Deen is currently teaching a class on Copyright Law and early Juicy J cassette tapes at Rice University. Maybe I’m too beholden to conventional song structure, but I’m more than a little irritated that we don’t really hear Juicy J on what’s ostensibly his own single for the first TWO (2) minutes of a four […]

B. Michael Payne’s favorite trilogy remains the only trilogy worth being your favorite trilogy. Now that The Weeknd’s three mixtapes are about to see a “proper” release as Trilogy, the Drake-featuring song, “The Zone”, has become the latest Weeknd video (directed by Abel Tesfaye). It opens with a familiarly Lynchian image. We’re in a car […]

Slava P is like the Where’s Waldo of Double Entrendres. Abel Tesfaye was the feel good story of 2011, coming out of Toronto to hypnotize the world with his falsetto drug-crooning and tales of borderline rape. He parlayed these talents into a deal with Universal and an album release scheduled for later this year. All […]