If I were not sick, this would have been the best blog post ever: dazzling yet measured, strong yet sensitive, concise yet so, so generous. People would have talked about it, rappers would have rapped about it, and critical theorists would simply have given up and gone to the pub.
But I have a swollen throat and a headache and you're getting the short and functional version. As my mum would doubtless advise me, I'm more than due a rest anyway.
So ... my tucked-up-in-bed reading today will be Dan Charnas' superb The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, which was kindly loaned to me by PILOT mag's Andy Pickering, after my multiple attempts to buy it as an e-book failed miserably (and I'll have a big fucking moan about that when my strength returns) -- with a side order of the Global Commission on Drug Policy report that was published yesterday. Yes, I probably am weird.
Tunes? You can download the whole new David Dallas album, The Rose Tint, via his website. As he explained to Thom Watts in an interview to to air on Public Address Radio on Sunday (7pm, Radio Live), retail sales aren't where he makes his money anyway. Result: 8000 downloads of the album, the equivalent of a gold record, on day one.
Look out also for three new remixes by Wellington "future soul" producer Benny Tones, freely available via his Bandcamp page. You can listen to tracks from his album Chrysalis on his Soundcloud page and buy the album at Amplifier.
This week's remix of Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' is in fact a mash-up: the Adele Vs. Robin S - Show Me In The Deep (DJs From Mars Classic Club Bootleg). It's extremely noisy and it makes me smile.
My man Leftside Wobble reached into his digital crate and came up with something you probably haven't heard before: his own edit of Gil Scott Heron's 'Space Shuttle', whose backing track, a collage of several house classics, was produced by Paul Weller.
And if you missed last night's Media7 with Tracey Walker,Toby Manhire and Glenda Hughes discussing the implications of Ryan's privates, it's here on demand.
Speaking of Toby, he's been in excellent form as The Listener's problogger. See his twinterview with Matthew Dentith about the return of Twecon.
Righto, that's it. Ima gon' back to bed. Make me laugh.