Just stumbled across this creative piece not too long ago. Conceptual artist Brian Rushton Phillips has made public a sequel to his recent series “The Conceptual Representation of Extortion in the Mind of Someone Canadian” ‹which is a comment upon Canada’s federal and Ontario provincial governments’ US$9.5 billion bailout package for General Motors Corp.

Entitled “The Conceptual Representation of Extortion in the Mind of One of 16,865,766 Canadians”, Brian Rushton Phillips’ project juxtaposes 96 of his personal checks with the GM brand and Rich Uncle Pennybags, a familiar metaphor for capitalist failure. Like Phillips’ previous work, the prevailing outcome is a satirical reminder to taxpayers and citizens of their corporate victimization.

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It may not need justification, but it’s become so obvious that I have to talk about it.

Artists love It’s Blitz!. They just want to get their hands around it, their fingers in it.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have succeeded in making even the alternative unorthodox with this latest album release. And track by track, the remixes pour out. Ears first perked with Animal Collective’s take on ‘Zero,’ a dark horse remixer if that race ever existed. Intriguing, worth the listen, but nothing to write home about.

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As I contemplated what mixtape to post up for this week’s Mixtape Mondays column, I figured that it’s time to show some love to Drake (after all, he’s been in the Heavy Rotation section for a good while now). His mixtapes have been out for about 2 years now, but these days, it seems like everyone is head over heels for the Canadian actor/rapper/singer. He’s been slowly but surely building a huge underground fan base.

Although he’s most famous for playing the handicapped Jimmy Brooks on HBO’s Degrassi, he has been doing big things in the hip-hop world. Many critics have been comparing his burgeoning career to the likes of Cleveland’s Kid Cudi and DC’s Wale. As far as his musical style goes, he is extremely versatile. When he sings, he does it softly and gently like Trey Songz or even R. Kelly. When he raps, he brings it hard like Lil’ Wayne. The difference is like night and day. He’s also a talented ghostwriter and has written for people like Jazz Cartier, Bishop Brigante, Lil Wayne, Keshia Chante and Dr. Dre. I definitely prefer to listen to his harder tracks such as “Comeback Season,” “City is Mine,” or “Barry Bonds Freestyle.” At the moment, Drake is working on his debut album, Thank Me Later, which is set to drop sometime around Christmas 2009.

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