Ben Westhoff

In Search of Tim Dog, the Rapper Turned Con Artist Who Probably Faked His Own Death

noisey.vice.com — On February 14th, 2013, the legendary rapper Tim Dog died from a seizure that arose because of complications with diabetes. Famous for having released "Fuck Compton," the song that is widely credited with helping jumpstart the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop beef that dominated hip-hop for much of the 1990's, Tim Dog-born Timothy Blair-was 46 years old.

Announcing the 2013 AAN Awards Finalists

altweeklies.com — Every year AAN honors the reporters, artists, columnists, photographers, web producers, editorial assistants, creative directors, and editors of the alternative news industry who stubbornly refuse to do anything but kick ass, week after week, regardless of what the conventional narrative says.

Dr. Dre on His USC Academy: "This Is the Biggest Thing I've Ever Been a Part Of"

blogs.laweekly.com — Steve Cohn/University of Southern California As our sister blog The Informer reported yesterday, Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine and boss of all bosses Dr. Dre pooled together $70 million they had lying around to establish the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation.

Jerry Hopkins: Jim Morrison's Biographer Finds a Strange Kind of Bliss in Bangkok

laweekly.com — The brazen hedonism of Bangkok agrees with Jerry Hopkins. The co-author of No One Here Gets Out Alive, the best-selling portrait of iconic Doors frontman Jim Morrison, Hopkins has been described as "the dean of pop biographers." He laughingly refers to himself as a free-spirited "bottom feeder" with good timing.