The Morning Mix: Taylor Swift Soon To Be On Your Coffee Table As Well As Your iPod

Morning folks! Did you enjoy day two of American Idol like us? (Like it matters—you watched it, and that’s all that Fox cares about.) More on that later, but first let’s start the day catching up on the music mix.

Did You Hear?

:: Taylor Swift has reportedly written a 350-page novel and is also looking into penning her memoirs. Sorry, Taylor, I’ma let you finish, but Charles Dickens wrote one of the best books of all time. [Ocean Up]

:: Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne are the new acne-free faces of ProActiv, which apparently uses Photoshop as an ingrediant. [Just Jared]

:: Whisper House, Dunkan Sheik’s second musical after the Tony-winning Spring Awakening, opened last night in San Diego. And it will probably get to Broadway before Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark does. [Spinner]

:: Guy Ritchie has started his own music label, Punchbowl Recordings. Madonna’s laughing at you all the way from Live Nation, dude. [Paste]

:: The style evolution of Rihanna: from clothed to not-clothed. [Celebuzz]

Behind the jump: did one particular rapper accurately predict the death of hip-hop?

VIDEO REWIND OF THE DAY: On January 14, 2007, Nas had the number one album in the country with Hip Hop is Dead. Guess his psychic capabilities weren’t up to scratch, because three years later, hip hop is far from deceased. Jay-Z is arguably bigger than ever, and Lil Wayne is dropping tracks on us left and right, even while preparing to go to prison. Meanwhile, a fresh crop of hip hop artists, like Drake, Kid Cudi and Wale, pop up everyday.

The New Yorker pointed out that hip hop hasn’t died, exactly, but “has relinquished the controls and splintered into a variety of forms. The top spot is not a particularly safe perch, and every vital genre eventually finds shelter lower down, with an organic audience, or moves horizontally into combination with other, sturdier forms.” True enough, but let’s call it a reincarnation into a higher form rather than a demise, shall we?

Here’s the video for the title track from Hip Hop Is Dead, which features will.i.am, who’s a lot—and we mean a lot—more present in the music scene than Nas nowadays (or anyone else for that matter).

Have a great day, everybody!