narrowcast

• Monthly Report: November Singles

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  1. Lady GaGa - "Bad Romance"
  Back when she released "Lovegame," by far her worst and most forgettable single to date, I wrote "There’s always been some little fear in the back of my mind that GaGa might actually make a song I’d love in spite of myself at" [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 11:03am EST
  by Al

• As mentioned previously, I answered a ...

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  As mentioned previously, I answered a few questions for NPR's All Songs Considered about the decade in music, and a few more of my responses were published on the Monitor Mix blog, including my thoughts on the meaning of "indie," the future of music and a [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 1:56pm EST
  by Al

• TV Diary

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  a) "Scrubs: Med School"
  It seems like nobody's especially happy to see "Scrubs" dragged out with a new semi-spinoff with a new cast of characters and a few of the old ones hanging out Mr.-Belding-and-Screeching along, whether they liked the show and hated its (pretty slight) decline over the [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 1:55pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (The Complete List))

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  1. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - The Tyranny Of Distance (Lookout! Records, 2001)
  2. Jay-Z - The Blueprint (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Records, 2001)
  3. Sonic Youth - Murray Street (Geffen Records, 2002)
  4. Spymob - Sitting Around Keeping Score (Star Trak/Ruthless Records, 2004)
  5. Kenna - New Sacred Cow (Star Trak Records, [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 1:54pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 20)

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  1. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - The Tyranny Of Distance
  (Lookout! Records, 2001)
  I had the top 3 slots on this list pretty much decided almost 5 years ago, but I moved some stuff around and eventually made this my #1, in part because this is the most [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 1:53pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 19)

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  6. Say Anything - ...Is A Real Boy
  (Doghouse Records, 2004)
  Even though he overreaches with the meta sometimes, Max Bemis is still one of my favorite rock lyricists of the last few years. But where most ‘good lyrics’ bands these days are really just Hold Steady-style [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 1:52pm EST
  by Al

• My latest Singles Jukebox scores and ...

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  My latest Singles Jukebox scores and blurbs:
  
  Shakira – Did It Again [6/5.3]
  Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz – I Can Transform Ya [1/3.82]
  Paramore – Careful [6/5.57]
  DJ Khaled ft. Usher, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross and Drake – Fed Up [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 1:51pm EST
  by Al

• I've had just a ...

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  I've had just a couple things up on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog lately, a review of the new Architects Recording Studio mixtape Street Radio Vol. 5, and a live review of the Sugarhill Gang @ Rams Head Live, although it's since come' [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 1:50pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 18)

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  11. Reflection Eternal - Train Of Thought
  (Rawkus Records, 2000)
  I’ve always been in the weirdo minority that heard the Black Star album and just liked Talib Kweli more than Mos Def, but I will continue to maintain, even though Kweli’s career has been on a boring [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:49pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 17)

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  16. The Dismemberment Plan - Change
  (DeSoto Records, 2001)
  The Dismemberment Plan were hands down my favorite contemporary band for at least a couple years around the turn of the century, mostly for their late ‘90s masterpiece Emergency & I. But during those couple years that I [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 1:48pm EST
  by Al

• The 2009 Remix Report Card, Vol. 11

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  "Angels (Remix)" by Dirty Money featuring Rick Ross / featuring Lupe Fiasco / featuring Raekwon / featuring Aasim
  The original "Angels" was one of my least favorite singles of the year for the way it artlessly grafted a classic Biggie verse to a classic Jay beat [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 1:47pm EST
  by Al

• As much as I ...

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  As much as I love the two albums the Boredoms made around the turn of the century, Super Ae and Vision Creation Newson, they have such a large and daunting catalog of releases and side projects that I've never really gotten up the nerve to dive' [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 1:46pm EST
  by Al

• I reviewed the ...

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  I reviewed the new album by Jason Dove & Vacation Face for MobtownStudios.com. [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 1:45pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 16)

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  21. Young Jeezy - The Recession
  (Def Jam Records, 2008)
  This album is just a monster, I know a lot of people would rep for his first album or Trap Or Die as the definitive Jeezy record but in my opinion he really obliterated his early stuff [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 1:44pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 15)

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  26. Trick Daddy - Thug Matrimony: Married To The Streets
  (Slip-N-Slide Records/Atlantic Records, 2004)
  Trick’s made so many good albums, but this is the one that has a perfect balance of filthy sex raps (“J.O.D.D.”), fight music (“Fuckin’ Around”), bass jams (“Down Wit Da South”), pop singles [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 1:43pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 14)

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  31. Pitbull - M.I.A.M.I. (Money Is A Major Issue)
  (TVT Records, 2004)
  It’s funny to remember back when “Culo” dropped and how it was kind of confusing to see this Cuban rapper come out doing a song with Lil Jon over a reggaeton beat and not really [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 1:42pm EST
  by Al

• Carla Bozulich's post-Geraldine ...

