ATG sizes it all up.

Lil Wayne is finally in jail.
His sentencing perpetually curtailed by oddities (dental surgery, freak fires), the game-changing rapper shipped to Rikers Monday afternoon. One of our brightest stars gone until likely October. Without the luxury of near daily guest spots, the internet will be a less interesting forum for new music.

Thirteen years ago today, one of the most iconic figures in pop culture was shot and killed in Los Angeles.

The event changed the course of music as a windfall of money and fame went to cohorts closest to The Notorious B.I.G. Every year since, mixtapes and commemorative bootlegs emerge on March 9. Sean Combs poaches takes into full albums, merchandise, lavish parties and motion pictures. Today, Biggie tops trends on Twitter, the social networking equivalent of murals on brick walls. 

Ruminating on this subject is tiring so I'll just offer up my five favorite Biggie songs, posthumous, bootleg or otherwise.

1.    Gimme The Loot
2.    Mo Money, Mo Problems
3.    Things Done Changed
4.    Dead Wrong
5.    Deadly Combination

DJ Whoo Kid put together an XXL Freshman Mixtape, which is admittedly more realized than ours. But seriously, we just want to hear the two Freddie Gibbs joints. Sans DJ.

Freddie Gibbs - Born 2 Roll

Freddie Gibbs - Youze a Ho

ATG's Eddie Strait is not amused.

We disagree over Rick Ross's niceness on the mic.

Other shit we like, specifically tolerable indie rock.

We're firmly in the corner of music. If it's good, it's worth enjoying without pretensions or politics. In this spirit of consuming media sans blinders, we're starting a new weekly spotlight of, simply, other shit we like.


Reggie's Pick: Beach House

Beach House are a Baltimore male-female duo who make the kind sublime bedroom pop that you'll want to wake up next to over and over again. Vocalist Victoria Legrande's full, sultry siren songs ride along layers of hypnotic strumming and stripped down synths on each of her band's serene and seductive slices of dream pop. Teen Dream, their third album, is full of ethereal and infectious love songs that beckon and call in deep, rich tones. It's more aggressive and sonically varied than either of their previous efforts, and while March is too early even for us to start making Of The Year proclamations, my ears are having a hard time imagining more gorgeous compositions coming along any time soon. "Walk in the Park" is your high point. It's a slick and gently rollicking promenade with an upbeat organ loop and a climax of soaring, pleading vocals. Play it in the early afternoon while you wait for all this snow to melt.

Beach House - Walk in the Park


Ramon's Pick: Titus Andronicus

An over-educated bunch of broken romantics, Titus Andronicus embrace collapsed futures with frank, building, volatile garage punk. 2008's The Airing Of Grievances was aimless rioting balanced in madness by thoughtful, verbose songwriting. The ambitious follow up, The Monitor, is out Tuesday on XL Records and evolves powerful blasts into tedious, often times eight-minute segments of, weirdly, rollicking tunes about the Civil War. It's a concept album but one-line, anthemic hooks still carry a good chunk of the thing.

Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus Forever

About time. Thanks for not being Dr. Dre, 'Fest.

El Che features appearances From Saigon, Little Brother and production from Scram Jones, S1, BKS and Terry Hunter.

Sunday night, Twitter buzzed with joyful "suck it, Cameron!" Tweets. At long last, Papa Doc won an Oscar. Steve Martin was funny; Alec Baldwin less so. The acting categories went chalk. The screenplay categories, with original not going to "Inglorious Basterds" and adapted not going to "Up In The Air," yielded the only noteworthy upsets.

Here are some Tweet highlights from the hip-hop beat:

• diplo   I hope the girl from precious bust up Sandra bullock..
• questlove so does this mean that we will ACTUALLY see "the hurt locker" and come to grips that we are in a war people?
• RealTalibKweli Thought that Avatar was gonna get it but Hurt Locker deserved it. Great movie.
• QtipTheAbstract so happy for hurt locker! and the powerful woman director!
• amandadiva YASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO LADIES! GO LADIES!!!!!!!!! (btw rip dilla) DOPE!! (sidenote: she's James Cameron's ex-wife)
• MURS  Bboys and ballet. I can't front. I was feeling it.
• 9thWonderMusic they got the B-BOYS at the oscars!
• souljaboytellem  Congratulations Monique! You are a queen :)
• donwill HOLY SHIT IS THAT GHOSTDOG!?!?!
  

D'Angelo was arrested Sunday morning for soliciting oral sex from an undercover police officer. He was reportedly driving with $12,000 cash. D'Angelo, 36, whose real name is Michael Archer, was in his Range Rover at Greenwich and Horatio streets at about 2:30 a.m.

The arrest caps a tumultuous, disappointing, generally weird decade of writer's block and mental health problems for the brilliant r&b star.

UPDATE: D'Angelo's handlers release statement.

"We know there is a lot of speculation in regard to the arrest of D'Angelo in New York City this past weekend. We would like his fans and the public at large to know that D'Angelo has plead not guilty -- and is contesting the allegations made against him. Also know that he is in good health and extremely excited about his forthcoming new album. D'Angelo would like to personally thank all of his fans for the outpouring of concern, and appreciates if all would allow the American justice system to resolve the matter before jumping to any conclusions."

Yay for punctuality in the game. Get it after the jump.