1. -  “The Residue of Design” / Grantland / September 3, 2013

  2. -  “Burning Sensation” / The Organist (KCRW) / August 5, 2013

  3. -  “Saber Rattler” / Grantland / August 2, 2013

  4. -  “Jay-Z in 2028” / Grantland / July 12, 2013

  5. -  “That Obscure Object of Desire” / Grantland / June 25, 2013

  6. -  “New Slaves” / Grantland / June 17, 2013

  7. -  “Eddie Jefferson’s vocalese” / The Wire / June 2012

  8. -  “David Beckham’s strangest cultural artifact” / Grantland / May 31, 2013

  9. -  “The Face of the Watch” / Grantland / May 13, 2013

  10. -  “Lost Weekend” / The Dailiy Note / May 9, 2013

  11. -“Hard Knocks Shanghai: Football in China” / Grantland / May 2, 2013

  12. -“Pledging Allegiance to a New America” / Reflections: Journal of the Yale Divinity School / Spring 2013

  13. -“The Boos (Mostly) Subside at Madison Square Garden” / Grantland / April 11, 2013

  14. -“Thanks but no thanks but thanks: On H.T. Tsiang’s The Hanging on Union Square” / Slate Book Review / April 5, 2013

  15. -“The Humbling of Stephon Marbury” / Grantland / March 29, 2013

  16. -“The Alien has Landed: Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford” / Grantland / March 6, 2013

  17. -“In Memoriam: The Ignorant, Brilliant, Brutal Tim Dog” / Grantland / February 15, 2013

  18. -“A Brief History of All Star Weekend Weirdness” / Grantland / February 15, 2013

  19. -“Ma$e, cookies and total devastation at the Super Bowl” / Grantland / February 4, 2013

  20. -“We’ll Build That Sucker: A Cultural History of the Superdome” / Grantland / February 1, 2013

  21. -“Mercurial Vapor” / Grantland / January 22, 2013


  1. -“The Year Data Reigned” / Grantland / December 21, 2012

  2. -Overlooked Movies of 2012: Safe House / Grantland / December 20, 2012

  3. -TV in 2012: Key and Peele vs. Barter Kings / Grantland / December 19, 2012

  4. -“Golden State of Mind” / Grantland / December 18, 2012

  5. -“We Went There: Linsanity Returns to New York” / Grantland / December 18, 2012

  6. -“We Went There: Staring into the Abyss with the Knicks and Lakers” / Grantland / December 14, 2012

  7. -“Reasons to Love NY: Four Months with Jeremy Lin” / New York / December 9, 2012

  8. -“Shot Callers: On the Mysteries of Coaching”  / Grantland / December 3, 2012

  9. -“‘Interesting’ Times: On Sianne Ngai’s Our Aesthetic Categories” / Slate Book Review / November 30, 2012

  10. -First 5: Hua Hsu / First Five / November 27, 2012

  11. -Interview: Kendrick Lamar / eMusic / November 15, 2012

  12. -“Mind of Tomorrow: Sports in the Year 2020” / Tomorrow / Fall 2012

  13. -“The Death Star: On Suburban Chinatowns” / Lucky Peach / Fall 2012

  14. -“Tweakers, Castoffs, Mystics...” / Grantland / October 29, 2012

  15. -“Chris Elliott Gets a Life” / Grantland / October 19, 2012

  16. -“Morrissey is still laughing at his own jokes” / Grantland / October 15, 2012

  17. -“The Colossus of New York: Jay-Z opens the Barclays Center” / Grantland / October 1, 2012

  18. -“Phantoms of Pop: Shintaro Sakamoto and Yura Yura Teikoku” / eMusic / October 1, 2012

  19. -“Do We Like This? Lupe Fiasco” / Grantland / September 28, 2012

  20. -On Psy’s “Gangnam Style” / New York / September 24, 2012

  21. -“Magic Mike: Michael K. Williams’ Disappearing Act” / New York / September 1, 2012

