Today’s kids probably think rappers have always been purveyors of commercial goods. 50 Cent has Vitamin Water. Diddy and Burger King are partners. Common probably even folds every shirt at The Gap. However, there was a time when rappers weren’t viable salespeople because their music wasn’t reaching a broad segment of the population. In 1990, a Bay Area entertainer who went by the moniker MC Hammer helped set rap on track to be a cultural…

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can’t afford to go out there. And there’s no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist’s faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,…

The most recent exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, organized with help from the National Museum of African Art, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is as much a chronicle of history as it is a document for how art records history. Trying to pigeonhole this exhibition into a one category is difficult. It is more than just the fact the exhibition displays more than 260…

On Tuesday I described the hellish experience of traveling on the crowded Metro in Caracas, Venezuela. Two days later and rich with insight into transit systems from the world beyond Washington, I’ve found the following in my commuting through Caracas: The Mad Dash Exists Outside Washington: You know that blind mad dash we all tend to make when we transfer in a multi-level station? That desperate run from the Red Line to the Orange Line…

In the continuing “ER”-ification of the “West Wing”, there is a lot of fuss over almost nothing this past week. In typical Wellsian fashion … actually, you know what, DCist needs a better name for the effect John Wells has on a show. Kind of like “jumping the shark”, but better. Send in your suggestions via the comments section, please! Anyway, an Iranian fighter pilot shoots down a British passenger jet, mistakenly thinking it’s a…

Here’s a quick sampling of what’s going on around town this weekend. Stay dry! TONIGHT: Music. Local bands you probably haven’t heard of: The Routineers, Two If By Sea, People Who Know People 9:30 @ Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW Movie. Monty Python and the Holy Grail Midnight @ Visions Cinema Bistro (repeats Saturday at midnight) Help Visions kick the keg. $10. SATURDAY: Book Sale Starts 9 a.m. @ Radisson Barcelo Hotel, 2121 P…