It's like that sometime, man. Ridiculous. Life can be so ridiculous.

Blogs are funny things. We had a resurgance for a while there. Looks like the stats show a spike in 2009. I checked in more when abroad/trapped in a minnesotan iceburg. I had more time then. Boston life is busy. Meanwhile, Maciej's had a turd tableau going on for a month.

It is my hope that the collective C~o~I teachings will be published in pamphlet or tract form in the near future.

In case you're wondering, the 2010 Mr. Olympia winners are:

dexter jackson - 4

branch warren - 3

phil heath - 2

jay cutler - 1

Cutler's a boring choice in my opinion, but I think they're trying to make him into a legend. Heath was definitely good enough to take it.

It's funny to look back at old music choices. Hip Hop changes so much, and i find my tastes often shift along with it. It's a nice journal of my thoughts, though. I've been reading a lot of Gandhi lately, so I'm into that shit.

Here goes, with honorable mentions to Jay-Z, who, though on his game in recent features, has really transcended the genre by becoming an actual legendary person. He wouldn't be fair to include. And a shout out to Yelawolf (We'll talk after the album next month.) and CyHi da Prynce.

Current Best Rappers Alive:

5. Lil Wayne

Let's face it. This man's intelligent. All the stories from jail have him sounding quite wizened. He's low on this list due to lack of activity, but his next album I Am Not A Human Being drops on the 27th. Of course it's a bunch of leftover material, so some of it's a little too Rebirthy. What I'm really interested in is the music this man will record when he gets out.da.bing. (no homo)

4. Wiz Khalifa

This guy's not wizened, though his name's Wiz. His last name is the word for the deputy/devotee of a Sufi saint. He raps about women, weed, and airplane metaphors. He's the biggest name associated with the City of Pittsburg. Everyone loves him. He makes pleasant sounding music. Kush & Orange Juice was really something special.

3. Freddie Gibbs

This guy's the coldest dude since Miles Davis. His interview are charmingly gangster. He smokes 20+ blunts a day. He's from Gary Indiana. And he fraternizes with Indie people. He's dropped a lot of music in the past couple years, the Latest being the EP Straight Killa. There was an accompanying mixtape. He raps about guns, bitches, drugs and that murda murda, but he's the best at it.

2. Kanye West

He can still be annoying. But overall he's been on point with the flowage, and generous with the music. His G.O.O.D. Friday tracks are to mainstream rap what Wale's Back To The Feature was for the underground gentry, and we should all be thankful for them, except when Swizz Beatz tries to rap. They're six and seven minutes, and it's usually cause there are so many verses crammed in there, but that's a good thing.

1. Wale

He sounds like no one before him. He might sound sloppy at times, but if you piece together what he says it's almost always concisely insightful about some topic. He's running the District of Columbia. More About Nothing the tape release of the year to this point. Ironically, or not, he and Kanye don't work together.

All Black Everything

So, The Smoking Section put up some Jay-Z - Kanye verse analysis today. Comparing the two is really a silly exercise as they're nothing alike. But since the issue came up, I'll say that Kanye's awkward delivery moments will forever prevent his verses from reaching the transcendent nature of some of Jay's best. But I think Kanye's nice. I think he's actually getting better and better.

In fact, his much-talked about verse on Jay-Z's new single "Run This Town" may be one of his best ever. And the general consensus seems to be that Kanye murdered his Big Brother on the track.

Now don't get me wrong, Ye killed it. It was a dope verse and it builds as it goes. But I would still say that Jay's first verse on the track is the best one. Here you hear his voice and delivery become one with the music. (Which is masterfully provided by Yeezy and No I.D., a mentor-student partnership that I predict will allow 9/11's Blueprint 3 to finally live up to the original.)

Really, this song as a whole is probably the best thing out right now.