ROUND 'EM UP

what they'll be wearing in Williamsburg next season
RACE

• Jeff Chang gives the commencement speech for the Asian American Studies dept. at UCLA. All in all, a pretty amazing 10 minute speech about the past and future of Asian American Studies and what lies after racial rage and sadness.
  
  
• Dan Charnas breaks down Black/Jewish relations in part 2 of a 3-part series. Don't forget to read the comments for that post.
  
  
• The "Oreo" Barbie. Junichi sent me a link to that. I have no idea where he found it but it's got "IRONY" stamped all over it in invisible ink.

WRITING

• Art criticism isn't dead (yet). Apparently, that's because bloggers took over. Scary thought.

MUSIC

• "In Search of the Next DJ Shadow". Seriously folks - I have people asking if this is real and while I'm inclined to say it's one helluva elaborate (and hilarious) parody there are some credible whispers that this isn't a joke at all. Judge for yourself.
  
  
• Saigon interviewed in Murder Dog. Some choice quotables there, no doubt but the real question is: how good is Saigon's album going to sound if Just Blaze is doing the whole thing?
  (credit: Pacific Standard)
  
  
• Maybe the 80s weren't so bad after all. I'd rock the #7 bowling shoes.
  (credit: Pickin' Boogers)
  
  
• Follow-up to the Kim's mixtape bust, appearing in the NY Times. Kalefa breaks down the contradictions involved.
  
  
• D-Nice's Polaroid journey through hip-hop history. All I can say is 1) it's amazing to see pictures of KRS-One as a teen and 2) Michael Jackson? WTF?
  
  
• Last but not least, David Drake asks if there's a double-standard involved with Common and Mike Jones. It's a provocative argument but I think DD is a little off-mark with his assumptions here. I agree - Common's album is way overrated and I'm as mystified as anyone as to why people seem to think this is classic material when it's more like Common's fourth best album. That said, I don't think there's a real double-standard at play here. As others have pointed out, Common's on his sixth album, Mike Jones is only on his first and while "Still Tippin" was pretty hot, so was "Lean Back" and it's not like the Terror Squad album got reviewed everywhere either.
  
  The fact that the Voice didn't review Jones' CD means nada - the Voice mostly reviews what's pitched to them and I've seen enough critics listen to the Jones CD and go "eh" (and we're talking about people who actually know/like Swishahouse stuff) that I'm not surprised the Voice took a pass. Compare that with someone like 50 Cent who had far more buzz behind his debut AND ended up reviewed everywhere because of said buzz. If Mike Jones isn't measuring up as high, maybe that's because even Houston boosters think dude is overrated and that's created a buzz kill around him.
  
  I'm not saying Common deserves to have more attention thrown his way (except for the fact, again, that he's been recording for 14 years and Jones hasn't) but bottomline, Jones is, to borrow from Turf Talk, "plat, b----!" So what if he won't end up on the Pazz and Jop, cozying up on M.I.A.'s spot (btw, no way Common is more overhyped than M.I.A. She's got that title on lock)? He can cry about it on the way to the bank to cash his checks.
  
  Verdict: No double standard. Maybe Mike Jones needs to record with John Mayer.

--O.W.