Wow, it’s been two months since my last post. And all I have to offer is some links.

I have a Chris Rock interview is in this week’s Time Out New York. We talked about funerals, Pootie Tang and the infamous James Brown alien abduction episode of Miami Vice.

Speaking of outerspace, I caught up with Erykah Badu last month for this Time Out story, just a few days before she stripped down in front of the grassy knoll. I got to have a nice, laid-back, extra-casual conversation with her—in a dressing room at Jimmy Fallon—the full text of which you can read here. Read to the end for the dramatic conclusion.

Bronx dancehall dude Skerrit Bwoy recently turned up as a talking point on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, during a visit from Aziz Ansari. (Apparently, the two made fast friends). I first heard about Skerrit five or six years ago, back when he was better known as “Sponge Bob.” Now the face of Major Lazer and the international ambassador for daggering (surely, not an easy job), he’s having a bit of a moment. Figured I’d document it in this TONY profile.

I’ve been talking about TV One’s excellent music biography series Unsung for a while now. It’s one of my favorite shows so I was geeked to catch up with recent show subjects Stacy Lattisaw and Lester Troutman from Zapp for their take on the series in this Washington Post story.

Be back with some original content again soon.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on any current matters so I thought I’d put together a little roundup of recent published work. In December, I had the opportunity to interview Mariah Carey for Time Out New York’s “Hot Seat” section. Mariah is from around my way in L.I., and we really hit it off. Here’s the version of our interview that ran in the magazine. I’m thinking of posting the full text of our conversation, though, because it was so entertaining from beginning to end. That girl is funny. Let me know if you’d be interested in reading that.

TONY also recently asked me to put together a walking tour of the South Bronx for their current issue, which you can read here.

I’ve recently started contributing to the Washington Post (good looking out, Chris Richards). You can read the first two pieces I’ve done for them, reviews of the new Clipse and RJD2 albums, here and here. I’ve got some much bigger things in the works with them as well…

I’m now blogging about reggae and other Caribbean matters at Large Up, a new site my homey Dave a.k.a. DJ Gravy and Martei Korley have started in partnership with Okayplayer.. Here are a few recent posts.

Also: follow me on Twitter @JesseSerwer

I wasn’t planning on writing a “Best Of” list this year, seeing as no one asked me to (What’s up with that?) Fine, I’ve never been all that interested in these things anyway. But as I’ve read list after list these past few weeks, I noticed that few of the albums that impressed me this year were being acknowledged by other folks. Since I don’t get to write about other music styles as much as I get to write about rap, I thought I’d throw together a list of my favorite albums without any rapping on them. I’m not saying these are the best records of the year, in this order: they’re just the ones I listened to and enjoyed on a regular basis. I wouldn’t want to altogether leave hip-hop out of the discussion so I’ll be back with a shorter, all-rap list shortly. (Click on album titles to stream music)

HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE—S/T (Honest Jon’s)

Hypnotic, the world’s best post-hip-hop family brass band, has had a number of full-length, slim-case CDs for sale for years, but, until now, they’d never made a proper album. Recorded in several days for Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s label (Hypnotic are said to be featured musicians on Albarn’s next Gorillaz LP), this 11-song LP finally captures the majesty of their remarkable live performances on record. With the group having reportedly put their street performance career to bed, it’s a much-needed document. Read the rest of this entry »