Okay, be real here—how many of you actually sit down, eat popcorn, and watch the goddamn MTV VMAs? Jesus. I only ask because I heard up-to-the-minute bulletins about this Kanye/Taylor Swift bullshit like it was the Kennedy assassination. My dude Barry O called it: Ye is a Steve-O-­certified jackass, and his haircut is stupid. If we're talking about music, then it's about the fucking music, period; everything else is PR, distraction, irrelevance. Okay, one thing the aftermath of this bullshit did show (and Barry could surely sympathize with this)—via Twitter, Facebook updates, and comment sections across the interwebs—is that a lot of very bigoted people are letting their true feelings be known. "Racism still alive/They just be concealing it"? In 2009, not so much it seems. So where's this all going? And based on the perspective they demonstrate, do you really care what a fucking pop star thinks about it? Word?

That being said, let's get to the job at hand here. This month's edition of the Corner (September 25 at the Rendezvous, of course) is a study in contrasts. You got fresh-off-their-latest-tour emo-rap heartthrobs the Let Go (whose Kublakai is also headlining a show at Nectar on September 30), They Live! (uh, never heard of 'em), local femcees known as Canary Sing (Ispire and Lioness, currently workin' on their debut record and combining their wry out 'n' about, sultry/hype perspective with a lil' grown 'n' sexy), and Bay Area to Sactown to SEA hustler Outrageous. Outrageous's album Two Time Tim (dedicated to his lost homie Adam "Bizar" Todd) is sonically in line with that Federation-style post-hyphy vibe, all synth-menace production and hustle-grind, getting-money narrative. His hunger is apparent, his growly rap more than capable (check "Need Mo Crack" or the E-40-sporting "Money Don't Fold"), but it's not quite compelling or distinctive enough to distinguish that same in-these-streets D-boy subject matter that a hundred other cats in the Bay Area also grind out (see Clyde Carson or Turf Talk, who both make memorable appearances), so it tends toward the one-dimensional. But when he clocks out from the block and speaks on his real life outside the grind ("Two Time Tim," "Rollin Stone," "How This Life Goes"), Outrageous grabs my attention. Yadidimean?

So I just checked out the free downloadable EP Roots. Seeds. Stems. from local group Brothers from Another (whom I first saw at Hidmo the same night as another hungry young crew, Kung Foo Grip). These cats (Breez and Goonstar) are South End (I think) high-school-age dudes, and while there's a lot of room for improvement in sound/voice/cadence, there's something about their enthusiastic, Tribe-y kickback vibe that makes their freshmen awkwardness kind of charming. (Plus, they use that Sporty Thievz "Cheapskate" beat.) So they got a ways to go, but I'm interested to hear what they do in the future. Peep 'em for yourself at www.brothersfromanother.wordpress.com. Hey, the Who called it: The kids are alright.