"To me the question was not, 'Would I cook this as a native would?' but rather, 'How would a native cook this if he had my ingredients, my kitchen, my background?' It’s obviously a different dish. But as Jacques Pépin once said to me, you never cook a recipe the same way twice, even if you try. I never maintained that my way of cooking was the 'best' way to cook, only that it’s a practical way to cook. (I’m lazy, I’m rushed, and I’m not all that skillful, and many people share those qualities.)" READ MORE

Watch this kid from Philadelphia make a beat for his rhyme using just a school desk and two pens. His name's Lyric (a.k.a. The Lyrical God). He's been getting lots of attention this week, from the YouTube video above from last year, so he's probably getting some phone calls. But thus far the internet seems to know little else about him than the fact that he can rock it on a garbage can at night, and that he has performed in at least one talent show. This reminds you how cool rap can be stripped down to its essence. Like Biggie said at the end of the "B.I.G. Interlude" from the Life After Death album, "What? It ain't no more to it."