First, Cyrus criticizing Radiohead is not news. Second, slamming Cyrus at every opportunity is child’s play. Third, making her out to be an idiot is a bit odd when taking into account that she’s got gajillions of dollars over anyone associated with Pitchfork; this is essentially my Paris Hilton defense: Who’s the stupid one if she’s raking in the bucks and you’re sitting pinching pennies so you can buy another Miller Lite?

My last problem with the post is the assumption she is incapable of holding a worthwhile conversation about music just because she is involved in the pop machine. The decision to make that type of music does not mean she is clueless about music (or anything else for that matter). And if you work the logic backwards, does Pitchfork assume that everyone who listens to “sophisticated” or “good” music is a musical genius worth reading? If we were to simply dismiss anyone based on their musical tastes, I would be the first to dismiss Pitchfork for their schoolgirl obsession with Kanye, whose one-trick-pony production style and crybaby antics put him in the pantheon of spoiled overrated undertalented noisemakers.

Flow Dan’s also been in the wars this month, in an exchange with former Roll Deep MC, Trim. The source of the beef isn’t clear, but how it’s being played out is more notable. Obviously there’s been some amiable clashing on pirate radio (, naturally) but the majority of the exchanges have been via MySpace-posted “talking dubs.”

Talking dubs are a phenomenon where MCing is abandoned for straight conversation. While these can be useful for crew members who don’t MC, ie DJs and producers, to defend themselves, it’s a little odd for people as lyrically skilled as Trim and Flow Dan to be abandoning bars, but it serves a purpose. When he appeared on Kiss, Logan reminded listeners that Flow Dan had been using the ‘talking’ approach as far back as 2003, when doing his version of Wiley’s seminal “Ice Rink” riddim. Sometimes it seems, the urge to merk a rival overrides everything, even the will to MC.

Unrelated to this, but related to the constant Jason-target MySpace, I was at a Velvet Lounge hip hop show many months ago (20070225) and heard some great MySpace-related quotes by the various MCs:

They phishing my shit yesterday on MySpace!

MySpace is about to crash!

• MIA
• Spice Girls
• Beastie Boys
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

• Thurston Moore, too cool for the District
• Os Mutantes, too old to make it’s way over here
• Matmos, too afraid to leaving NYC
• Parts & Labor, none too impressed by their first gig here I guess
• Smashing Pumpkins, too busy re-selling out