Besides paying respect to those who died in the strategic events, September 11 will be a showdown between two multi-platinum-selling rappers, Kanye West and 50 Cent, go pound for pound on their third solos. Fiddy who has a gigantic ego is putting his career on the line for this competition. He told SOHH.com: “If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music. I’ll write music and work with my other artists, but I won’t put out anymore solo albums.” Will Mr. West put Mr. Curtis out of job?

Unlike his previous albums, West’s Graduation is wisely slimmed down to thirteen tracks. I wonder if his brother Jay has anything to do with it. The jump-off “Good Morning” sounds promising as he makes some cracks about education: “Scared to face the world, complacent career student / some people graduate, but still look stupid.” Unfortunately, his head is so big now and he is so impressed with himself that he could not move beyond his own fortune and fame. In his ode to Jay-Z, he rhymes: “But he got me out of my mama’s crib / Then he helped me get my mama a crib.” He seems to be following his “Big Brother” footsteps. The different is that Jay got swag and West got beat. Jay could count his money and still make his flow fascinating whereas West’s beats are banging, but his lyrics aren’t.

In contrast to West, Curtis is not stuck inside his own celebrity’s status. On “Fully Loaded Clip,” he claims: “I ain’t fresh out the hood / I am still in the hood.” To him, more money more paranoia; therefore, in the first three consecutive tracks (“My Gun,” “Man Down” and “I’ll Still Kill”) he spits rhymes filled with graphical violence. He’s more at ease when boasting about how he sold bottle of water for two bucks and Coca-Cola bought it for billions, or when throwing his fans a bone: “Without them, there’s no me so I love them / Man, they’re the reason I exist, the reason I insist.” He also lyricized himself as hustler: “While Jay and Beyonce was mwah-mwah kissin’ / I was cookin’ one thousand grams in my kitchen.” He is, no doubt, an egomaniac, but he sure lives up to his arrogance.

The buzz has been that West’s Graduation will outsell Fiddy’s Curtis, and as much as we all want to see Fiddy flops on his face, it isn’t going to happen. Fiddy already told Rolling Stone about his victory over West: “I’m King Kong. Kanye is human. Humans run when they see King Kong, because they’re scared.” Imagine what he’ll look like with the cockiness in his face telling the world: “I told you so.”

Khoi Vinh and Liz Danzico present A Brief Message:

A Brief Message features design opinions expressed in short form. Somewhere between critiques and manifestos, between wordy and skimpy, Brief Messages are viewpoints on design in the real world. They’re pithy, provocative and short — 200 words or less.

Sort of like my short music reviews I’ve been playing with lately.

NPR‘s follow up of Charlie Parker’s profile:

The legendary alto saxophonist Charlie Parker was one of those rare artists who seemed to come out of nowhere, captivating peers and fans so quickly and completely that the world was changed forever. Parker’s innovative phrasing, and his discovery of previously unexplored melodic and harmonic possibilities, put him at the head of a group of bebop innovators that included Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.

Make sure you listen to the entire program.

With a collection of timeless designs from 1880 (Victorian) to 1980 (Post-Modern), Retro Graphics is a fantastic source for visual inspiration. The book covers not only the intriguing stories behind the stylistic movements, but also shows you how to re-create a design in as little as four simple steps. Flipping through this book I know I gotta have it.

Only in Africa!
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I am an IDIOT–But thank you for your concern
Disable Restart Prompt After Installing Windows Updates

M.I.A. is back in full effects: Big beats and bold rhymes with shots of bullets and politics. Underneath the international flavors, including Bollywood discotheque (“Jimmy”) and Jamacian dancehall (“Paper Planes”), Kala reveals some of M.I.A.’s dark lyricisms: “People judge me so hard / Cause I don’t floss my titty set / I was born out of dirt like I am porn in a skirt.” From war zones to street corners, no matter where she takes us to, she makes sure we can dance along not only to the music but also to the sound of gun pops.

New York Times profiles music guru Rick Rubin:

Columbia didn’t want Rubin to punch a clock. It wanted him to save the company. And just maybe the record business.

The feedbacks regarding to Vassar’s new design have been positive. This week we’re showing off the gorgeous Chapel. I loved the shot when I was comping up the design and knew it will make it to the layout.

With the rate Thuy Nga’s releasing, Paris By Night videos aren’t going away anytime soon despite how repetitive they get. So writing detailed review of each show is pointless. What I’ll do is I’ll treat each release like an upgrade of a software by highlighting what featured had been added or deprecated.

So what’s new in Paris By Night 89? It was filmed in Korea. Y Lan turned Pham Dinh Chuong’s “Nua Hon Thuong Dau” to “Mot Nua Hon Thuong Dau.” From her over-sentimental delivery to her over-dramatic presentation, she had tripled the tune’s spirit. Listening to Tran Thu Ha sings “Ao Anh” while watching the models walk the floor is brilliant. Whoever came up with that concept, I owe you a beer.

What should be deprecated? Ky Duyen’s same old jokes poking at Nguyen Ngoc Ngan has to go. After more than ten years of mocking his height, age and appearance, I think we got it: he’s short, old and ugly. Come up with some new shtick, will you?

After all the glamors on stage, we’re presented with the cruel reality: the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Korea via Van Son-style documentary. Witnessing workers with fingers chopped off and wives with battered bruises is heartrending. Like machines, Korean men must have no feelings.

Love could make you happy or busy depending on the stage you’re in. Because Quang Dung and Hong Nhung are falling in love (not with each other), they sing to celebrate their happiness. Because Duc Tri fell out of love, he makes music to keep himself busy.

Ho Ngoc Ha had done us a huge favor. After she dropped his ass as well as his label, Duc Tri had produced some of the finest albums this year including Duc Tuan’s Tinh Ca Pham Duy and Pham Anh Khoa’s debut. He had mastered semi-classic, flirted with rock, and now he returns to romantic ballads with Vi Ta Can Nhau for the newly-wedded duet.

They are compatible should not be a surprise. In the world of pop, Quang Dung is the prince; Hong Nhung is the diva. The surprise is how laid back they are in their collaboration. The special bond has to be there in order for them to cut nine duet tracks with such consistency. From the opening “Giac Mo Xa Voi” (Duc Tri) to the closing “Nhu Mot Loi Chia Tay” (Trinh Cong Son), they share the joy, the passion and the mutual respect for the man whose music had given them their stardom.

As a result, Vi Ta Can Nhau is not memorable for how great they sound together, but for how great their musical friendship is. And they had made their point not loud but clear.