I spent the day on the road. 12+ hours of driving through the midwest trying to reach home. I left around 9 AM and finally pulled in for the night at 11 at a Motel 6 that, even by the standards of the workers, was ridiculously crowded. My first job was to settle in and relax. I flipped through HBO to Picasso Baby, Jay-Z’s strange attempt to merge rap with modern performance art. It felt pretentious–especially when he connected with a woman who I recognized as an actual performance artist. I later learned there were several artists and actors and art dealers and rappers and musicians in attendance who all seemed to feel that this moment he created had intense meaning. I suppose these learned individuals would be better judges than I in the general sense, but to ask me as an individual, this was cool and exciting, but it did not take rap to any higher level of art form–no matter if Wale and Fab 5 Freddy are there to bridge the history and culture of the medium or not.