Evan Nabavian is a staff writer for Passion of the Weiss, contributing since 2011 when the powers that be blackballed him for slandering Lupe Fiasco (Lupe, if you’re reading this, I am so sorry). His distinctions include being cited by name in the Wikipedia article for “Ride” by Ciara and having his kitchen depict a crack den in a Freddie Gibbs video. In 2012, he was banned from S.O.B.’s in New York following an altercation where he questioned the tenets of real hip-hop. In 2014, he shared a Pulitzer for interviewing the ghost of Tim Dog. He’s @MooseXL on Twitter and his email is his name at gmail dot com.
Currently Listening:
Tanya Morgan - 12 Minutes at Karriem's
John Barry - Follow Me
Sam Hill - The Sam Hill Story
:$oviet:France: - :Garista:
Ca$h Out - Kitchens and Choppas
V/A - Weightless Vol. 1
Selda - Selda
V/A - Panorama (MP 74)
G. Zadj & J.-P. Decerf - Action
V/A - Synthetic Music (AV 4151)
Magical Ring - Light Flight / More and More
MoneyMakinNique x Johnny Cinco - The Extra EP
Jean-Pierre Decerf - Out Of The Way
J.P. Decerf / M. Baroty - Publipot
Epkitan - We Come From The Trees
Raekwon - We Wanna Thank You
François De Roubaix - Les Plus Belles Musiques De Films Vol 2
François De Roubaix - Les Plus Belles Musiques De Films Vol 3
Dorothy Ashby - Dorothy's Harp
Strict Face - Marble Isles
Roger Davy - Patchwork Orchestra 5
Philippe Besombes - Libra
Hydravion - Hydravion
Hyrdravion - Stratos Airlines
Besombes-Rizet - Pôle
Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes - No2
Ennio Morricone - Veruschka| Heaven Knows Donwill is Miserable Now | June 25, 2013 |
Evan Nabavian founded Zagat. Some six years ago, the bros and I convened at the now-shuttered Scobee diner in Little Neck, Queens for our last meal together before heading our separate ways for college. Of the six bros, three would head upstate to cow country, one to Wisconsin, and one to Harlem. Me? I would […]
| Co$$’s “Blasphemy in Babylon” | May 20, 2013 |
Evan Nabavian wrote this in Pac blood. 2Pac isn’t exactly the rap martyr du jour right now. Yes, he is rap’s greatest firebrand and any rapper-cum-revolutionary owes him a debt of gratitude, but direct emulation of his style and sound is rare outside of Freddie Gibbs. Popular rap styles change with the seasons and it’s […]
| House Shoes Presents: B.I.G. Reimagined | May 1, 2013 |
Evan Nabavian sold more powder than Johnson and Johnson. Inviting your friends over to remix Biggie songs is a really dumb idea unless you’re DJ House Shoes and your friends are today’s eminent left field rap producers. Shoes sent Biggie Smalls acapellas to his buddies and came back with a pack of experimental remixes, a […]
| The Goon Croon of French Montana & Future | March 21, 2013 |
French Montana paid Evan Nabavian for this post in bottles of Tej. Sometimes the most effective singers aren’t singers. Outside of Biz Markie, ODB, Ja Rule, and Lil Wayne, I’ll cite “Stay Schemin” where French Montana goon-croons a hook that logically should have been sung by Drake or any given R&B princeling. But maybe the […]
| A$AP Rocky, Trey Songz & The Case of the Mistaken Harlot | March 4, 2013 |
Evan Nabavian knows the real secret of the Flaming Moe. If you’re a rapper trying to be famous, you face a grueling existence. After you drop your groundbreaking mixtape, you smile and joke your way through daily press appearances, release songs according to a regimented promo schedule, dutifully avoid having a Charles Hamilton moment, and […]
| The Rugged Return of Detroit’s Big Tone | February 7, 2013 |
Evan Nabavian is pouring one out for Tone and Poke too. When Detroit saw a salvo of great rap around 2008, the names to know were Black Milk, Waajeed, House Shoes, Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, Royce da 5’9”, and Ta’Raach. But as with any great hip-hop scene, plenty more talent bubbled below the surface. In 2009, […]
| Slap Happy: How DJ Fresh, Freddie Gibbs, E-40, & Cousin Fik Function | December 11, 2012 |
Evan Nabavian slapped a cop once a la Zsa Zsa Gabor. If Petrarch were born 600 years later and had DJ Fresh beats, he would be E-40 on “Pussy Got Slap”, leading the charge on a posse cut where the central conceit is that the pussy has– well, yeah. For those less conversant with Bay […]
| Mo Kolours, Less Problems | November 20, 2012 |
Evan Nabavian is back from the dead like he was on house arrest. Take all the hi-hats, synths, vocoders, 808s, theremins, and copies of MTV Music Generator and put them away for just a second. Now breathe. Wasn’t that nice? The irony here is that I just spent two weeks without electricity waiting to turn […]
| Kid Daytona Flies Away | September 19, 2012 |
Evan Nabavian is going to the Tony Awards Every summer, you tell yourself it’s going to be the Summer of George, but before you know it, it’s dark and cold outside at 7 and the leaves are doing that stupid shit where they change colors. And worst of all, no more bikini-clad, daiquiri-flavored summer jams. […]
| Does Hit Boy’s “HITStory” Have Any Hits? | August 23, 2012 |
Evan Nabavian is in the promised land. That may or may not be a party at Kanye’s estate. It’s about time we learned what else the “Niggas in Paris” guy has to offer and if he’s really the new Kanye, as the murmurs suggest. Comparisons between Hit-Boy and Kanye stem from the scrapbook style video […]
