On this historic day of heart-warming (if meaningless) declarations of support for gay marriage, let's just point out one more influential figure who's declared support, maybe: Method Man.

Neneh Cherry broke through with the rapping/singing hybrid "Buffalo Stance," a dance song without much low end that turned interjections into hooks ("Gigolo, sucka!") and included an amazingly melodramatic spoken-word breakdown ("The wind in my face, the sound in my ears / Water from my eyes, and you on my mind..."). That song is positively straightforward next to this, a sideways take on Madvillain's "Accordion." Cherry's sung/spoken/rapped/screeched vocals make MF Doom sound quaint in comparison, as they dip in and between the constraints of bars and loop back to zero in (seemingly randomly) on a few of Doom's lines to invent a refrain. The mounting jazz cacophony behind only adds to the chaos. This may not be one that yields repeat listens (who knows how it'll come off when Neneh Cherry & the Thing's collaborative full-length, The Cherry Thing arrives next month), but it's something to experience at least once, this avant answer to the renewed pop cultural interest of women in hip-hop. Neneh Cherry hasn't released an album in 16 years, and she couldn't have chosen a better time to come back.

Chief Keef, the 16-year-old unsigned rapper from Chicago, is still on house arrest at his Grandma's, but now he has a Kanye West remix to his name, because technology has had something of an effect on musical collaborations. Instead of recording in the studio together, Kanye sent some producers from his new label, G.O.O.D. music, to Keef's home in Chicago, where they set up a laptop and a microphone. Keef typed out a verse onto his iPhone on the spot, then yelled into a microphone for a few minutes, and this banger of a street remix was born.

"I'm a real nigga
I don't give a fuck
Put a towel down
It'll sop it up
It's just a little blood
It won't hurt
So what if it gets on my T-shirt?"

Beatboxing pioneer/rapper-warbler Biz Markie appeared on an episode of Bio.'s Celebrity House Hunting last night. Desiring to move from his suburban place to Washington, D.C., Biz emphasized that his main objective was to create a "museum" for all of his stuff. There's so much of it. Audio tapes and VHS tapes and sneakers and records and, most surprisingly, Barbies. Biz calls himself an "avid" collector of the dolls with no trace of irony or shame. 2012 is an exciting time for masculinity.

Did you see that insane report from a questionable insurance agency on a fishy study suggesting that marijuana users are actually "safe" drivers? This contradicts older studies/common sense suggesting they're a hazard or at least no more dangerous than your average sober driver. I don't know what to believe, but I do know that I now feel less guilt about posting a song whose entire premise involves smoking and driving (it's a theme on the Wiz Khalifa mixtape from which it's taken, Taylor Allderdice). It's a dubiously scientific miracle. Enjoy the Jermaine Dupri-inspired 808 glide.

Compulsive sneerer/rapper Nicki Minaj was profiled on last night's episode of Nightline. It was not very illuminating, but getting to hear Juju Chang say things like, "She sees herself as a rapper: hardcore," "edgy, adult raps," "her rhythms and rhymes are feminine, yet fierce" and "bossed up," was hilarious. A reel of her square-talkin' narration is above.

We wrote about Nicki Minaj last week, but I don't think I properly salivated over this little monster, which had its video debut over the weekend. Minaj's laid-back (though varied) delivery underscores the innate greatness she's claiming and the track is ferocious despite being a deceptively calm design of ricocheting sonar sounds and growling sub-bass. It's all testament to the virtue of not trying to hard, and as such, it's the first Nicki-led song that I've found compulsively listenable. Even if this is the only good thing to come out of Roman's Revenge, the otherwise underwhelming project will have been worth it.

A civil conversation about the new Nicki Minaj album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, between a Nicki skeptic (Rich Juzwiak) and a Nicki stan (Emma Carmichael).

Before he was arrested last December, Chief Keef, a 16-year-old hip-hop star, was almost completely unknown outside of Chicago's South Side. He had a song called "Bang," which had more than 400,000 views on YouTube, and he had a mixtape, and a dedicated following amongst Chicago high school students. But he was not a rapper who was known outside of the local high schools. His Facebook profile indicated that he worked as a sales rep for "Selling Dope." He lived with his grandmother.

In the early morning hours of March 9, 1997, Biggie Smalls was shot and killed while sitting in a car at a stoplight in Los Angeles. Despite a profusion of theories, his murder has never been officially solved. That's fucked up.

Phonetically-challenged rodent Kreayshawn, the logical outcome of allowing irony-worshiping white internet users to determine what's "hot" in hip hop, has announced in GQ Magazine that she is bisexual. This is the most shocking revelation of bisexuality by a young female rapper since the last one a few weeks ago.

Azealia Banks is the smiley young crush object of certain internet types due in no small part to lyrics like, "Kick it with ya bitch that come from Parisian/ She know where I get mine from, end of season/ Now she wanna lick my plum in the evening/ And fit that tongue-tongue d-deep in/ I guess that cunt gettin eaten." She's also harboring a deep, dark secret, revealed for the first time officially in John Ortved's New York Times profile of her today:

"The World Is Yours," Nas.

An American hero by the name of Rich Jones has obtained and published the entire 94-page FBI file of Ol' Dirty Bastard, the Wu-Tang Brooklynnnn Zuhh member who died of a wildness overdose in 2004. Some select highlights are below. [Click to enlarge the images]

We've explained time and time again that you should put down the camera and not make that rap video. Apparently some clarification is in order: This goes for web startups, too. In fact, web startups should avoid music videos of any sort.

Columbia Journalism School kids exploring "The Elements of Style" in hip hop form? Don't make that rap video.

GZA, the man who becomes the head when Wu-Tang Clan forms like Voltron, will be giving a guest lecture at Harvard next month. Better than a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar, amirite? This "Ivy League lecture as album promo tour trend" is the coolest thing to happen to the Ivy League since the Dartmouth meth lab.

We truly are living in a new era of sexual equality. Guanabee points us to this VLADTV interview with Fat Joe, who at least began his career as a no-joke hardcore New York gangster rapper. In response to a question about whether he think he's ever done a song with a gay rapper, he responds "Yes," and shrugs off the whole thing: "Niggas is gay. There's millions of gay people in the world. Girls too... I'm a fan of 'Yo, I'm gay. The fuck.' Like, 2011 you gotta hide that you're gay? Like, you know what I'm saying, like, be real, like 'Yo I'm gay, what the fuck.' If you gay you gay. Like that's your preference, you know? Fuck it if the people don't like it."

Heavy D, the overweight lover, Mr. Big Stuff, head of Heavy D & The Boyz, and a dude pretty much beloved by everyone everywhere, has died at the age of 44, according to TMZ and other outlets. He reportedly collapsed at home in Beverly Hills this afternoon, was rushed to the hospital, and died a short time after.