It's ridiculous that anyone would read the New York Times for music coverage. Still the sad truth is that staff critic Jon Caramanica wields serious influence over the commercial hip-hop landscape, his master narratives weaving mittens for inept writers everywhere to handle trend rappers. So with another Grammy gala toasting mediocrity upon us, I thought it was a fitting time to eviscerate his write-up of last week's Stretch and Bob reunion show

R.A. the Rugged Man said it best: Every Major Record Label Sucks Dick. Major props to New York Mag writer Erika Ramirez for writing today about the latest bullshit going: signed artists pretending that they're unsigned to boost their indie cred (link and excerpt below). Sure - it's nothing new, and we've suspected it with many cats throughout the years, but it's always nice when someone does a bit of research to make a point.

10. PINK IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS OF OUR TIME. At least according to noted musical-greatness expert Scott Weiland. "Performing 'Sober' . . ., " introduceth he -- the irony of which wasn't lost on us. Not the only reason everyone's wondering what the hell that dude's on.

09. KANYE v. 1: "I WANT TO BE ELVIS." Dude, we've heard 808s

Poor JAM’N 94.5. Just a few years ago their Monster Jams were suffering; hip-hop and R&B fans were lucky if they caught more than one artist with more than two hit songs. But in 2008 the station staged a commendable comeback with a roaring Summer Jam line-up and a subsequent pre-Halloween blowout featuring Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, only for the latter not to show up.

On the off chance that you haven't been reading Lil' Wayne's fantacular new blog for ESPN.com -- which once again proved that Weezy is the king of the internets -- allow us to learn you. In his latest jawn, he speaks on Brett Favre ("He must know God's phone number. Come on. He's like 3900 years old and he threw for six touchdowns?"), Aaron Rodgers's shoulder ("I'm skeptical about it because when you say something like he has a sprained shoulder, come on, who sprains their shoulder? I've never sprained my shoulder"), and how to watch football like a thug ("I have a wonderful chef and he cooks whatever I like.