● She may have papered over the hand-painted walls and set the curtains on fire, but a judge has determined that Courtney Love is up on her rent and not to be evicted. [Page Six]

Maya Angelou might have been pretty excited when rapper Common asked her to contribute a poem to his new album, The Dreamer, The Believer. "I've still got it," she probably boasted, excited that a new generation of poetry fans would hear her smooth, sultry voice spittin' some rhymes on a hot new track. But after hearing the "The Dreamer," the song on which her verses are featured, Angelou wasn't too happy with Common's liberal use of a certain racial epithet. 

Forgetting for a moment his debut this month on AMC’s post-Civil War drama Hell on Wheels, Chicago-born rapper, actor, and conservative party enemy du jour Common has plenty to celebrate. His memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense, topped the New York Times bestseller list not long after it hit shelves in mid-September, and this month he’ll release his eighth album, The Dreamer, The Believer.

Only Jeremy Scott could host drag queens and hip-hop heads under one roof and call it a party. Last night's banger for the designer's hillbilly-chic SS12 collection was unmissable, featuring a diverse mélange of fashion designers, celebrities, musicians, and – of course – NYC's finest club kids. The event took place at Catch, a new seafood restaurant and lounge from EMM Group and Chef Hung Huynh that's set to open in Meatpacking this fall. While actual food wasn't on the night's menu, a variety of delectable beats were served up by the Misshapes and impromptu performances by Common, Eric B, Jay-Z, and Mr. Illmatic himself, Nas, who was also celebrating a birthday. It was all a fantastic blur, but I did manage to take a few snaps before the security lockdown.

Last night, Jon Stewart took on Bill O’Reilly in what is hopefully the final chapter of this ongoing Common at the White House "controversy." To sum up O’Reilly’s argument: the President welcomed someone who wrote about a convicted murderer in an 11-year-old track and that just doesn't fly. To sum up Jon Stewart’s argument: The White House has hosted many musicians who have written tracks about convicted murderers, including Bono, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan—and that was totally cool.

Remember when Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, and their Fox News comrades got all worked up over the thought of rapper Common attending Michelle Obama’s Poetry Night? Well, Common did make it to the White House last night, he did perform a beautiful poem, and guess what? No former Presidents, police officers, kids, or conservative Republicans were harmed in the process. Imagine that.

Sarah Palin and Fox News have based their latest quarrel with the Obamas on the most absurd of topics—Michelle Obama’s White House “Poetry Night.” The First Lady’s decision to invite rapper Common to the semi-annual event really irritated Sarah Palin and her merry band of conservative followers, who displayed their knack for clever wordplay by calling him a “common thug.” Yesterday Fox News threw out the word “vile,” and last night Sean Hannity chimed in on the blindly narrow-minded debate.

● Feeding fire to the engine, the LAPD had Tyler, the Creator in cuffs yesterday for reasons we can't even begin to imagine. [RapRadar] ● "Oh lovely, White House," Sarah Palin mocked when she heard that the rapper Common ("as in, common thug, I suppose") had been invited to the White House for a poetry reading. Needless to say, Common's never felt tougher. [NBC] ● You're going to have to put in work if you want to be the first to hear Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Virtual work. On FarmVille. Three strawberry trees for that next single? Don't mind if I do! [DailyGaga]

Big ups to Stanton Social, which celebrated a birthday as five years young last night. DJ Reach spun the tunes, and various luminaries swanned about the space (like Sofia Vergara and Common, as snapped over on Yazm).

When we think about the evolution of hip hop, we're guessing one of the last things that comes to mind is a blinking cursor. This new collaboration from Microsoft and hip-hopper Common has us trying them both on for size -- literally. This spring sees the debut of Softwear by Microsoft, a vivid line of T-shirts emblazoned with the typical iconography of early operating systems and other visual nods to the origin of the computer age, including, of course, an actual picture of the Don himself, Bill Gates as a squeeky, geeky, trouble-making adolescent.