We read so much rap crap, we automatically associate swagger with a rapper explaining the ineffable appeal of his shitty verses. So this is a nice change of pace, associating swag with the ineffable salvation (and concrete liquidation) of the newspaper co. of our childhood. In fairness, Abrams also said something about a trickle-down effect that will arise once the L.A. Times OWNs (”ALL…100% share. Complete and total domination”) the 50+ demo. Just like the Roots’ new album will go platinum. ^{[via Gawker]}

^{To his potential victims, we’ll also offer this pacifist alternative and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: we’ll publish you for free if you amuse us. We’re feeling expansive because the indefatigable Cap Times reminded us that the app-deadline for Wisconsin Poet Laureate is 4PM this Friday, 5/9. [Full application as a pdf.] Among the criteria: “an admirable and proven history of having published individual poems and/or books.” We can make the former happen for you in a big way: click through to find out how!}

While we’d like to see Shilv affiliates in the running, Gay-Fed, our master of the men’s room acrostic, is a tad disillusioned. When bugged about the deadline, he replied, “thanks, but after mcsweeney’s rejected my last submission (’elegy for the last home depot fa**ot’) i’ve pretty much given up on writing, life. but it’s cool. now i have more time to spend cruising myspace.”

As such, the first entry in this weeklong series arrives via your Shilv editor’s insatiable print fetish. He’s been running around all weekend snatching pages from the hands of politicians, and more recently, the rhyme book of an MC who settled in Madison after she got kicked out of Northern State.

If you’re a poet who’d like to rack up publications by Friday, email our publicist, or drop off hard copies @

Shiv/Shill/Shine
1360 Regent St. #211,
Madison, WI 53715

The rapper with the ever-tweezed ‘brows,

…is making his rounds. He’s rolling out a full clothing line with Yung Rich Society, so he needs to be seen. Which means showing up at the screening of the documentary Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton at the Tribeca Grand…. his thoughts on Jacobs: “He’s not the most attractive-looking man,” he says. “He has all this prestige to his name, but it’s all for what he creates…. Even when he comes out on the walkway, he comes out in a Mickey Mouse T-shirt—and he’s supposed to be Marc Jacobs.”

^{From this week’s Village Voice, hip-hop cop package.}

So we shouldn’t do this anymore? Last year, I forgot to submit my ballot. This year, I forgot to rationalize my capricious point allocation.

Defenses, tracks, and backpedaling will appear @ LCD rap schism on Thursday. Favorite ‘07 single by a college dropout, after the jump.

Rich Boy, “Let’s Get This Paper”