These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

So here we are. 2010 is over. It had it’s moments, that’s for sure. Some great ones. And some, well, challenging ones too. But, as you get a little older you realize they’re pretty much all like that. Wins, losses and draws in relatively similar proportions. The other thing I’ve realized watching the years peel away is that no matter how much we decry the current crop of tunes (compared, say, to the sweet sounds of high school), each year produces an enormous wealth of great listening. With that in mind, a couple of years ago me and my best friend Dart Parker challenged each other to put together our Top 100 songs of 2008. Not as a countdown, but as a playlist—our personal soundtrack to the year.

Talkbox Featuring Words That… Spill.

Wanna know the only thing worse than listening to your disembodied voice on the replay of a radio show? It’s watching yourself interviewed on video. Yikes. It’s bad. (Note to self: Never are you to criticize Kanye for apparent discomfort during TV appearances) This is not to say that Alex and Al Lindstrom, the big homies of allindstrom.com, didn’t shoot me with the crispiest of lenses and exercise supreme judgment in their question selection and editing choices—I’m just better at typing than I am at talking. In any case, for your viewing pleasure, here’s me talking at you about my humble beginnings, how I learned to love the new media paradigm, and why blogs and magazines must embrace their symbiotic relationship. Enjoy!

I Can’t Live Without My (Internet) Radio

The honorable Combat Jack and his internets celebrity co-host with the co-most (mister majestic, the left right kid) Dallas Penn were kind enough to invite yours truly to their radio show last night. We talked comics, ego trip, the crazy-ass BLAZE days, Complex rise to being the “Coca-Cola of Rap Magazines”, and just about everything in between. Also they put me on the spot about whether I fux with Wale, musically. Anyhow, it was late and it was fun. But most of all, it was rap.

Oh, and the interview starts like 25mins into the broadcast.

Combat Jack Show 12-3-10 (Noah Callahan-Bever) Full by PNCRadio

Soul By The Pound

Kanye West brought the soul back to hip hop beats, but just wait ‘til you hear what his rhymes bring back. By Noah Callahan-Bever.

Kanye West is a confident guy. Supremely confident. If you want to be a jerk about it, you might even call him gassed. He says things like, “If you think about it, I’ve produced the most classic albums of the century.” Which, strictly speaking, is true. He had the most beats on Jay-Z’s The Blueprint [Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam, ‘01] and Scarface’s The Fix [Def Jam], both judged to be classic by many, including…gulp…The Source.