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  Carla Bozulich's post-Geraldine Fibbers career has always seemed to move in fits and starts, always starting a new project and only recording one album, if that, before moving onto the next one: Scarnella, Night Porter, one-offs by design like Red Headed Stranger. So it's been [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 1:41pm EST
  by Al

• This week I have ...

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  This week I have a piece in the Baltimore City Paper about the Rapdragons, a new hip hop duo I saw at the All-Rap Round Robin, a few months ago, which was actually only their 3rd show ever. They're playing at the Windup Space this' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 1:40pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 13)

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  36. The Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
  (Birdman Records, 2001)
  I tend to think of Vision Creation Newsun as a lesser sibling to Super Ae, if not necessarily a sequel or retread. But in truth the amazing June ‘99 show at the 9:30 Club that made me [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 1:39pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 12)

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  41. Cex - Being Ridden
  (Temporary Residence, 2003)
  About 9-10 years ago, when I was a Baltimore teenager going to Dismemberment Plan shows all the time, I became intrigued by this other Baltimore teenager who was opening Dismemerment Plan shows and remixing them and making his own [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 1:38pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 11)

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  46. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott - Miss E...So Addictive
  (Elektra Records, 2001)
  It’s been longer since I listened to this than probably any other album on the list, I lost my copy of it like 3 apartments ago. Still, I remember it being a shitload of fun, and [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 1:37pm EST
  by Al

• 51. Three 6 Mafia ...

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  51. Three 6 Mafia - Da Unbreakables
  (Hypnotize Minds/Columbia Records, 2003)
  Triple 6 and HCP turned out such a huge volume of music this decade, so consistent in a if-you-like-one-you’ll-like-them-all way, that it seems almost arbitrary to pick one or another to hold up for praise on [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 1:36pm EST
  by Al

• Movie Diary

  Number of comments: 2
  a) Anvil! The Story Of Anvil
  I'm such a nerd for rock lore and music career stories that I've watched plenty of movies and even read books about artists I've never owned an album by. So it was kind of weird to watch this, after all the hype about' [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 1:35pm EST
  by Al

• Back in August, Raymond Cummings of

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  Back in August, Raymond Cummings of Ill With The Composition invited a few dudes, including myself, to participate in a "dad-rock roundtable" discussion, discussing the dad-rock genre/pejorative as well as music and fatherhood in general. The first installment went up recently, although some stuff I say in there [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 1:34pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 9)

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  56. R. Kelly - Chocolate Factory
  (Jive Records, 2003)
  It’s funny to think that for a good year or two, it seemed likely that R. Kelly’s career was probably over, and then Chocolate Factory came along. ‘03 was just in general a great year for R., maybe [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 1:33pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 8)

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  61. Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance
  (Beat Club/Interscope Records, 2003)
  Alright, so he spends like half this record whining about how his first album didn't sell as much as he expected, even though it almost went platinum and is still the commercial peak his career (every whit rapper' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 1:32pm EST
  by Al

• NPR's All Songs Considered is running a ...

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  NPR's All Songs Considered is running a special called The Decade Defined this week and next week about the last 10 years of music, and part of that feature involved a survey sent out to a number of writers and music types, including myself. Some of my responses are' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 1:31pm EST
  by Al

• The Baltimore Scene held ...

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  The Baltimore Scene held the Baltimore Crown Awards at 5 Seasons on Sunday, and I decided to stay home with my son that night, but I ended winning a "golden pen" award to match my "best blog/website" award from last year. So thanks to them [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 1:30pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 7)

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  66. My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me The Workhorse
  (Asthmatic Kitty, 2006)
  As far as I can tell from other critics’ lists, a lot of pretty young women made a lot of pretentious chamber pop and indie rock albums in the past decade that I haven’t heard. [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 1:29pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 6)

  Number of comments: 2
  
  
  71. Bossman - Law & Order
  (Double Down Entertainment/1Up Productions, 2004)
  When this album dropped, I was still just kinda dipping my toe in the Baltimore hip hop scene, checking for a handful of artists I knew of, and this was the first record that really felt [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 1:28pm EST
  by Al

• Who Got ...

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  Who Got Next, the latest Baltimore hip hop DVD that I'm apparently going to be on is having a release party next weekend -- they just taped my interview yesterday, and I think for once I actually managed to say some shit, hope it all' [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 1:27pm EST
  by Al

• My latest piece for ...

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  My latest piece for Splice Today, Overcoming Reality, is about the curse of reality shows dooming musicians to never again have success in the music industry. [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 1:26pm EST
  by Al

• Monthly Report: October Albums

  Number of comments: 2
  1. Gucci Mane - The Cold War: Guccimerica
  I have kind of a love/hate thing going on with the Cold War series. One one hand, I think it's kind of a dickish publicity stunt to drop 3 mixtapes at the same time, a week after another mixtape, and it sets' [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:56am EST
  by Al

• Monthly Report: October Singles

  Number of comments: 2
  1. Pitbull - "Hotel Room Service"
  I initially dismissed this as part of Pit's recent hot streak of hits that have left me cold, but it's really grown on me in the last few weeks, great big obnoxious hook. Also, on an eye candy level this is probably the [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:25am EST
  by Al

• My reservations about The-Dream ...

