“Scientists have identified neural pathways that appear to influence an individual’s willingness to work hard to earn money. Scans showed differences between ‘go-getters’ and ‘slackers’ in three specific areas of the brain.” Also worth noting: “For many, the term ‘slacker’ is personified by Jeff Bridges’ character ‘the Dude’ in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski. The new research suggests that Lebowski’s desire to remain unemployed and spend much of his time bowling could partly be down to brain chemistry.”

by Cord Jefferson, Aminatou Sow and Shani HIlton

Last week, Onion A.V. Club writer Noel Murray complained about the trend of people rejecting things — food, films, music — as being “for white people.” “The ‘white people are square and bland’ gag is an old one, and for the most part, it’s both harmless and healthy,” Murray wrote. “But increasingly, people aren’t sniping about ‘whiteness’ to be funny, or even defiant — at least not entirely. They’re using the term as a form of criticism, meant to be dismissive. … ‘That sounds like music for white people,’ is another way of saying, ‘That can’t be any good.’ And I do have a problem with that.”

To some degree, we trio of black people agrees with Murray — white people aren’t always lame. In fact, studies show that only about 35 percent of the white population is hopelessly uncool, compared to 27 percent of the black population.

To promote a more perfect harmony between blacks and whites, we’ve put together a list of music taken by black musicians from white musicians. While we’re confident this list won’t eliminate all the racial tension currently dividing America, we hope it lends some credence to Murray’s protestations about white stuff being written off as boring. As you can tell from looking below, that’s simply not the case. White people: Frequently not as dull as you might think.

TRY A LITTLE TENDERNESS
Bing Crosby To Otis Redding

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
Bob Dylan To Jimi Hendrix

STILLNESS IS THE MOVE
Dirty Projectors To Solange

BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE
Michael “Mick” Jackson To Michael Jackson

WE CAN WORK IT OUT
The Beatles To Stevie Wonder

WILD NIGHT
Van Morrison To Me’Shell Ndegeocello/John Mellencamp

THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE
Peggy Seeger To Roberta Flack

BLUEBERRY HILL
Gene Autry To Fats Domino

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Dolly Parton To Whitney Houston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRPVcWKrqy0

I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU
Peggy Lee To The Flamingos

PROUD MARY
Creedence Clearwater Revival To Tina & Ike Turner

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
Simon & Garfunkel To Roberta Flack

JEALOUS GUY
John Lennon To Donny Hathaway

SUMMER BREEZE
Seals & Crofts To The Isley Brothers

I SHALL BE RELEASED
Bob Dylan To Nina Simone

WE GOTTA GET YOU A WOMAN
Todd Rundgren To The Four Tops

BREAKFAST IN BED
Dusty Springfield To Alton & Hortense Ellis

MEMORIES CAN’T WAIT
Talking Heads To Living Colour

NE ME QUITTE PAS
Jacques Brel To Nina Simone

MY FAVORITE THINGS
Sound Of Music To John Coltrane

WALK THIS WAY
Aerosmith To RUN-DMC

LIGHT MY FIRE
The Doors To Al Green And Shirley Bassey

FIRE
Bruce Springsteen To The Pointer Sisters

WALK AWAY RENEE
The Left Banke To The Four Tops

THE WEIGHT
The Band To Aretha Franklin

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE
The Beatles To Earth, Wind & Fire

SUGAR, SUGAR
The Archies To Wilson Pickett

SLIPPERY PEOPLE
The Talking Heads To The Staple Singers

96 TEARS
 ? And The Mysterians To Garland Jeffreys

SHE’S ABOUT A MOVER
Sir Douglas Quintet To Otis Clay

GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
Bob Dylan To Howard Tate

MR. BOJANGLES
Jerry Jeff Walker To Sammy Davis Jr.

Cord Jefferson, Aminatou Sow and Shani Hilton are friends with a lot of white people in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, where they live and work.

Here Philadelphia rap vets Freeway and Young Chris rhyme over one of the best beats of the season, made by Willingboro, New Jersey producer Carl “Cardiak” McCormick for Meek Mill’s song “Lean Wit It.” Meek Mill, who is also from Philadelphia, is a good rapper, elevated by the wiry urgency he always carries in his voice. Young Chris is just fine, too. But, man, listen to what Freeway does when he comes on! (That’s at the 1:48 mark, if you don’t have the 3 minutes and 11 seconds it takes to watch the whole thing. Which, I sympathize. It’s a busy world we live in.) While the other two structure their rhymes around the four-note bell progression that dominates the track, Freeway flips it on its head and speeds it up double-time, following the stuttering snare drums that are lower down in the mix. Very exciting!

Old Jews Telling jokes is back! The first installment is a humorous story about a bull and an enema, if that’s your sort of thing. And why wouldn’t it be?

“In an e-mail to Stickybits’s investors, the pair explained Turntable and gave them a choice: They could take back what money remained or stick with them. All except one kept the faith. Chasen’s announcement, made the day the staff returned from the winter holiday, was abrupt: The developers, with one exception, would cease work on Stickybits immediately. The business side would wind down client relationships. Left unsaid: All except a skeleton crew would soon leave the company.”
 — An enjoyable story about the path to date of Turntable.fm. It’s also an interesting reminder that entrepreneurs may be “job creators” but also sometimes they lay off everyone along the way.

It’s not noon yet, but what the hell, I’m gonna go with this one for headline of the day: “Dolphin who got stuck in California wetlands may be the victim of BULLYING”

Here’s Neil Young and Crazy Horse doing “Oh Susannah,” which sounds, to an almost comical extent, exactly what you’d expect Neil Young and Crazy Horse doing “Oh Susannah” to sound like. I’m wondering if they still teach these songs to the kids today; I remember learning this and “My Darling Clementine” and “She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain” in Kindergarten and what struck me back then was just how sad they all were. Even “Coming Round The Mountain.” Like, can we have the chicken and dumplings already? Who knows how long it’s gonna take her to get here? She’ll probably NEVER make it, because of some kind of mineshaft disaster or withering disease. Then again, I was a pretty morose child, so maybe it was just me. Ah, memories. Anyway, enjoy!

“Atheists and agnostics are more driven by compassion to help others than are highly religious people, a new study finds.”

“’Back of the net!’ ‘Kiss my face!’ ‘Jurassic Park!’ The disclosure by comedy writer Armando Iannucci that Alan Partridge is finally to have his own film shot later this year has prompted a wave of triumphant Partridgeisms.” I will just go with a simple “Yes!”

Twelve years after Ghostface Killah talked about switching up his accent to convince people he was from Paris, pretty much the entire rest of hip-hip seems to be taking his lead. Thanks in part to the luxury travel itineraries flaunted by the likes of Puffy and Jay and Kanye, the City of Lights has become the new rap Mecca. (Where is MC Solaar through all this? He should be ringing up guest appearances.) It’s especially striking to see someone like Atlanta’s Waka Flocka Flame, whose considerable appeal relies so much on everyday, down-to-earth, streets-of-his-hometown approachability, rapping about splurging at the Louis Viutton store in “downtown France.” But, like most of the music he makes, this time bolstered by a simple, eight-note descending organ riff (a nod to The Phantom of the Opera? Sure, why not), Flocka’s latest is irresistible fist-pump fodder. His second official album, Triple F Life, is coming out June 12. I can’t wait.