It started a couple of weeks ago, with the unlikeliest of progenitors: The Boss.

Bruce Springsteen dedicated a live rendition of his hit "Born In The U.S.A." to Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Everybody cheered, even though that song isn't really a "go America!" kind of song at heart, and after all these years of defending it, Bruce should know better, but whatever. Good feelings, yes?

No. When confronted with the honor, Phelps shrugged it off, and admitted he was more into hip-hop.

In fact, he put forth, he listens to Young Jeezy to get psyched up for events. Guess he's never heard "Jungleland." Not one to miss an opening in the news cycle, Young Jeezy promptly stepped forward and pronounced Mr.  read more »

Yesterday, The Observer's Bharat Ayyar reported on MoveOn.org and rapper Nas' protest outside of Fox News headquarters in Manhattan.

Last night, Nas appeared on The Colbert Report to explain himself. When asked by Mr. Colbert why he thinks Fox is racist, Nas (real name Nasir Jones) said, "It's obvious. Everybody that has eyes and ears can see that this guy [Bill O'Reilly] is out of control. He knows what he's doing, you know what I mean? It's out of line. The things he's saying is worse than the worst rap lyrics I ever heard."

The rapper also told the host, "I think O'Reilly's afraid of me.  read more »

Rapper Nas joined members of MoveOn.org and Color of Change today outside FOX News headquarters to protest what they say is the network’s racist coverage of Barack Obama, black institutions and black people. Color of Change claims about 620,000 people signed petitions against FOX News.

An hour after he was scheduled to appear, the self-labeled Black Republican finally emerged from an SUV in a white t-shirt and jeans. He gave a short speech berating FOX for its “racist smears on Obama and all black Americans.”

“We already knew that FOX is not a news network, they are propaganda machine,” Nas said.  read more »

"We’re moving to a new facility, but we’re bringing all the good memories to the new facility, so hopefully it will be fine," Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera was saying to The Observer Monday night.

"We’re not moving that far, you know; a few blocks, a block, just half a block."

Texas Ranger Josh Hamilton went deep 28 times in the first round of the Home Run Derby earlier in the evening, shattering Bobby Abreu’s single round record, and now the stars of Major League Baseball were scattered around town helping people market products that were tied to the ‘All-Star Week’ events.

“I was able to watch and everything was beautiful,” Mr.  read more »

It seems safe to say that Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady has become one of New York’s most beloved indie bands. After all, back in 2005, with only two albums under its belt, it was the first rock act in about 15 years to grace the Village Voice’s cover. Its new album, Stay Positive, was released across the pond yesterday on the U.K. staple Rough Trade, and comes out today in the U.S. on the more pop-punk oriented Vagrant Records. The critics are already fawning. Salon describes The Hold Steady—four members are originally from Minneapolis, the fifth plays accordion in the Brooklyn-based cabaret-punk troupe the World/Inferno Friendship Society—as “a New York Indie rock band for people who hate New York indie rock bands,” and it deemed Stay Positive a “Soundtrack for the great American road trip.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/arts-culture/week-music-hold-steady-wire-nas-vines#comments Nas The Hold Steady the Vines Wire Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:16:14 -0400 Joe Pompeo 71826 at http://www.observer.com