  22. -“I Bought Manchester United” / Grantland / August 15, 2012

  23. -“Freak Out: The Unwinding of Tim Lincecum” / Grantland / August 8, 2012

  24. -“What We Listen to When We Listen: On Jonathan Sterne’s MP3” / Slate Book Review / August 4, 2012

  25. -“Too Clever by Half: The Return of Blur” / Grantland / July 19, 2012

  26. -“Ocean’s Kingdom: Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange” / Slate / July 17. 2012

  27. -“Rising Down: The Fall of Skate Legend Christian Hosoi” / Grantland / June 28, 2012

  28. -“The Writing on the Shirt: Nirvana and the Politics of Selling Out” / Margins / June 19, 2012

  29. -On Paul Young, my dad, mixtapes and the American Dream / NPR / June 18, 2012

  30. -“Jay Electronica and the Rothschild Affair” / Grantland / June 13, 2012

  31. -james jones chillwave / Grantland / June 12, 2012

  32. -Pacquiao, Canibus, Garnett / Grantland / June 11, 2012

  33. -“Understanding Rajon Rondo” / Grantland / June 7, 2012

  34. -“Clotted Cream: On Chris Hayes’ Twilight of the Elites” / Slate Book Review / June 1, 2012

  35. -“Endless Endless: Kraftwerk at MoMA” / Paris Review / May 22, 2012

  36. -A Rational Conversation with Eric Ducker / Daily Swarm / May 18, 2012

  37. -“Mitt Romney vs. Papa Doc from 8 Mile” / ego trip / May 11, 2012

  38. -“Boys to Men: Growing up with the Beastie Boys” / Grantland / May 7, 2012

  39. -All Hail the Chairman: On A Taxonomy of Office Chairs / Los Angeles Review of Books / April 18, 2012

  40. -A Debate about “Storage Wars” / Grantland / April 13, 2012

  41. -“Exit Art, 1982-2012” / Paris Review / April 12, 2012

  42. -“Capital Rules Everything Around Me” (the academy, prestige, politics) / American Quarterly / March 2012

  43. -“The K-Hole: On the Kardashians and leisure time” / Grantland / March 20, 2012

  44. -“Linsanity at the Garden” / Grantland / February 16, 2012

  45. -“M.I.A. and the Impossibility of Selling Out” / Grantland / February 14, 2012

  46. -On Jeremy Lin / Bloomberg / February 10, 2012

  47. -“Matchup Problems: Jim Harbaugh’s press conference style” / Grantland / January 25, 2012

  48. -“Going Back to Cali” / Grantland / January 23, 2012


  1. -“Born in Flames: The Arrival of Alex Smith” / Grantland / December 8, 2011

  2. -“B#$%^ I’m the Man: On Drake’s Take Care” / Grantland / November 18, 2011

  3. -“Highbro/Lowbro: On the Harold and Kumar franchise” / Grantland / November 9, 2011

  4. -Invisible Jukebox: Gang Gang Dance / The Wire / November 2011

  5. -“Coach Fight! Jim Harbaugh vs. Jim Schwartz” / Grantland / October 17, 2011

  6. -“Waiting for Radiohead: On Radiohead and Occupy Wall Street” / Grantland / October 5, 2011

  7. -“Varieties of Disturbance: On Contagion and Disaster Cinema” / Grantland / September 12, 2011

  8. -“When They Were Kings: On Rakim, nostalgia and Carter IV” / Grantland / August 29, 2011

  9. -“The Collected Works of 9/11” / New York Magazine / September 5, 2011

  10. -“Epiphany: 11 September 2001” (download) / The Wire / September 2011

  11. -“Neve Been in a Riot: On Attack the Block and anarchy in the UK” / Grantland / August 22, 2011

  12. -“Let Them Eat Cake: On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne” / Grantland / August 8, 2011

  13. -“My Infamous Life: On Prodigy’s audiobook” (Mobb Deep, Emmanuel Lewis, sincerity) / Slate / July 27, 2011

  14. -“Ain’t I Worth a Dime?” (telephones, courtship, Egyptian Lover) / The Believer / July 2011

