See also: Eleven Ways To Celebrate Nigel Tufnel Day

Early this year, we told you about the movement to make November 11, 2011 officially Nigel Tufnel Day.

Tufnel, of course, is a protagonist of This is Spinal Tap, beloved for his amp that goes to 11, making it, of course, "one louder."

And while we have fully supported this cause -- which includes a dedicated tumblr page and nearly 20,000 members in a Facebook group -- there's one problem.

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Hip-hop fanatic Justin Bieber

See also: What Will Be The Most Popular Music-Related Halloween Costumes This Year? And How Can They Be Made Slutty?

Rivaling his teenie fans' feelings for him, Justin Bieber has a big case of hip-hop fever. Despite being known for unabashedly poppy tunes, the Biebs takes every opportunity to break into rap verse and hob-nob with hip-hop stars. Perhaps most bizarrely, they unequivocally love him back.

Maybe it has something to do with Bieber's affiliation with Usher, but top rap talents are scrambling to work with him. Kanye West and Drake are scheduled to appear on his next album, which should come out early next year. Bieber's Christmas album, Under The Mistletoe, meanwhile, even has a frickin' collaboration with Busta Rhymes, of all people. But it doesn't stop there. Here are the floppy-fringed pop cherub's most notable rap moments.

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Kai Flanders

By Kai Flanders

If you want to be Tyler, The Creator for Halloween this year -- and who doesn't? -- just head over to Urban Outfitters.

The Westwood and Santa Monica locations, in any case, feature ready-to-wear outfits almost certainly directly inspired by the Odd Future leader.

In fact, this summer some of their main display tables in the men's sections had the get-up: outlandishly colorful Hawaiian t-shirts, cut-off shorts -- cargo, denim, paisley -- and high socks.

The display has since been taken down and moved to the sales rack, but you can still get the look -- including the knockoff Vans, located right near the shirts. (The selection at the Westwood store is especially good.) All that's missing is the Supreme cap.  

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Rags Lauren at Stadium Red Studios

Earlier this week we blew your minds with our post about rappers cats, which included the bombshell that the so-called Snoop "Dogg" actually owns a pair of kittens.

But of even greater controversy was our reporting on hip-hop superproducer Just Blaze's cat, called Rags Lauren. After our story went live, he tweeted that some of the information contained within was incorrect. The idea of leaving even a single stone unturned in our quest for the truth about hip-hop cats left a bitter taste in our mouths, so we immediately got him on the phone for the full story.

Is Rags Lauren even your cat?
We call him the studio cat. He's at the studio [Stadium Red Studios in NYC] all the time.

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Just Blaze's cat Rags Lauren

9:23 PDT Update: Just Blaze rescued his cat, near death, in a thunderstorm! But, the cat doesn't live with him, but rather at his studio! We've got a picture as proof at the bottom of this post.

9:07 PDT Update: Just Blaze's cat's Twitter account is a fraud. "I didn't make that twitter account!! We are still trying to figure out who did! Lol," he tells us over Twitter. We will let you know more details as this important story develops.

Last week we brought you pictures of jazz players with presidents. It was pretty awesome, particularly Duke Ellington and Richard Nixon. But now, something even better: Pictures of rappers' cats!

Fact is, while canines are a common subject (and metaphor) in hip-hop songs, felines don't appear in nearly enough stanzas. That's why we're psyched for the new solo album from Evidence, called Cats And Dogs, out today. Even better, in real life the Dilated Peoples MC is a proud cat owner.

Here, then, are four stories from celebrated hip-hop artists about their cats and -- much more importantly -- pictures of some of said cats. As a bonus, we also offer you a Snoop revelation that will change everything you thought you knew about the Dogg.

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By Dan Hyman

See also: Odd Future's Syd and Matt Martian Form "The Internet." Hear Their First Song Here

Early Friday morning Tyler, The Creator took to Twitter to inform his followers that -- despite his crew's 'no outsiders' policy -- Odd Future's new label under the Sony/Red Distribution umbrella had signed a rapper. The first artist off of Odd Future Records? Someone called Young Nigga.

To which the entire Internet replied: Who?

The official statement on Odd Future's site broke it down. "While our original intent was not to sign anyone to the label we simply could not pass up the opportunity to sign somebody this talented. Young Nigga embodies the DIY ethic and persona of Odd Future along with a commercial appeal that transcends demographics."

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By Chaz Kangas

September 11th brought irrevocable change to our society, and the music industry was no exception. It was also a very strange time; both rap group The Coup and metal band Dream Theater released album covers with the World Trade Center in flames. Radio DJs across the country, meanwhile, were forced to consider if it was appropriate to play "Bootylicious."

The day of the attacks was actually a quarterly "Super Tuesday," an important day for the music industry when numerous big name releases were unleashed simultaneously. Hip-hop titan Jay-Z launched The Blueprint -- considered by many to be the best rap album of the aughts -- while Bob Dylan returned to form with "Love and Theft", the 2001 Pazz and Jop album of the year winner, and one of the most decisive in history. Then there was metal icon Slayer's exceptionally heavy -- but unfortunately titled -- God Hates Us All and Mariah Carey's first release under her $100 million Virgin contract, the Glitter soundtrack.

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Kevin Scanlon

Re:Play LA is our concert series with local indie acts covering classic albums. The final installment -- tonight, Aug. 17 at the Hard Rock Café on Hollywood Boulevard -- will feature genre-unclassifiable duo J*DaVeY. But unlike the other artists in the series, J*DaVeY weren't immediately sure what they wanted to cover. They considered the Stooges' self-titled debut, the Beatles' Revolver and Talking Heads' Brian Eno-produced classic Remain in Light. Seeing that they've already covered "Smells Like Teen Spirit," they toyed with the idea of performing Nirvana's Nevermind.

Makes sense that the group's members -- singer-songwriter Jack Davey and producer Brook D'Leau (by the way, Jack's the woman and Brook's the man) -- would have a hard time picking a style, considering they can play so many of them. They're L.A.'s freshest, funkiest fusionists, and they've been coloring outside the lines and defying being "genre-cized" since forming in 1999. They can play hip-hop, new wave, rock, pop, electro, R&B and ... that's about all we have space for here.

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Alex Sowinski on drums, in a pig mask

Who says jazz is dead? Nobody, if Canadian trio BADBADNOTGOOD has anything to do with it.

Back in April, we happened upon the group's eight-minute re-imagining of two songs from Tyler, the Creator's Bastard and (our personal favorite) Gucci Mane's "Lemonade." Sometimes the cream, not the terrible videos we immediately swipe our internet history of, really does rise to the top: "The Odd Future Sessions Pt. 1" now has over 150,000 views on YouTube.

In late June, the trio released a three-song medley of Tyler's solo debut, Goblin. Yesterday, they Tweeted a link to their version of our very own extraordinaire experimental producer Flying Lotus' song "Camel."

We're down with any jazz group whose drummer uses a 40-ounce as an instrument and whose videos include a random dude grooving in a lion costume while being watched by a glowing jack-o-lantern. Oh, and did we mention they're really, really good?

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So icy

"Uh-huh, you know what it is- my nose and ass? They're both big."

And that's just the first line.

We hoped thought Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" was all burned out, but Kat Graham's parody, "Black and Jewish," debuted on Funny or (with a Star of David substituted for the "o," natch) Die today.

The video finds the girls cruising around Fairfax's Hebrew district in a minivan and pourin' out a little Manischewitz for the OG JCs.

Funny? Or Die?

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