DJ Mehdi was a French / Tunisian hip-hop producer who died last year. I didn’t know anything about him until he died and my friend Noosh started IMing me about the tragedy sent me the above mix. It’s just a long sequence of vignettes and demos that Mehdi came up with in homage to J Dilla (who Noosh also introduced to me). It’s wonderful. The only thing wrong with is is that I wish some of the vignettes were longer.

I often think about Sturgeon’s Law, the axiom that about 90% of what people produce (in any medium) is crap. It’s a way to get people who like to think in terms of “laws” to undertand that quality is rare. A few years ago I complained that Sturgeon’s Law seemed to hold true “as the Internet increases the size of the world’s commentariat.” Chris quickly responded, pointing out that it was worth it just to bring on that other 10%.

He was right, and I’ve never forgotten it, which is why I’m going to stop referring to Sturgeon’s Law and refer to the inverse instead which is Radcliff’s Law: 10% of everything is awesome.

All this is to explain that I love this mix, and that listening to it today got me thinking about globalization (because I think about globalization sometimes, ok?). As an amateur economist, it’s clear to me how globalization is bound to decrease many people’s material quality of life while increasing others’ (e.g. customer service representatives in the U.S. earn lower wages while their Indian counterparts earn higher). As an amateur wonk, that makes me ambivalent about globalization because bad things happen when large swaths of the population can’t earn living wages.

But as an amateur human, it’s things like this music that make me want as much globalization as possible. Magic happens when a French / Tunisian guy tries to mimic the work of a guy from Detroit. Humans’ ability to recognize patterns, mimic, and synthesize give us the power to create so much beauty. I can’t wait to see what we come up with as globalization (and the Internet) advances and even more people share their creations with one another – at least 10% of it will be awesome!

dbreunig:

20 years ago today.

Swoon.

dduussddiinn:

I love this album.  I’ve been a fan of Spencer Krug since I first heard “You Are A Runner…” back in like ‘05.  So excited that he’s using my work on his new album cover.

vastandgrand:

“House Shape” by Mount Eerie from Clear Moon