Endorsement: Aziz Ansari's popularity

ATG aligns politically with a hot trend.

Aziz Ansari is a huge hipster. His stand up has name-checked shows and music for years (I remember M.I.A. and DJ Shadow prominently featured in bits when I saw him in 2005) and he's shared vinyl memories with Spin and Pitchfork.

Dude is funny and catch any of his recent work -- the bloated ego running local government on "Parks and Rec," scene-stealing performances in "Observe and Report" and "Funny People" -- Ansari has to be the most interesting young comic working today. I mean right? Demitri Martin's tween, cutesy bit got dry fast; Ansari is just a good old-fashioned shit talker.

Next month, Ansari and TV On the Radio's Dave Sitek release a hip-hop mixtape. With respects to the competent Lonely Island guys, it's poised to become the best (intentionally funny) comedy rap album ever on advance buzz alone. At very least, the best produced (intentionally funny) comedy rap album ever.

In these mp3s publicists have cleared Eskay to stream, the street-cred carrying comic waxes about the time he hung out with Kanye West and West insisted on playing 808s & Heartbreak to soundtrack his own party. Funny anecdote he's also shared on the couch with Letterman. Ansari also masterfully encapsulates how funny West's capslocked writing can be.

Toyed with uploading and posting these to ATG, but our webmaster Jeremy is still working on installing a trendy new flash player, so whatever, just listen on another site. We understand. Also cop that Ansari; his CD/DVD combo, Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening, is in stores today. Or torrent that Ansari. Again, we understand.

UPDATE:

Check the video.