This story — about two Chicago rappers who like to sing praises for The Economist — put a smile on my face, so I had to share.

"He reads the Economist so he can get the gist, its solid competence gives him confidence that his intelligence is correct."

Click to listen to The Economist Rap

[H/T FP Passport, The Guardian, et al.]

Robert Rauschenberg, one of America’s most prominent and prolific visual artists of the post-war period, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Much is sure to be written in the coming days and weeks about the work, meaning the artistic work, of Rauschenberg—and that attention is much deserved. But there will likely be much less said of his political work, which, though perhaps less transformational than his art, is certainly worthy of some praise, as well.

As the New York Times obituary mentions in passing, Robert Rauschenberg was not only an artist, but also a patron of the arts, an advocate for arts education, and a longtime supporter of (mostly) Democrats and Democratic causes.

In fact, the notice of his death during this political season had me curiously looking about the web for whom Rauschenberg had supported this cycle, and here I found a small surprise. Though Rauschenberg had supported many individuals (along with some PACs) in years past—mostly in his adopted home states of Florida and New York—in 2008, the artist had put his money behind only one candidate: Democrat Scott Kleeb of Nebraska.

And it wasn’t just a little money. Rauschenberg gave the legal maximum to Kleeb—for both the primary and the general.

Scott Kleeb is seeking the Senate seat now held by Republican Chuck Hagel, who is not running for reelection, and yesterday, only handful of hours after Rauschenberg’s death, Kleeb took the first big step, winning the Nebraska Democratic primary over a much older and wealthier (RR’s money notwithstanding) opponent. Kleeb will face former Nebraska Governor and GW Bush Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in November.

My congratulations go out to Scott Kleeb and his wife Jane Fleming Kleeb—a very exciting victory—but the question of the night for me referenced Rauschenberg. How was it that the eighty-something East Coast artist came to max out for a thirty-something Plains State rancher and college professor?

No video, but you shouldn't need it. Deck is a genius.

Is music undergoing democratization, or anarchization? I've argued before that P2P sites are a populist movement in the music industry, to the dismay of the major music labels. But I was taken to task recently by a friend who compares the use of P2P against recording labels to the use of technological weapons by the Bush administration. I like the analogy of the music industry to a government, but is BitTorrent really comparable to a Smart Bomb? Are P2P sites really akin to the Bush/Cheney White House?

A reader and friend responded to a previous post of mine about the “democratization” of the recording industry. In particular he objected to technology advocates who support P2P sites' attack on music labels. You can read his full comments, and my original article. Here are some excerpts that I find representative:

"Technology provided new consumer outlets, but never provided Label services like some would inappropriately claim. I knew the technology sites would one day have to pay to become "retail stores," just as Napster was advocating at the time. But they were never trying to become "Record Labels." Labels are banks who give artists money to record, tour, buy equipment, advertise, publicize, sell, distribute, hire attorneys, accountants, assistants and more, all of which are still needed, even with Internet "retail stores" like iTunes…"

"The notion of "democratization" as used by technologists toward music seems as absurd as when used by the Bush regime, and I find them similar. We live in a world, for better or worse, driven by "capitalization" which technologists seem hellbent to overthrow when practiced by the music industry. Yet, if the technologists do not 'capitalize" their own companies and VC funding dries up, there is no "democratizing" technologists employed there any longer.

"I personally find P2P users bombing the legal music industry to be no different than Bush bombing with technology in illegal wars and using illegal wiretaps that overthrow even more rights guaranteed by the American Constitution. Those same "democratizing" technologists provide the wiretaps, provide the smart bombs, and agree with right-wing politics most of the time, as suggested in an article about Facebook published by The Guardian in which the author refers to those technologists as "neo-conservative libertarians." Maybe you are one too? The last 8-years of all this bombing by Bush and his technology friends may have done more to overthrow Democratic Rights than to provide the "democratization" of anything."

–David Bean, Digital Music Professional

As anyone who ever befriended a struggling artist, I’m sympathetic to the plight of musicians. I’m sympathetic with those trying to get recording contracts; and I’m sympathetic to those who have recording contracts and find their careers going nowhere.

But I have less sympathy for major record labels. First, I believe generally they are in the business of generating “stars” rather than promoting artists. To this end, they spend a huge amount of capital on “artist development” and then maximize their investments by focusing on highly-profitable performers while allowing the bulk of their portfolio to go unsupported. The result is homogenization and a dead-end career for many very talented artists.

But mostly, I believe major labels have become so entrenched in their money-making system that they are unable to accept and take advantage of the changing technology landscape to benefit their clients. Make no mistake, even if albums disappeared and the price of a song fell to 25¢, there are still profitable business models for artists and labels – but rather than adopt to these models, major labels find it easier to abuse their customers and their clients in order to squeeze out every penny. In this, major labels are serving shareholders rather than artists or consumers.

Featuring Preemo.

On topic with our afternoon open thread, here's a selection from one of my favorites — Tom Waits.

I've never been able to decide if I like this song…but he gets credit for an extremely strange video.

What's on your dial?

What's on your jukebox?