Just like Web 2.0 start-ups have been spending much of 2009 trying to figure out how to turn users and community into revenues, so too have the last few years’ crop of Internet celebrities been trying to figure out how to make a business out of those over-used buzz words “their personal brands.” Think of all the online fame that’s been created in the last few years amid this hype of the Web democratizing celebrity. Now try to name how many of them crossed over to mainstream popularity.

Referencing J Smooth’s much discussed theory of the difference between a conversation about a racist act and someone who is racist , I give you the following excerpts from Vanity Fair correspondent Eric Spitznagel’s interview with rap producer powerhouse Warren G (excerpts grabbed from Gawker): During the 90s, you were rapping about “Money, cars, bitches, and drugs.” What have you cut back on because of the recession? The cars? The bitches? The drugs? All that been cut out of my lifestyle.