  15. -“A Burning Sensation” (on drugs, “Shook Ones, Pt. II,” sample hounds) / ya5 / June 2011

  16. -“Server the People” (Ai Weiwei, his blog, Warhol) / Bookforum / Apr-May 2011

  17. -“Thanks for the Memorex” (cassettes, Walkman, passive aggressive wooing) / Artforum / February 2011

  18. -“Seeing Jay-Z in Taipei” (Chinese food, engineers, Future Shock) / Daedalus / Winter 2011


  1. -“Hey, What’s That Sound?” (sound studies, music business, 1989) / American Quarterly / December 2010

  2. -“Blame That Tune” (hats, Indonesian garage rock, Sukarno) / Artforum / Nov 2010

  3. -On ‘The Simpsons’ and Ai Weiwei / The Atlantic (blog) / Oct 22, 2010

  4. -Huang Weikai’s ‘Absurd’ New Film / The Atlantic (blog) / Oct 19, 2010

  5. -The Passing of a Record Store / The Atlantic (blog) / Sept 7, 2010

  6. -Terminal Boredom: Reading Tao Lin / The Atlantic (blog) / Aug 2, 2010

  7. -“Linked Rooms: A Correspondence with Ed Park” (iPhone, the nature of communication, Anne Frank) / PEN America / Summer 2010

  8. -“A Day in the Life” (Robert Greenfield, nostalgia, genitalia) / The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics and Culture / Summer 2010

  9. -Jeremy Lin and ‘K-Town’ / The Atlantic (blog) / July 23, 2010

  10. -Fixing a Hole: The Culture of ‘Leaks’ / The Atlantic (blog) / July 21, 2010

  11. -Random Thoughts on LeBron and Social Networking / The Atlantic (blog) / July 20, 2010

  12. -‘Inception’---Ghost Town, Ghost Faces / The Atlantic (blog) / July 19, 2010

  13. -Gotta Be the Shoes / The Atlantic (blog) / June 29, 2010

  14. -Kim Jong-Il and the North Korean World Cup Squad / The Atlantic (blog) / June 15, 2010

  15. -What the World Cup Sounds Like / The Atlantic (blog) / June 11, 2010

  16. -“Unofficial Channels: Sample-spotter blogs” (break snitching, Diplomats, DJ Shadow) / The Wire / June 2010

  17. -“Off the Wall” (graffiti, New York, the 70s) / Bookforum / Feb-Mar 2010

  18. -“Bad Vibrations” (Steve Goodman, “sonic warfare,” politics of fidelity) / Bookforum / Dec-Jan 2010


  1. -R.I.P. Roc Raida / The Atlantic (blog) / Sept 22, 2009

  2. -Straight Razor / The Atlantic (blog) / Sept 4, 2009

  3. -“Michael Jackson Infinity” (Michael Jackson R.I.P., “globalization,” etc.) / Foreign Policy online / June 26, 2009

  4. -“M.J. R.I.P.” / The Atlantic (blog) / June 26, 2009

  5. -“The Fraud Squad” (Paul Maliszewski, hoaxes, irony) / Bookforum / Feb-Mar 2009

  6. -“The End of White America?” (“whiteness,” Obama, identity politics, branding) / The Atlantic / Jan-Feb 2009

  7. -“Pop Goes the Cult of a Band” (Animal Collective, the Internet) / New York Times / Jan 16, 2009


  1. -“****** **” (Fucked Up, dirty words, band names) / Slate / June 23, 2008

  2. -“The Gospel of Wealth” (Ethan Canin’s America America, “America,” youthful idealism) / New York Sun / June 23, 2008

  3. -“Party Titans, Updating the Sound of Disco” (Hercules & Love Affair, disco, “Mad Clams”) / New York Times / June 22, 2008

  4. -“All My Friends Are Going to be Strangers” (Keith Gessen’s All the Sad, Young Literary Men, youthful idealism, New York on a budget) / New York Sun / April 4, 2008

  5. -“A Republic of Feathers” (Jonathan Rosen’s Life of the Skies, birding, binoculars) / New York Sun / Feb 25, 2008

