I've been busy and the hip-hop world hasn't paused to allow me a breath. The haters, fakers and music-makers just never seem to sleep--unfortunately for me, rest is a requirement. Regardless, I can still pull together an end-of-the-semester roundup.

First and foremost, the cops who killed Sean Bell have been acquitted. I'm not the only one calling bullshit on this: rappers from David Banner to Immortal Technique and The Game have sounded off. Shake at 2dopeboyz has a great list of everything that's been put down on wax since the verdict came in. I echo his sentiments, and would like to ask everyone the same question he poses in the post title: will we do more than talk?

Rick Ross is the most ridiculous rapper in the game; bear witness this recent clip of the bearded grizzly man literally burning money. Oh, and he's shirtless, which seems to be a trend of late. Let's hope it continues.

Esco recently sat down with KING magazine and chopped it up about his legacy, his fans, and the standards he's held up to.

Do your longtime fans have unrealistic standards for you? I like to hear somebody else say it, ’cause I know I’m not crazy. Yeah, man, I got the craziest, most hard-core fans in the game, and I love them, man. I’m human and I show you that. I wear that on my sleeve. I’m honest to a fault most of the time. And if they hear you being honest about one thing, they think that’s all you are. Then you might touch on something else, and it’s, “Hey, what’s going on?” And they don’t really know. It’s like, I’m here recording, giving you guys a piece of me. I’m giving motherfuckers little bits and pieces of me.

As a Nas stan myself, I have to say that he typically lives up to my standards, and though some of his releases in the early 2000's were lukewarm, he never failed. Nas is still on top of the game and the trendsetter that everyone is looking to in the wake of Hov's increasing irrelevance. Props to eskay for the link. Also, checkout part 2 of the interview.

On the mixtape side of things, Crooked I & Jay-Z, "Reserved for the Bosses" dropped. If you're sleeping on Crooked I you're missing one hell of a show. As shake points out, Crooked I just won the Best West Coast Mixtape Artist award at the 11th Annual Mixtape Awards, and has been dropping mixtapes left and right. Gotta love an artist who ain't afraid to work.

Peep this: Lil Kim's Bentley gets repossessed, on video. Enjoy the schadenfreude.

Finally, it looks like hipster rap has become the crux of some beef. Mazzi of Soul Purpose put together a track dissing both Jay Electronica and the Cool Kids. I know, what's the big deal, right? I suppose it is best described as a hipster-hop backlash from the underground, where some acts are just salivating for a slice of commercial success. In the words of Mazzi:

The Cool Kids (Hipster Hop heroes aswell)?! Where do I begin?! Aside from their 1/2 ass rhymes, & “I’m trying too hard” subject matter, it’s quite obvious that they have GIMMICK written all over them! They took a golden cherished era, put it through a ringer, warped it, twisted it, & call it their own?! They had the nerve to say they were original! Ninja PLEASE! They not even flippin’ it right! They woulda’ been herbs back in the day (as they are now)! First Chuck Inglish is from Chicago…then Detroit… Which one is it bro??? Those tite jeans on that other dude gotta go too!

Ouch. Thanks to Miss Info for the, ahem, info. I have to say I'm not surprised at this. It was only a matter of time before someone came out and got on the hipster rappers for some little quibble--as every MC knows, if you aren't getting enough publicity, start some beef over anything, even ankle hugging jeans. It works for both the Cool Kids and Mazzi simultaneously. If enough people get on this bandwagon, I think we'll see hipster rap separated as a real, independent subgenre of hip-hop itself. Obviously, some people within the rap industry see acts like Mickey Factz and the Cool Kids as different enough to be lumped together for a diss--if enough main players cosign this, "hipster-hop" might emerge, no matter how distasteful the title happens to be.

That's all for today. Back to stressing over the last week of the semester. On the bright side, I'll be spending my summer in Los Angeles, just in time for L.A.X. Sweet.