As lifelong bookworms, we’ve never needed a poster to inspire us to want to read — and if we did, we’re not sure that Phil Collins or the Indigo Girls would be the right celebrities to motivate us. That said, we truly enjoy their efforts in the American Library Association’s READ campaign, which is now in its 25th year. And lucky for us, these are not the only musicians to have lent their image to the worthy cause. Click through for a quick visual history that goes all the way from Sting to Ne-Yo.
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Rappers, generally speaking, aren’t universally known for their forward-thinking feminist viewpoints. Nope, mostly women in rap songs are video hos or strippers or gold diggers, celebrated not so much for their intellect as for their cup size. But that doesn’t mean that all rap songs are about detailing a woman’s measurements and Gucci nails — there’s actually a strain of hip-hop that prizes the ladies who know how to hold a conversation, run a business, and read books — at least comic books. Below the jump: a countdown of rap songs about ladies who can work a spreadsheet, not a stripper pole.
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We’ve got a month until we can really say that the Wait is Ova, but today, the wait gets a little easier. In anticipation of 11/23, Rihanna released Rated R‘s first single, “Russian Roulette” at 11:23 this morning.
Rihanna’s ubiquitous radio presence could be measured in gold standard: her 2007 sophomore album, Good Girl Gone Bad produced four Billboard Hot 100 singles (“Umbrella,” “Please Don’t Stop The Music,” “Shut Up and Drive,” and “Hate That I Love You”) while the 2008 re-release, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded offered up three more (“Take A Bow,” “If I Never See You Again,” and “Disturbia”). And since having bled her album dry, her icy hooks (and, sometimes, just looks) have become something of a standard on hip hop’s super hits.
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1. Anime master Hayao Miyazaki has agreed to make a rare US appearance at San Diego’s Comic Con on July 24. [via NYT]
2. James Franco’s rejected UCLA graduation speech, courtesy of the Harvard Lampoon (video) [via Gawker]
3. Lil Wayne, Ne-Yo and Jeremih have announced that they will team up for an extensive North American tour that will kick off July 27 in Scranton, PA. [via NME]
4. Beck has launched a new interview series on his website called Irrelevant Topics; his first victim is Tom Waits. [via Pitchfork]
5. As Hollywood’s leading actors start looking eerily similar (Chace Crawford, Zac Efron, Robert Pattison), where are all the real men? [via Daily Mail]
Lil Wayne, Coldplay vie for Grammys: Grammy nominations dropped yesterday and Lil Wayne leads with eight nominations — no surprise after his album, Tha Carter III, was the biggest seller of the year. Coldplay’s also up there with seven nominations, followed by Kanye West and Ne-Yo with six. The coveted Album of the Year Grammy will be a toss up between Lil Wayne, Coldplay, Radiohead, Ne-Yo and a collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. [Reuters]