  6. -“Under Suspicion” (Susan Choi’s A Person of Interest, inscrutability, Wen Ho Lee) / New York Sun / Jan 30, 2008

  7. -“The Emigrant” (Bernard Schlink’s Homecoming, memory, unfinished dissertations) / New York Sun / Jan 9, 2008


  1. -“Passage From India” (G.V. Desani’s Hatterr, colonialization) / New York Sun / Nov 29, 2007

  2. -“The Past is Another Country” (Ha Jin’s Free Life, China, unfinished graduate work) / New York Sun / Oct 31, 2007

  3. -“The Interminable Present” (Douglas Coupland’s Gum Thief, “Gen X,” Edward Albee) / New York Sun / Oct 10, 2007

  4. -“Fight Words (and Pictures)” (The Art of Ill Will, political cartooning, satire) / New York Sun / Sept 26, 2007

  5. -“Electronica: The Sequel” (indie rock, Datarock, branding) / Slate / Sept 18, 2007

  6. -“Sure it Sounds Old School, But When Were They in Class?” (hip-hop, hoaxes, storage lockers in New Jersey) / New York Times / Sept. 15, 2007

  7. -“All My Friends” (LCD Soundsystem, aging, New York) / Slate / July 12, 2007

  8. -“Where’s the Beef?” (hip-hop, YouTube, “Cuuuurtis”) / Slate / July 6, 2007

  9. -“Singing for Our Lives: Is There a Soundtrack for Protest in the Age of Shock and Awe?” (Boots Riley, John Mayer, etc.) / Colorlines / July 2007

  10. -“File Under Other” (zines, libraries, “audio cassette, teabag, or condom”) / Boston Globe Ideas section / May 6, 2007

  11. -“Give it Up and Turn it Loose” (R.I.P. James Brown and J Dilla) / Stop Smiling / April 2007

  12. -“Devin the Dude” (Devin the Dude, “workmanlike,” marijuana) / Slate / March 27, 2007

  13. -“Young Jeezy: The Inspiration” (“skill,” non-rappers, cocaine) / Vibe / Feb 2007


  1. -“Seeing Red” (democracy, Taiwan, V for Vendetta) / Slate / Nov 6. 2006

  2. -“The New Jay-Z, A Man of the World” (Jay-Z, world tour, Taiwan) / Los Angeles Times / Oct 23, 2006

  3. -“Method Man” (Greil Marcus’ Shape of Things..., America, “lost highways”) / Village Voice / Sept 12, 2006

  4. -“A Band Apart” (juxtapositions, Outkast, Idlewild) / Slate / Aug 25, 2006

  5. -“Nowhere Man” (Nell Freudenberger’s The Dissident, China, art pranks) / Village Voice / Aug 8, 2006

  6. -“Alas, Poor Yorke” (Radiohead, ideas, interiority) / Slate / July 19, 2006

  7. -“Mixing Desk: Summer Songs” (Ray Cash, Voxtrot, etc.) / Slate / July 11, 2006

  8. -“Nostalgic for Nothing” (Sonic Youth, dissonance, influence) / Slate / June 23, 2006

  9. -“Better Than Prozac” (New Order, regret, Sofia Coppola) / Slate / May 5, 2006

  10. -“Wayne Wang is Missing” (Wayne Wang, Asian American film, J. Lo) / Slate / March 30, 2006

  11. -“Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say...” (hype, British people, indie rap) / Boston Globe / Feb 21, 2006

  12. -“After the Snow” (crack rap, crack nostalgia, crack-as-adj.) / Village Voice / Jan 10, 2006


  1. -“Notes on Humps” (Black Eyed Peas, taste) / Slate / Dec 6, 2005

  2. -“In the American Grain” (Neil Young, Winesburg, Ohio, “America”) / Slate / Oct 21, 2005

  3. -“Mixing Desk: Moog” (Robert Moog, R.I.P.) / Slate / Sept 16, 2005

  4. -“Hip-hop’s Hamlet” (Kanye West, depth, contradiction) / Slate / Sept 8, 2005

  5. -“Mixing Desk: Michael Jackson to the Rescue” (“intertwined bandanas,” Hurricane Katrina) / Slate / Sept 23, 2005