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  My reservations about The-Dream are many and well documented, but there's no denying that he's on a hot streak, and has already made two of the best R&B albums of the year (Eletrik Red's and his own). So the possibility of he and his production team, Tricky' [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:41pm EST
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 5)

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  76. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
  (Eyeball/Reprise Records, 2004)
  They got bigger but not better on The Black Parade, trading in all the hooks and humor that made them great on their breakthrough album for some kind of goth Up With People bullshit [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 1:40pm EST
  by Al

• I'm one of the ...

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  I'm one of the stubborn lifelong diehards who'll probably buy every album Pearl Jam ever releases, so when a new record comes along with a bit of that dubious "this will win back some of the old Ten fans" hype, I usually just look past it, because [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 1:39pm EDT
  by Al

• TV Diary

  Number of comments: 3
  a) "The Cleveland Show"
  I realize that Seth McFarlane is a one trick pony and that he's just striking while the iron is hot, but really, man, if you're gonna have 3 shows on the air at the same time they should at least be different in some way, [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 1:38pm EDT
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 4)

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  81. Teedra Moses - Complex Simplicity
  (TVT Records, 2004)
  “Be Your Girl” was a fairly big summer jam on the Baltimore and D.C. stations in the summer of ‘04, although seemingly not anywhere else given how low it charted, and as much as I liked that song [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 1:37pm EDT
  by Al

• The new Trick Daddy ...

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  The new Trick Daddy album is depressing on a number of levels. He's now on an independent after the label whom he helped build up over seven albums moved on to concentrate on that hoarse walrus Rick Ross. The title Finally Famous: Born A Thug, Still A' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 1:36pm EDT
  by Al

• The 2009 Remix Report Card, Vol. 10

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  "Better Believe It (Remix)" by Lil Boosie featuring Bun B, Yo Gotti, Trae and Foxx
  Since remixes are usually an excuse to upgrade the starpower on a song, it's always kinda weird when the remix is a total downgrade, in this case from Jeezy to a few more B-list' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 1:35pm EDT
  by Al

• I'll be shocked if ...

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  I'll be shocked if Jay-Z ever makes a new album that's as good as even the weakest of his first 8 albums, but I was optimistic that The Blueprint 3 might at least be the best of the post-retirement bunch, which wouldn't even be such a tall' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 1:34pm EDT
  by Al

• Stuff I've had up ...

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  Stuff I've had up on the Baltimore City Paper's Noise blog in the last few weeks: The Club Beat with DJ Patrick, and live reviews of the Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad/Heroin U.K./Drop Electric @ the Metro Gallery and Time For Three with the [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 1:33pm EDT
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 3)

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  86. 8Ball & MJG - Space Age 4 Eva
  (8 Ways/Interscope Records, 2000)
  One of the most annoying trends of the past few years is rappers lazily throwing around the most basic entry level outer space references or saying the word "futuristic" and expecting people to think [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 1:32pm EDT
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 2)

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  91. System Of A Down - Mezmerize
  (American/Columbia Records, 2005)
  I don’t know if metal people consider this band metal because I am not a metal person, but I don’t really think of it that way either and this is pretty much the closest thing to metal [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 11:24am EDT
  by Al

• The children's albums that ...

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  The children's albums that They Might Be Giants have been making in the last few years, have pretty much become more enjoyable than their 'regular' albums at this point. So my anticipation for the new Here Comes Science was pretty high, because I like the idea of' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 11:23am EDT
  by Al

• Buncha recent Singles Jukebox scores and ...

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  Buncha recent Singles Jukebox scores and blurbs:
  
  Ryan Leslie – You’re Not My Girl [7/6.2]
  Muse – Uprising [4/5.57]
  Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind [6/6.83]
  Alicia Keys – Doesn’t Mean Anything [6/4.33]
  Keri Hilson – Slow Dance [7/6.09]
  [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 11:01am EDT
  by Al

• Narrowcast's Top 100 Albums of the Decade (Part 1)

  Number of comments: 1
  
  
  96. Trick Daddy - Book Of Thugs: Chapter AK Verse 47
  (Slip-N-Slide Records/Atlantic, 2000)
  One thing I’ve thought about a lot while looking back at the first few years of the decade is that the mainstream Southern rappers that emerged in that era are kind of a [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 11:00am EDT
  by Al

• I have a

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  I have a review of Jason Urick's new album Husbands up on MobtownStudios.com. [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 10:35am EDT
  by Al

• Netflix Diary

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  a) "Frisky Dingo," Season 1
  I've been thinking lately about what the best TV shows of the decade were, and while I was working on a ballot for a message board poll, I figured being at home with a newborn would be a good time to go on Netflix' [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 10:34am EDT
  by Al