Category: Uncategorized

BET has released Youtube videos of the cypher sessions from their Hip Hop Awards. For folks who don’t know, “cypher” refers to freestyle rapping, in a non-battle context. I often prefer it to battles, because it’s focused more on lyrical and improvisational skill, rather than the take-down of an opponent with insults.

A pure display of talent — check this out, for example. Three of the top MCs in the business — Mos Def, Black Thought and Eminem — off the top of their heads. Fucking brilliant.

EDIT: Youtube took the vid down, here is another version:

(Here’s the link for when this copies over to Facebook and they miss the embed, as usual.)

I note with no small degree of amusement that apparently the new hotness among the self-defined “Indie” crowd is, of all things, marketing.

Y’know, the same sort of commercial, business-oriented approach to publishing that had me labeled as “corporate” and “not-Indie” or “The Man” or whatever, by the self-same community, just a scant while back.

They’re even doing *webinars!* Where you can hear the marketing theories of people who have products that have moved as much as several hundred copies!