Well, this is very disturbing. In an apparent effort to challenge his old Three 6 Mafia partner Juicy J for the title of hip-hop's "No. 1 get-high rapper," the self-proclaimed "King of Memphis" DJ Paul does so many drugs in his new video that he has a heart attack and dies. (Kids don't follow!) Calling oneself the "King of Memphis" is pretty cool, though, in that it places DJ Paul in the line of Old Kingdom Egyptian pharaohs like Menes and Djoser, under the protection of the god of carpentry and metalworking, Ptah, or "Lord of Truth."

When I was a boy on Beale Street, we had no electric street lamps. It was the era of the gaslight, and every evening towards dark, the lamplighter would come along with his cart. Frequently, night would overtake him as he proceeded slowly down the street, so that as you looked after him, he would vanish in the blackness, and you could not see where he was, but by the glowing light of the lamps, you could see where he had been. Now these boys have gone from us into the darkness where we can no longer see them. But when we hear a certain melody and rhythm, when [...]

A cornerstone of Memphis, pianist, producer and bandleader Willie Mitchell died yesterday at age 81. Aside from making his own music, Mitchell owned and operated the Hi Records label after 1970, home of Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson, and most notably, Al Green. It's not a stretch to say that Mitchell is responsible for some of the very greatest soul music ever recorded.