Facebook, R.I.P.

A.J. Jacobs, in Esquire magazine, has once again published his year end obituaries. Among the sad deaths he notes for 2007:

The Street Cred of Facebook, at 4

The street cred of Facebook, a popular social-networking site, died Wednesday in St. Louis. It was four years old. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2004, Facebook gained a respectable level of hipness by catering exclusively to college students for several years. The average Facebook page included photos of awkward hugging at the bowling-alley arcade and quotes from Anchorman. It turned seriously ill in 2006 when it became open to anyone from corporate America, and finally expired when Josh Kimberling, a successful optometrist in St. Louis, created a page that included photos of his wife’s dressage horse and a quote from George Will.

What’s Gangsta? (Part Two)

First Diddy, now Nas has weighed in on what “gangsta” means now that the pioneers of gangsta rap are pushing 40 (or, in the case of Dr. Dre, are 40-something).

According to Nas, “These days, to be gangster is to grow, to survive, to inspire, to change the world.” –Esquire, January 2007.