  6. -“Gotcha! The Pleasures of Literary Hoaxing” (Hiroshima, Holocaust, Howard Hughes) / Boston Globe Ideas section / Aug 14, 2005

  7. -“The Insanity Plea” (R. Kelly, closets, etc.) / Slate / July 20, 2005

  8. -“Look Back in Anger” (Britpop, Oasis, New Labour & Tony Blair) / Village Voice / July 5, 2005

  9. -“Quasimoto: The Further Adventures of Lord Quas” (drugs, creativity, British accents) / Spin / July 2005

  10. -“Mixing Desk: Summer Songs” (Amerie, “Dear Summer,” etc.) / Slate / June 28, 2005

  11. -“Melancholy Arena Rock” (Coldplay, depression, why?) / Slate / June 14, 2005

  12. -“Three Songs from the End of History” (Jesus Jones, Scorpions, Billy Joel, Francis Fukuyama) / The Believer / June-July 2005

  13. -“Mixing Desk: One Man (and Woman) Bands” (Edan, M83, etc.) / Slate / May 20, 2005

  14. -“Mixing Desk: The Joy of Influence” (Marianne Faithfull, 50 Cent, etc.) / Slate / April 14, 2005

  15. -“Mask of Sorrow” (MF Doom, the 1980s, record industry) / The Wire / March 2005

  16. -“Mixing Desk: Grizzled Veterans” (Graham Coxon, Lou Barlow, etc.) / Slate / March 17, 2005

  17. -“Revisiting Public Enemy’s Nation of Millions” (legacy, academic conferences, VH-1) / Boston Globe / Feb 25, 2005

  18. -“Kanye Protege Belies Name, Keeps Swagger Humble Enough to Convince” (John Legend, hubris, “chalky”) / Village Voice / Jan 25, 2005


  1. -“Mixing Desk: Judging Songs by Their Covers” (Britney, “My Prerogative”) / Slate / Dec 2, 2004

  2. -“Vote or Lie” (voting, democracy, election year) / Village Voice / Oct 19, 2004

  3. -“Mixing Desk: Live Albums That Don’t Suck” (De La Soul, Galaxie 500, etc.) / Slate / Sept 9, 2004

  4. -“Organizing Freaks and Geeks into a Sociopolitical Class” (Hacker Manifesto, Ken Wark, multitudes) / Village Voice / Sept 7, 2004

  5. -“Too Young to Understand” (Tupac (R.I.P.), election year) / Village Voice / Aug 17, 2004

  6. -“Sounds Like Teen Spirit” (Morrissey, misery, America) / Slate / June 3, 2004

  7. -“Mixing Desk: Have Music, Will Travel” (Serge Gainsbourg, Regina Spektor, etc.) / Slate / May 27, 2004

  8. -“I Against I” (Rifleman Ellay Khule, typewriter raps) / Village Voice / April 20, 2004

  9. -“Mixing Desk: Songs by Second Fiddles” (JC Chasez, Destroyer, etc.) / Slate / April 15, 2004

  10. -“Their So-Called Life” (The Neptunes, N.E.R.D., personae) / Slate / March 30, 2004

  11. -“The Benz or the Backpack?” (Kanye West, contradictions, “nouveau riche swagger”) / Village Voice / Feb 10, 2004

  12. -“Lost in Transition” (Wang Hui, China’s New Order) / Village Voice / Feb 10, 2004


  1. -“Do the Damn Miracle” (New Orleans bounce, DJ Jubilee, Take ‘Fo All Stars) / Village Voice / Dec 23, 2003

  2. -“The British, Invaded” (Vivek Bald’s Mutiny, “rivers of blood,” Asian Dub Foundation) / Colorlines / Dec 2003

  3. -“Brooklyn-Via-Egypt-Via-the-World Post-Dub DJ Gets-Coy-Tricky and True-Gritty” (Mutamassik, “globalization,” etc.) / Village Voice / Nov 4, 2003

