Best R.E.M. rap since K.R.S. got served by MC Stipe? Best song of any kind about R.E.M. since Pavement named my kid?

Remember the part in You Can Count On Me, when Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney are out on the deck, talking and smoking a joint, and a moth flutters by and lands on Ruffalo's hand, and just sits there for a moment while the scene continues, before fluttering away? It is one of my favorite things to have ever happened in any movie, that. (I am easily astonished, maybe.) Well, there's a part in this new Big K.R.I.T. video, directed by Vashtie, around the 1:15 point, when a pigeon flies between the camera and the basketball player who is practicing his foul shot (I think at the [...]

Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. is fast becoming one of my very favorite young rappers. And the cover of his new album, "ReturnOf4Eva" (go on, download that!), painted by San Francisco artist Eric Bailey, is fast becoming one of my very favorite things to look at.

Watching the ridiculous Maybach Music Group press conference last week, I had the rare and disconcerting experience of agreeing with something that Sean "Puffy" Combs said. He said that MMG founder Rick Ross has "the best ears in the game." I think that's right, as exemplified by the huge, wonderful beats he chooses for his records, and by the fact that he discovered Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill a couple years ago. Meek, I think, is the most talented rapper on the label's roster—his "Tupac Back" and "I'm a Boss" were highlights on last year's showcase album, MMG Presents, Self-Made Vol. 1. And judging from his recent single, "[...]

Rapper and novelist T.I. seems to have come out of prison in top form. His newest song, "Here Ye, Here Ye" simmers over an excellent, vintage-sounding Neptunes beat, and he's made a good, back-to-Bankhead video for the one that Big K.R.I.T. helped him with a month or so ago. He says his forthcoming album will be called Kill the King or Trouble. That red car sure looks fast.

How stoned are Killa Kyleon and Curren$y at the end of the video for this remix to Big K.R.I.T.'s latest? Little blips of light are shooting out of their fingers, making trails in the air like sparklers on July 4th. I didn't even know pot could do that to you. Seriously, though, there are some really good young artists making really good rap music these days. And this song is dope.

Awl fave Big K.R.I.T. made Washington D.C. rapper Fat Trel a terrific beat for the first single off his lauded Nightmare on E Street album. What's that descending piano sample from? I recognize but can't place it. Probably not Springsteen, but it's nice to imagine.

I like all the bright colors in the video for this remix of "Country Shit," a song by one of my favorite young rap artists, Big K.R.I.T. I like the green trees and the red fruit punch and the shiny interiors of the tricked-out Cadillacs with their wobbling woofers. And I like guest rapper Bun B's matching attire: blue cap, blue shorts. And I like that Bun B's wearing shorts, too.