MY FRIEND NATE HOSTS SOL OF HIPHOP which runs 8-10 pm on Fridays. He is also a writer and an academic. Coincidence right? (Not really.) I am starting to collect these people in my life. (Writers, hip-hop heads, assorted subversives, outsiders and “creatives”—though I loathe that term.) Recently we had an interesting talk about blogs over dinner and drinks along with our mutual friend Carlo, with Nate asking me what do I generally read? And I replied “a lot of weird stuff,” which meant the overly stiff, heavy, academic matter that almost no one else in my circle of friends read (understandably so) and that I often feel odd just talking about. (Why I feel odd, is a direct result of what I am about to talk about here.)

For some reason talking about the The New York Times columnists’ blogs (yes, I read the blogs from that bunch on top of their articles) and The Economist, doesn’t exactly equate to “blogs” in popular parlance. (More TMZ, Nah Right, Hypebeast and The Hundreds is what they’re talking about.) Which is why I find it ironic that me Carlo and Nate and most of my friends come from the very same school of hip-hop thought, resting on the “authentic” side of the ever-present “real vs. fake” debate. A debate that seems to be part of the blog culture too, if you pay attention: a credible versus dubious debate. (Recently Vanity Fair pointed this out graphically.)

Blogs like The Huffington Post (affectionately known as ‘HuffPo’ by patrons) and Real Clear Politics stand in direct opposition to sites like Gawker/Gawker Media (which I read more than occasionally and I agree does have a news aspect to it) and other more “levity” focused blogs. While many can and would argue that blogs are not evoking a “science vs. religion” model—that science is not trying to replace religion and Crunk & Disorderly is certainly not trying to replace Daily Kos—I think the two philosophical brands of blog culture are at opposite ends and rarely, regularly find readers who cross-pollinate.

And so my question is with so little free-time in America, as we work longer and commute more (for less pay I should add in “real wage” terms), is there a direct negative effect on the culture and democracy as a result? If people aren’t reading the news (as we know it) and spend what little time they have on the “inane” informational resources (possibly to pacify themselves) as opposed to ones that matter (my opinion) isn’t modern life like hip-hop? And will the culture of democracy die, since it depends on an informed electorate?

As hip-hop became overrun with money-making aspirations, dumbed-down entertaining and rappers who had high profit margins (for their labels, not themselves)—the business of hip-hop took over and pushed the growing message (read in this extended metaphor:credible information outlet, news) out of the way. Because in the words of my permed out brother DJ Quik “if it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense.” And now news media seems to be dying. Not just print. News in general, with people my age. TMZ is more popular and more visited by people my age than the The New York Times. How do we run a democracy with this fact? Can we run a democracy with this fact?

Are we being sold a Lil’ Wayne? (A product with some redeemable content—just enough for us to defend it—that is slick, generally easily palatable, and high in entertainment value.) It is more a question than an argument for me. Because I happen to see the seeds of the democracy that the Internet touted in the beginning of the ’90s through the Obama campaign, where there is just enough of the young folk participating directly, to make me believe that there is something blossoming as a result of the last eight years and 9/11 and our stock in the world dropping—that is special.

Maybe we (youth) have come to see that the world is more serious and are responding? We do not have the draft that brought the Vietnam war close to home in the ’60s, but we do have high gas prices, rising tuition, debts, no real way to buy an affordable home without considerable assistance and a slipping American dream right in front of us. Right now we need as much “real” of everything we can get.