Last week's bombshell Los Angeles Times report claiming that the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur in the lobby of a Manhattan recording studio was carried out by associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs and that the rap impresario knew of the plot beforehand was based largely on fabricated FBI reports, The Smoking Gun has learned.

I said to anybody that would listen last week that that Chuck Phillips article smelled wrong (just like his 2002 Tupac article smelled wrong). Now, look atcha!

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Top Artists this Week (see more)

10 Feb 2008 – 17 Feb 2008

1		Rhymefest
2		wale
3		Maxïmo Park
4		M.I.A.
5		Feist
6		Tilly and the Wall
7		Burial
8		Amerie
8		Justice
8		Iron & Wine

Last week's purchases/pick-ups: Jazzanova & Dirk Rumpff ...Broadcasting and...

Mike The Mentor (Rhymefest ft Michael Jackson)

Rhymefest

Rhymefest is able to do what major label marketing firms have failed at doing, and that's trim Jackson of the tabloid drama and bring the focus back to his music. Rhymefest sets out right away to humanize Jackson, and bring him down to earth, portraying him as a simple man from Gary, Ind., one who still has the power to unite a desperate community (see "Mike the Mentor"). He also inter-splices the album with brief, but always humorous, "conversations" with Jackson, in which Rhymefest's inserts himself into dialogue from Jackson interviews.

- Grammys Don't Need Michael Jackson by Todd Martens, Extended Play (LA Times), 01.29.08

Last.fm recommended: nobody new

Song of the week (that wasn't from the rhymefest mixtape):

Lovesong Of The Buzzard

Iron & Wine

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Otis' characters inhabit unlovely corners of the city — barbecuing at a dingy condo, dallying in a Van Nuys parking lot, renting an apartment underneath a hillside garage and having sex in a basement storage closet.

bonus byline: By Carolyn Kellogg, Carolyn Kellogg hosts the literary blog "Pinky's Paperhaus," at www.pinkyspaperhaus.com.

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