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.
New York is changing. New York is always changing. Now it's a place where people come to raise families; you can't smoke in bars; the Meatpacking District is like Miami or Los Angeles or Milan or something; Times Square is like Disneyland except with more car bombs. All true. But sometimes it seems like New York is changing faster and more dramatically than you'd ever expect. Like when the place seems to be losing its most New York characteristics.
Dear neighbor who lived at 67 Morton Street #3B,
I'm sorry you found me asleep in the hallway outside my apartment.
I moved to Brooklyn this past weekend. And now that I’m somewhat recovered from the experience of moving—which is, as most everyone I talked to about it correctly pointed out, “the worst”—I’ve been acclimating myself to my new surroundings. I’ve never lived here before. So far, I’ve been impressed by the extent to which my initial impression jibes with what Guru said back in 1994: Brooklyn really is like a whole different planet.
First of all, it is very, very hot in Brooklyn. I don’t know if it’s because it’s farther to the East, and so therefore closer to the sun when it rises or something, but, man! It [...]
The Plaza de la Revolución fills much the same role in Havana as the National Mall does in Washington. It lies in the shadow of the city's tallest monument, constructed to honor the memory of the country's great revolutionary hero. Huge crowds, sometimes topping a million people, have crammed onto the concrete square to partake in patriotic ceremonies, concerts, or speeches by Fidel Castro or the Pope.
When I visited Cuba earlier this year, the Plaza was eerily empty. Dozens of vultures circled patiently overhead, as if waiting for the 83-year-old Castro and his 51-year-old revolution to succumb to the steady march of time.
