The new head of the National Endowment for the Arts says that he'd like to explore government funding for hip hop culture, including rap and graffiti. Whoa, whoa. Does he know about the hoes?

In one way, Marc Ecko's a role model: He started with style and a dream and made it to the top of pop fashion. In a more accurate way, Marc Ecko is a walking "What Not to Do" guide.

Urb magazine, the hip hop-ish lifestyle mag, is reportedly folding its print edition until further notice and going all-digital. Hip hop magazines remain an endangered species. [via Sage Francis, Byron Crawford]

Legendary hip hop DJ Mr. Magic reportedly died of a heart attack this morning. He was the man who brought rap music to the radio, and some of the most famous moments in hip hop wouldn't have happened without him.

Is there anything Barack Obama can't do? Not according to rapper Common, who credits the President with sending hip-hop off into a more cuddly, less bling-centric direction. And now peace reigns for all.

Rap music: Will it ever stop inspiring America's youth to commit multiple homicides? Not likely, if the sad case of Richard "Syko Sam" McCroskey is any indication. Because he's charged with killing four people.

Noooooooo: Last week we heard the heartwarming story of how old school rapper Roxanne Shante got her evil record company to pay more than $200K for her to get a Ph.D. Now Slate says the whole story's a fake.

The internet killed hip hop regionalism, explains R.M. Schneiderman. Which made the shit fun!

Last November, Mary Anderson attended a Method Man concert at Houston's House of Blues. Later, she approached Method Man, whom Ms. Anderson was a fan of, for an autograph. He then pulled out a gun and opened fire on her.

Complex puts together a very impressive compendium of of 48 separate dead hip hop magazines. Vibe and Mass Appeal were just the latest. I didn't even notice Elemental was gone! R.I.P., One Nut! [Complex]

Vibe Magazine—one of the biggest music magazines in America—is folding. The entire music magazine landscape is full of the dead and dying. [UPDATED below.]

Tru Life, a middling rapper signed to Jay-Z's label who loved to beef, has been arrested and charged with murder for the stabbing death of a man in Manhattan after a fight at a club.

Death Row Records sold; new Tupac album on the way! Seriously.

Previously: Jay-Z was frustrated by Slate's Jody Rosen's analysis of his new single D.O.A. Is Jay just getting old? Or is Jody being thoughtless? Negropedia Brown investigated, and here's the solution to yesterday's Media Mystery!

How poor are people, these days? So poor that rappers can't afford to wear half-million-dollar chains any more! That's the thesis of a story which is surely false (nobody could ever really afford to wear a half-million-dollar chain), but it raises the question: what is the post-bling thing?