On August 25, twenty-three-year-old rapper Wiki, the most conspicuous third of New York hip-hop trio RATKING, released his first official full-length solo album, No Mountains in Manhattan. The 16-track download from XL Recordings features cameos and production from an array of peers and elders, including Ghostface Killah, beatmaker and high school chum Tony Seltzer, Earl Sweatshirt (as randomblackdude), and a dozen others.

Gary Sullivan writes about international music and immigrant culture at Bodegapop.com.

In Hollywood and the Recording Industry Association of America’s unchecked attempt to keep the world safe for Lady Gaga and Harry Potter, we’re seeing the beginning of the possible destruction of the web as a site for virtual libraries, archives, and—most important—community.

Less than 24 hours after Barack Hussein Obama was elected 44th President of the United States, Americans began to declare irony dead.