Vast Aire baits me, and I respond

Genealogy is not his specialty

It's not often I hear from the musicians I write about, but it does happen. The Long Winters' John Roderick told me I was right on the money with this piece, while Aesop Rock told me this was whack. (In truth, he was probably right.)

Sometimes when I write reviews for highly-read sites like Pitchfork, I expect the artist to comment on his blog. I checked Mike Doughty's site for days after this rather mean review went up, but he never said anything about it publicly as far as I know.

Still, I wasn't expecting rapper Vast Aire to blog about this review of his latest solo album, which I gave an 8.0. That's the best rating I've ever given anyone on Pfork, and damn near "Best New Music" status. But he doesn't exactly sound psyched on this entry from his MySpace blog. In fact, it's hard to figure out exactly what he's saying.

PITCHFORK 8.0????

Yeah, hell yeah! Right?

wow...they never give good reviews....at one time i was not sure if they liked anything!!!! i know one thing DUECES WILD is so good, they could not front on this record.

Not sure why you're shuffling between all caps and all-lowercase, but at least you're consistently using at least three punctuation marks after each sentence.

after bringing up 90 other records i made...he still had to bring up THIS IS A GREAT RECORD!

Technically you've only got one Cannibal Ox album and one other full-length, but you're right that I did have to bring up that it's a great record. That's my job, after all, to review things.

AND HE HAD TO GIVE ME A 8.0!

Well, no, technically, I could have given you a 7.9 or 4.8 or the square root of e or something.

i make the music i love, im not thinking about some low life writter that sucks off my old producer! people act like i have no control over my music???

I don't know any low life writters who have given El-P fellatio, but I certainly applaud your artistic decision not to think about those people while you're making music.

what i love is everyday i get people telling how much i changed there lives with all my music not just cold vein!

Understandable.

this is my solo art, so why keep bringing up an lp that was made by 3 people 8 years ago???? why do that? [dickheads] judge each project for what it brings!

You're starting to lose me here.

if you want to disrespect my lp "look mom..." then your only disrespecting everybody i worked with on that lp...your dising MF DOOM, MADLIB, CANNIBAL OX, BOOT CAMP CLICK, BRAND NUBIAN ETC...

I guess, maybe, in an off-handed, indirect way I may have dised those artists, but mostly I was dising you. Or rather, a former version of you who does not exist anymore according to some philosophical schools of thought.

take each project as it comes. in others words...dont match blade runner with eyes wide shut and then get mad at kubrick??????

Why would I get mad at Stanley Kubrick for Blade Runner when it was directed by Ridley Scott?

...get over it! if im so bad..... dont listen to me! my real fans know whats up!

Do you mean bad as in bad, or bad as in good in the Michael Jackson sense? If you're trying to tell me I shouldn't listen to "Man in the Mirror" anymore, forget it!!!!!