Nathan Rabin RIP 1968-2007

Talib Kweli
Some hip-hop is clearly destined to pass the test of time.
by Nathan Rabin

http://www.therandommuse.com/photos/uncategorized/flava.jpg

his back'n'forth on the simpsons movie was pathetic

Seriously.

sorry, the show not the movie.

Let's face it: It's much too late for The Simpsons to go out on top. But I like to think the show has gotten to the same comfy place that De La Soul occupies these days: They'll never reclaim the genius of their early, revolutionary work, but they're in a good groove, and they're still making relevant contributions to a pop-culture landscape littered with their acolytes and wannabes.

Can someone plz direct me to the pop-culture landscape littered with De La Soul acolytes and wannabes?

http://img9.mediabistro.net/blogs-mbtoolbox-original-nathan3-thumb.jpg
Malice and Pusha T's deep, rich, resonant voices and authoritative delivery could probably make "Ice Ice Baby" sound gangsta.

"I must concede that I don't want The Simpsons to end, partly for selfish reasons. When the last Simpsons airs, I'll feel like a big part of my childhood and adolescence has died with it. I'm not really ready to make that leap..."

Maybe he just means rappers who still put skits on their albums.

I'm inclined to give Rabin a break just because he probably wrote some classic Onion articles. And if he wrote this, then he can at least be funny about his own Simpsons fanboyism:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39346

Do the AV club writers have anything to do with the funny stuff? I had no reason to believe they did.

I dunno, I always just assumed that the AV Club was just an excuse for the people who write the Onion proper to write semi-serious pop culture crit, but I have no idea for sure since the Onion joke articles don't have bylines.

I don't think its any more likely than Tom Breihan writing political OpEds for the Voice. I also have a hard time believing an actual comedy writer would say "I think you've set your standards way too high. You stopped watching regularly because the show wasn't 'consistently funny all the way through' any more? Good Lord, what show is consistently funny all the way through these days? Even Flight Of The Conchords, a show I love, is fairly inconsistent. Some shows are gut-bustingly hilarious. Others are moderately amusing. And Conchords just started out."

in rabin's non-defense he was also responsible for

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28251

http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/God-Gives-Shout-Out-Jump-C.jpg

plus I've seen a lot of rock crit freelancers in AV club (Matos wrote something, right?) and I know they aren't doing Herbert T. Kornfeld shit on the sly.

crazy Village Voice/The Onion comparison aside, you're probably right, just never really thought about it before.

Do the AV club writers have anything to do with the funny stuff? I had no reason to believe they did.

This is the impression I was under, too. There was an ad for an AV Club editor in the Chicago edition recently and it repeatedly emphasized that the job entailed absolutely no satirical writing.

"God's the ultimate playa, so naturally He's going to have some haters," rapper Ice Cube said. "But these haters need to realize that if you mess with the man upstairs, you will get your ass smote. True dat."

i have no problem believing that rabin does herbert kornfield

not enough Coup references

1. Devin The Dude, Waiting To Inhale (10)

2. Lily Allen, Alright, Still (10)

3. Little Brother, The Getback (10)

4. R. Kelly, Double Up (10)

5. Ghostface Killah, The Big Doe Rehab (10)

6. Fountains Of Wayne, Traffic And Weather (10)

7. Brother Ali, The Undisputed Truth (10)

8. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black (10)

9. Talib Kweli, Eardrum (10)

10. T-Pain, Epiphany (10)
tpain

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Common, Finding Forever

Median, Median's Relief

Evidence, Weatherman LP

Chrisette Michele, I Am

Big City, The City Never Sleeps

t pain is a little out of left field, altho i guess its just a continuation of his r kelly thing

Big City, The City Never Sleeps

never noticed this -- awesome

ha he voted for t-pain, that's pretty awesome

2008 saw the emergence of a brash new strain of hipster hop, as an exciting new crop of buppie rappers with indie-rock attitude and old-school swagger made a mark on a stagnant scene. It was a banner year for acts like The Knux, Kidz In The Hall, and especially The Cool Kids, a breakout duo that walked a fine line between charmingly brash and outright obnoxious. The Bake Sale is the most irresistible blast of muscular hip-hop minimalism this side of Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury, though the Chicago duo was less concerned with documenting the drug game than bringing back the spirit of '88. (Rabin)

^i even like cool kids to an extent but this is crazy pills

http://djdocrok.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/oh-snap.jpg

I see my friend's Wikipedia edit still stands:

July 2009 saw the release of Rabin's Scribner memoir "The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought To You By Pop Culture"[4], a project that found its genesis partly in the enjoyment Rabin took in tending to and caring for his own Wikipedia entry.[5] The book uses pop culture as a springboard to discuss its author's tragi-comic adolescence as a guest of a mental hospital, a foster family whose patience and generosity he jokes "knew only strict, unyielding boundaries" and the Jewish Children's Bureau group home system as well as his career with The Onion and disastrous stint on "Movie Club With John Ridley". The book ends with a chapter about Rabin's unsuccessful audition to fill in for Roger Ebert as a guest critic on At The Movies. Scribner will also be publishing a book version of "My Year of Flops" in 2010. [6]

wtf this is terrible news

So apparently Nathan Rabin put out a call on Twitter for people to host readings by him in their homes. And a friend of mine volunteered. And so now Nathan Rabin is supposedly reading at her house. (I'm invited, but it's this Saturday and I've already got plans.)

GHOST TWITTER

"Nathan Rabin is Reading at My House" doesn't really have the same ring to it

The Ghost of Nathan Rabin is Haunting My House (My House!)

im not making a joke btw im voicing a persistent complaint of mine

The Onion A/V Club is so wild. Like I'm sure even people like Ann Powers and Rob Harvilla and Maura Johnston and probably anyone this side of SF/J couldn't possibly get as many eyes on their writing as the A/V Club stuff gets. Like the big "important" Fennessey/Nitsuh/Keleffah articles we pass around here dont have a fraction of the comments/eyes they have on some of the most basic listicle ish

the question is, do bay area gangster rapper dudes know about the onion a/v club...

their music writing is inessential but the interviews are great

the question is, are dayo's lazy zings funny to anyone but him

& the answer is no

yeah i was gonna say they put out a pretty good amount of music content but the overwhelming majority (and where most of the hits come from) is more general pop culture stuff, and it's seemed like album reviews have taken up a smaller and smaller amount of real estate on the front page over the last couple years. xpost

im not at all surprised they have such a huge readership, absent allmusic guide they were p much the only critical writing i used to see around

The A/V Club's comments section is the absolute dregs

^^ yes (i mean, first! (i mean, canceraids!))

i like to imagine Nathan Rabin someday finding this thread, coinciding with Ethan's return to ILM

Like the big "important" Fennessey/Nitsuh/Keleffah articles we pass around here dont have a fraction of the comments/eyes they have on some of the most basic listicle ish

I detected a distinct AV Club influence in Pitchfork's unedited LCD Soundsystem data dump this week.

Though I'd assume people are coming for the comment-box afterparty in the AV Club rather than the blather above it

AV Club articles are getting to be like the SEMINARS at a gathering of the juggalos nowadays

the aesthetic range on offer in their CURRENT REVIEWS section is p "..."

i had no idea that the a/v club was a big thing... weird.

:55 into this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjPQAE7vABg#t=52