rap up

an being lame and doing my pazz and jop comments, skimming email and found Skillz '04 rap up. Good moments: "After the Passion Jesus walked to the bank," "White T's I'll spare, aren't they like 50 for a dollar, they ain't going nowhere," "For a minute though votin' was fly/Everybody had a shirt that said 'vote or die'/seen on everyone from 50 to Jigga/News flash to Puff, 'the shirts didn't work,...," "Ashlee Simpson made a fool of herself on SNL/Advice to the kids don't chance it/something go wrong in your life, screw it, start dancing..." and on and on. Well, how do I top that in me little rock critic baubles?

Good things today:

the Minus Story EP - sorta elephant 6-ish, a little windsome for my tastes (it's on jagjaguwar, which is getting more winsome by the minute since lovelife broke up) decent orch. pop sketches

Damien Jurado - On My Way to Absence - listened to while factchecking. I like 'big decision' with lyrics like 'i made a big decision and i think i didn't include you' which sounds really stupid, off the cuff and insensitive, but you know, it seems that this is actually how most people make decisions, not irrationally but selfishly, or with fear that it can't or won't matter to other people. whatever, he is to me as richard buckner or mark kozelek is to other ecstatic folk lovers - a constantly growing songwriter of humble, human scale with lyrics that cut weirdly into my own actual lived experience. my life. whatever. there's some typical xtian bs on here but not as hymn-y as our dear sufjan.

OPEN QUESTION:
how do you people who read this who get access to hip hop releases get reliable release dates? It seems that pause and play has less and less hip hop stuff. my pazz and jop ballot forced me to realize that about 60 percent of my listening and loving of music is hip hop related these days, yet I have never actually gotten a story/review for all the pitches I've made on the subject (as per Amy P.'s future EMP paper topic) and want to brow beat my editors into letting me do coverage by knowing more about the industry instead of being just a fan. And yes, I do read Oliver, Caramanica, Hua, Jeff Chang, Sasha and everyone else who's writing on the subject I respect - dudes and dudettes, help me out.