Last night, Bwog enjoyed the literary and cuisinary culture of the Latino-Caribbean with the volunteers and novice poets of Voices UnBroken.

Bwog arrived to the Voices UnBroken Poetry Slam a little late last night, but there were still plenty of maduros to be eaten and plenty of amateur poets to be heard. The reading drew a relatively small group of socially inclined and literary minded students to pay tribute to the work of the Voices Unbroken volunteers, whose mission is to bring creative writing workshops to prisons, residential treatment facilities, and various other transitional settings in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx. Despite its small size, the event lasted a solid three hours and filled the auditorium on the fifth floor of Lerner with the smells of what could be called pan Latino-Caribbean cuisine and the sounds of what it is to be young and of color in New York.

Although the poetry of isolation and ethnography can often air on pedestrian side of things, last night the poets expressed a remarkable sense of honesty and cogency. The student poets embraced the open-mic and unabashedly read, rapped and sung work that ranged from highly crafted mediations to recent observations to spur of the moment improvisations.

It seemed all too auspicious that moments after Bwog arrived that one Stephan Vincenzo, infamously of CC '12, stepped up to the mic to read his lengthy Bildungsroman styled poem, "Where I am and Where I would be." And indeed his poetry is as epic as his persona.

Akon has two new singles out and three still on the charts. Bwog music critic Bryan Mochizuki asks what, exactly, he's giving us.

I wrote a much longer piece for this week on Akon, Einstein, populism, and "Smack That." But it topped out at like 1,754 words, which I think is around 1,752 more than anyone else cares about the topic. Here's the gist: if you're passing up on Akon because you can't stand "Smack That" or "I Wanna Fuck You," understand that's not really Akon. It's an imbecilic, over-sexed distillation that's entirely contrary to his true nature. The only similarity is that both Akon and Bizarro are catchy as fuck—fine for filling MTV troughs, but there's not much to them besides the catchiness.

Take a pretty archetypal radio jam — Beyonce's "Irreplacable." Hate it or love it, you know (or you think you know) a hell of a lot about Beyonce after just three-and-a-half minutes. "Smack That"? Not really happening. I can't know for sure, but I'm 99% positive that Akon did this on purpose, especially considering the agency that comes with owning his label and being his own go-to songwriter and producer. He knew collaborations with Snoop and Eminem would guarantee him mad sales. And he knew if he made these songs clownish, atypical, and bereft enough, not only would they not reflect badly on the rest of the album, they'd make his typical swagger look extraordinary...

"Don't Matter" - Akon

So now his third single is "Don't Matter," a goofily saccharine "us against the world" ditty that tingles with old-school vibe. On the heels of "I Wanna Fuck You," it sounds like the most sincere shit ever written. The juxtaposition takes it from an "aww" track to "that's fucking ADORABLE and I don't even use that word!" And consequently, the super chintzy video doesn't seem chintzy whatsoever. Akon? More like A-MERLIN son! I'm making bad jokes and it seems entirely ok because I'm listening to "Don't Matter." This song is not that good. But it is.

In which Bwog Music Critic Bryan Mochizuki reads the Grammy Noms, witholds a Corinne Bailey Rae tirade, and gets down to business with this week's new MP3's.

The Grammy nominees were announced yesterday, and they're worse than usual. Like a lot of people, I watch the Grammys because I want to believe in them — I know that 80 percent of the nominees shouldn't be there, but that there's usually one who should, and who would probably win against any pool. For example, "What You Know" is in the Best Solo Rap category against two mediocre radio smashes: one obscure Mos Def song, and Lupe's "Kick, Push," a very good song, but without a chance against"What You Know" or any of the other big singles out of the South this year. So I'll watch, but only with the hope that "What You Know" wins and the Grammys somehow find a way to select the best rap single of the year. Also, in this case it'll be great because when "What You Know" DOES win and they play DJ Toomp's still-mind-numbing beat, they're gonna have a shot of Yung Joc going ape-shit in the crowd.

On that note...

"I Got Money" — Young Jeezy ft. T.I. (Produced by DJ Toomp)

This beat doesn't hit with the same immediacy as "What You Know," but Toomp still goes jugular-hunting with the guitar on the chorus. The Inspiration's shaping up as the underdog best rap album of the fourth quarter. Jeezy's still not Atlanta's Walt Whitman, nor does he try to be — he sticks to whip-appeal beats and short verses to showcase his strengths (presence, charisma, rhyming things with "Louis"). So while every other big release of the season seems to be overthinking itself (see: Kingdom Come), everything that's leaked off The Inspiration is pure entertainment. And what about that T.I.? Is he not leading the stats of the National Rap League? Best selling album of the year — check. Dopest cross-over EVER — check. Plus he's going all Norah Jones '03 on the awards shows and he's decided to start coming hard again after a temporary reprieve on King. I just submitted this photo of him for the Time Person of the Year billboard, I suggest you do the same. It's a movement people.