This essay by Mensah Demary for Electric Literature on Nas and the literary legitimacy of hip-hop is the best thing you’ll read this morning. “Nas is a world-class storyteller and practitioner of the narrative form,” Demary writes, “I don’t understand why there isn’t more discussion around hip-hop’s literary value among today’s millennial-and-boomer intelligentsia.”
It Ain’t Hard To Tell
Effing up The New Yorker
Mary Norris on the cusswords permitted to run in The New Yorker over the years. Sadly, the piece is not titled "Fuck This Shit."
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Hemingway Double Shot
Got a couple thousand bucks lying around? You can place a bid on one of Ernest Hemingway’s love letters. Or, for a more modest price of "free," you can read Tim Weed's rumination entitled "Chasing Hemingway’s Ghost in Havana."
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For the Viral Good
As you may have heard, Twitter went public last week, which means a lot of people are trying to figure out just what its IPO means for social media. Over at n+1, Benjamin Kunkel proposes that social media, by its very nature, cannot be profitable, and thus should be administered by the state as a public good.
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He’s Right. Eihi Shiina is Terrifying.
I’ve mentioned my love for the movie recommendation site Netflixia before, but if you find its selection a little predictable or tame, you should give try out some of the titles on Christopher Higgs’ list of “The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Instant.” (Note: some of the list’s images might be a bit racy for work.)
Appearing Elsewhere (Down Under)
I was a guest on the most recent episode of ABC (Australia) Radio's The Book Show alongside Sophie Cunningham of Meanjin. We discussed literary blogging, how it's evolved and its impact on literary culture. Have a listen!
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