  4. -“Perfect Sound Forever: An Interview with Kevin Shields” (My Bloody Valentine, hypnagogia, drugs) / Arthur / November 2003

  5. -“Eastward to the World” (Morning Sun, Long Bow, Cultural Revolution) / Village Voice / Oct 21, 2003

  6. -“Africa Remixed” (Fela Kuti, Gokh-Bi System, Shaft) / San Francisco Bay Guardian / July 2003

  7. -“Lost in Translation: China Edition” (Anarchists, tourists) / The Believer / June 2003

  8. -“In-Between Days” (Asian American film, festivals, etc.) / Village Voice / June 17, 2003

  9. -“Invisible Cities, Invisible Men” (Vijay Iyer, Mike Ladd, post-9/11) / Village Voice / May 6, 2003

  10. -“Making Luck” (Better Luck Tomorrow, Asian American film) / Village Voice / April 15, 2003

  11. -“Orienting the East” (cognitive studies, Asians, “The West”) / Village Voice / April 15, 2003

  12. -“A Great Lost Age of Alcoholic Hip-Hop” (St. Ides malt liquor, King Tee) / Village Voice / April 8, 2003

  13. -“Beautiful Alone” (Leslie Cheung, R.I.P.) / Village Voice / April 8, 2003

  14. -“Foucault’s Turntable” (rap scholars, Ivy Leaguers,) / Village Voice / Jan 7, 2003


  1. -“Planet Rock” (old school hip-hop, pre-Run DMC) / Village Voice / Nov 6, 2002

  2. -“Ethnic Media Grows Up” (old media, new media, “360hiphop.com”) / Colorlines / Sept 2002

  3. -“Jamal Shabazz: Time Before Crack” (New York in the 1980s, Cazals, photography) / The Wire / July 2002

  4. -“Christopher Dunn: Brutality Garden” (Tropicalia, cannibalism, pop) / The Wire / April 2002

  5. -“Andrew Witten and Michael White: Dondi White: Style Master General and Roger Gastman: Free Agents” (graffiti, 1980s, D.C.) / The Wire / March 2002


  1. -“We R the World” (post-9/11, sentimentality, post-language) / San Francisco Bay Guardian / Dec 2001

  2. -Madlib (pseudonyms, jazz, marijuana) / The Wire / Dec 2001

  3. -“Product Placement tour at Irving Plaza” (Rodney O. and Joe Cooley, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist) / The Wire / Dec 2001

  4. -“Various Artists: Tellus Tools” (9/11, that day, that sky) / The Wire / Oct 2001

  5. -“Lester Bangs: Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung” (patricide, writings, “LB”) / The Wire / Sept 2001

  6. -“Saul Williams: Amethyst Rock Star” (Sun Ra, vanguard, “corny”) / The Wire / Aug 2001

  7. -”Bjork: Vespertine” (language, small-time sensuality, the everyday) / The Wire / Aug 2001

  8. -“Paul Tingen: Miles Beyond” (electric Miles, Europeans, Kant) / The Wire / July 2001

  9. -“DJ/Rupture” (Harvard, 1+1=3, “party music”) / The Wire / July 2001

  10. -“Burnt Sugar/The Arkestra Chamber: Blood on the Leaf, Opus No. 1” (“utter Negrocity of it all,” “three-guitar cockfight”) / The Wire / June 2001

  11. -“Peter Shapiro: Rough Guide to Hip-Hop” (Just-Ice, Tank Girl, “hooptie”) / The Wire / May 2001

  12. -”Afrika Bambaataa: Looking for the Perfect Beat 1980-1985” (funk, funk, “the future”) / The Wire / May 2001

  13. -“Antibalas” (Brooklyn, “rice pudding,” reefer) / The Wire / April 2001

  14. -“Ajay Heble: Landing on the Wrong Note” (dissonance, theory, jazz) / The Wire / Feb 2001

  15. -“De La Soul: The Art of Storytelling” (missing diskettes, Freestyle Fellowship) / URB / Jan-Feb 2001