Lily Allen). The record doesn't quite live up to its predecessor, but tracks like The People, Drivin' Me Wild, and Break My Heart are among the best hip-hop you'll hear all year. Imagine Curtis Mayfield crossed with the laid-back, conversational style of Nas and you're half-way there.

Here's the video for The People:




You can also download the superb, Lily Allen-featuring, Drivin' Me Wild from Hipandpop.com.

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End of an era

Hurrumph!

With the sort of reckless abandon not seen since the Los Angeles' DMV gave driving licences to Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, the BBC has suddenly decided to stop making its slate of video podcasts. As of last week, these free, excellent, downloads are gone - evaporating into the ether without so much as a bye or leave (incidentally, what does this phrase even mean?).

According to the man in charge, some of the "vodcasts" may reappear later in the year, but others may not.

I don't really get it. Why spend a year courting your audience, only to dump them on your doorstep while secretly hoping they'll get back together with you in October? Why couldn't the "evaluation" of this trial have run simultaneously with the trial itself? It seems a particularly perverse way to carry out your business. But, hey, that's the BBC for you.

Chief among the losses is Storyfix - the corporation's sarcastic look at its own news coverage. I understand the weekly download was roundly hated by the very presenters it lampooned. For that reason alone it was a marvellous and excellent invention. The music wasn't bad, either. (I wonder which gifted genius of modern composition was responsible...)

But sources on the Storyfix team tell me that it won't be one of the shows making a return later in the year. Apparently, budgetary constraints mean it is finished, kaput, no more, the end, annihilated, broken, gorn, dead and buried. Fin.

If you want to see what in the name of heck you were missing, here is the excellent last episode: A compilation of the best bits of the last 12 months of news aimed at a viewer with the attention span of a goldfish raised on MTV and red bull.

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Rihanna: Please Don't Stop The Music

Rihanna's latest video leaked onto the net about a week ago. Since then, I've been desperately trying to find a version without horribly distorted audio so that I could put it up here... Honestly, can't these American kids illegally ripping off music videos from the TV work out how handle the audio input controls on their PC. The education system is a shambles, etc, etc.

Anyway, here it is at last and I can honestly say it probably wasn't worth the wait. The treatment for the video was clearly photocopied from an old Beyoncé document someone lifted out of the wastepaper basket at Sony's "will this do" department. Where is the synchronised dancing? The costume change? The Michael Jackson looky-likey? It is really not good enough at all.

The song, however, is better than Umbrella. No, really.

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We have moved to Springfield

That's mrsdiscopop and me visiting Apu in the Kwik-e-Mart, courtesy of the splendid "make your own Simpson" thingamawhatsist on The Simpsons' Movie website. Hours of fun guaranteed*

* Terms and conditions apply. Your home may be at risk if you do not have fun. Fun can go up as well as down. Although going up and down is pretty good fun in itself. Especially on a trampoline. Or a big wobbly jelly.

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Some distracting materials from the internet!!!1

Because Fridays are all about mucking around on the web and waiting for the moment you can run out the office door and go to the pub. Don't forget your jacket.

The Spice Girls are (still) back! They have all put on something black and lined up in front of a man with a camera, who pressed a button and took a photo, which he sent to their record label, who asked the Spice Girls to approve it, which they did, and then the proof was scanned and given to a press person, who sent it to journalists, who put in on the internet. And then I copied it and pasted it here. Look:

While appearing on Conan O'Brien's US chat show to promote his new comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, Adam Sandler was asked to introduce a clip from his new movie. Conan then played a scene from a gay porn film, featuring men who get off on fattening each other up. Nice:

Play your favourite 1980s aracde game here. Paperboy is still a work of unfettered genuius.

Uberblog Pop Star Poetry imagines Ray Winstone meeting up with Amy Winehouse:

To The Ivy for lunch
With Quentin Tarantino
We rap about political
Subtext in The Beano

Onetime discopop fantasy figure Mary Louise Parker bares (almost) all to promote the upcoming season of Weeds. But is that really her bottom?

"Angelina Jolie is the best woman in the world because she is the most famous woman in the world". Esquire magazine writes the worst celebrity profile in the world.

Listen to the fantastic remix of Justin Timberlake's Lovestoned by dance supremos Justice. A gazillion better times better than the original, I swear.

Take a look at this clickable map of Lindsay Lohan's slow-motion self-destruction and ask yourself the following question: "Is this the future of interactive reporting, or just sickening voyeurism?"

What are Tom and Katie doing in this photo?

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Yes, yes, yes or no, no, no?

Here is Girls Aloud's first performance of their new single, Sexy! No No No, from Channel 4's T4 on the Beach.



I still reckon it's missing a chorus. What do you think?

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