This one’s not hard to trace. I went to karaoke last night (it was crazy expensive – $9 beers anyone?) and attempted to sing Kanye West’s “Gold Digger“. Although I thought I knew the lyrics, the delivery is actually really hard. Say what you will about Kanye, but his style is hard to emulate. Also, it was pouring rain, so it made me think of flooding, and then probably the disaster that was New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. In the wake of that tragedy, during a benefit fundraiser, Kanye, in one of his first outbursts, said on live television: “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Hence, the inspiration for this amazing song.

(Editor’s note: I’m not sure if this is the original video, but it’s the only one I could find.)

A local hero who has been blowing up the LAirwaves. Great stuff, buy the album.

Here’s a video for the lead single, Maybe So, Maybe No. It features a bunch of iconic LA spots, from Venice Beach to the Santa Monica skate park to Crane’s Tavern in Hollywood.

The newest frontier of wordplay. I can’t quite figure out which beat (got it – Exhibit C – thank you KCRW playlists!) was on repeat upstairs when the alarm went off, but that might have to do with the fact that I was having a dream about zombies (I totally hit snooze and jumped back into the fray). So I’ll post two videos. The first is a teaser for his first big single, titled Exhibit A:

Listen to the full song here.

The second track, called Dimethyltryptamine, is a heavy hitter, politically and visually. Be warned there is some disturbing imagery.

Hmm, for some reason the song playing on repeat in my head this a.m., called “Slow Down” by the lounge-hop group Morcheeba, seems to be sending me the wrong message. 2010 is the year I want to kick ass, and that’s making me think it’ll go fast. But it’s a good message any other day I guess.

Bizarre dreams last night. Unfinished business or something.

I keep coming back to K’Naan’s second album, Troubadour, as a place to remember why music is made in the first place – to tell stories. The song “Fatima” was playing on repeat in my head when the alarm/call from the photo lab/text from my sister all went off at the same time. There’s no video, but here is a decent version of the track.

Also, if you have 45 minutes to kill, watch this fascinating and moving in-studio performance/interview on KCRW:

Heard this song on the radio the other day, and it brought me back to growing up listening to “Full Moon Fever” on repeat for hours on end. I even busted out a lyric from “Zombie Zoo” at a dinner party the other night, to completely blank stares. Guess that one only made an impression on me.

Anyway, this tune is off of Petty’s “Wildflowers” album, which is excellent and stands the test of time. I unfortunately couldn’t find a video embed with the uncensored lyrics, so at the part where he sings, “Let’s get to the point/let’s roll another note” – well, I think we all know what he’d really be rolling.

It must’ve been the incredible auditory experience I had last night at the Mix Master Mike show, but for some reason my ears were sending Sublime’s “Smoke Two Joints” (no video, click to play) and Paperboy’s “Ditty” (video below) back and forth between the SL-1200mk5’s in my head this morning.

Yes, a cringe-inducing Swedish punk band. The song that was actually repeating over and over like an alarm clock in my head is called “Thanks For Nothing” (click link to play!), for which I could not find a video. But this one is pretty good too. Turn up the volume!