Coming soon, the music of Poland. On this Monday morning, however, as I complete the unfinished business of the saidthegramophone.com host-move, I feel like talking about hip-hop. From the United States.

Pitbull ft. Lil John - "Toma". I'm not sure why I'm so moved by Lil' John's fat crunk beats. I find something so alienating in those moon-man metal beachball bounces, the inhumanity of it. And yet here I am just as I was with Usher's "Yeah", not just moved but propelled, sent spinning into Toma's hot landscape. It's a party beat with the typical misogyny, Lil John yelling like a glorious moron, Toma explaining that "with these women I'm O.J., I get away with murder". The half-rasped spanish chorus is fierce and compelling, this thick vocal embrace - the track lifts you and then puts you down, it slaps your back so hard you're shoved around, and all along that little bronze electric guitar line, the real scale of your mischief. [buy M.I.A.M.I.]

The next track comes to me entirely via Rap Nerd, an awesome (and fairly new) mp3blog, where there's been an extended series called "Beatlemania," showcasing hip-hop tracks with Beatles samples. Yeah yeah, gimmicks, blah blah blah, but I like that kind of stuff. Besides, as with everything at Rap Nerd, the writer is knowledgeable, articulate, and picks the wheat from the chaff.

Nas ft. Pitbull - "Imagine". In many ways the total opposite of "Toma", "Imagine" is build around that most twentieth-century of samples - John Lennon's tune of the same name. For me, however, there's much more to this track than the cribbing of a good melody -- as a serious, focused response to 9/11, it's one of the best I've heard. I'm pretty skeptical with songs that aim to speak directly on the Twin Towers, some singer/rapper's composed monologue on the tragedy and our new future. But Nas and Pitbull more than justify this track's existence - it's earnest, it's got pretty wise things to say, and more than that, the rhymes are great. Nothing's been sacrificed in either man's flow, for the sake of a "political" rap. Instead it's just sad and strongly felt. Pitbull seems on the verge of tears. Weepy as it may be, emo has hell, I'm compelled by their passion, their strength of feeling. There's real grace in the poetry. "We breath the same air / we bleed the same blood / imagine all people treated equal / imagine one love."

If anyone finds anything broken on the new s.t.g pages (I know the search pages look kind of weird), please let me know in an email.