I've been on a mad '90s hip hop kick all through 2011 so far. Dre, Snoop, Biggie, a little Tupac. smurfing great stuff. It chills me out.

I still got love for recent artists, though. Lil Wayne can feel like a sellout sometimes but there's no denying his flow and cleverness in his lyrics. People like to hate on him, but I'm still reppin' Kanye, too. He's a nut but he's also shaken up the game with every album he's released. Been listening to some more Jay-Z lately, but I haven't gotten into it as much; Hova's stuff seems like such an awkward transition from g-funk and gangster music to what we have nowadays. It's hard to not appreciate it on some level but there's a lot of misses that go with the hits.

And Lupe Fiasco is a smurfing god among men. He was interviewed on Tavis Smiley about creating Lasers and the way he described it is so inspiring. I haven't had a chance to check the new album out but I want to someday. I need to catch up with his other material first, though (I haven't listened to anything of his since Food & Liquor, but that one's timeless anyways, and I find something new with each listen)