Alert Fox News: Rappers are now promoting a lifestyle that includes masa and habanero-fortified salsa. While tamales may not be as viscerally Red State-terrifying as, say, hos and crack, there is a certain unseemly, louche street association hanging in a greasy haze over authentic tacos.

Enter Chingo Bling, MC of the tamales and tunes movement, who recently got the star-treatment in the Gray Lady for his quirky, joyous take on what he sees as Latin American immigrants’ sweet-tasting, innocuous ticket to survival: hard work, home cooking and cornmeal (not to mention chorizo, scrambled eggs and tortillas).

As he told the Times, “I’m Mexican-American. Don’t pay any attention to the stereotypes. Our real hustle is selling tamales, our white powder is masa. I just try to represent that.”

Check out Señor Bling’s music video/faux docudrama of a hardcore, street tamales deal, “Walk Like Cleto.”

Teen Daze will release a new EP, A Silent Planet, out August 9 via his new home on Waaga Records. “Surface” is the first single from the EP, inspired by both the towering Mount Cheam near the producer’s home in British Columbia, Canada, and C.S. Lewis’ novel “Out of the Silent Planet.”

Teen Daze stopped by our studio and told us about one particularly memorable night spent out in the wilds of western Canada.

What is American food? Apple pie? Fried chicken? Ramp salad? Squirrel casserole? All of the above?

The definition of American fare has been passionately tussled over since Columbus first sailed the ocean blue, and since then, outsiders have often had a more interesting and delicious interpretation of our “trademark” products than we have.

(It took Italians in Italy to invent pasta sauce and the Chinese to throw peanuts into a wok).

That delicious pattern appears to be continuing: Another outsider has stepped up to home plate to (hopefully) reveal the magical possibilities lying dormant in our slumbering cuisine.

James Beard award-winning José Andrés teamed up with the National Archives to open up a six-month pop up restaurant dubbed the America Eats Tavern to fully embrace and ponder the conundrum.

Born in Spain, Andrés’ goal is to get Americans to think–before we eat–about why we’re putting ketchup on our French fries, the sociopolitical implications of mac n’ cheese, and whether or not Big Brother is responsible for our cravings and desires.

Check out Andrés’ interview below, and get ready to dig into America Eats when it opens on July 4 at 405 8th Street NW in D.C. If this man single-handedly ushered in the small plates movement, surely he can tell us what mac ‘n cheese signifies.

Outside Lands has added Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Ellie Goulding, tUnE-YarDs and more to the already-bananas lineup, including The Black Keys, Erykah Badu, Deadmau5, Muse, Phish, Arcade Fire, Charles Bradley, MGMT, Girl Talk, Toro Y Moi, Grouplove and more.

Held August 12-14 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the fourth annual Outside Lands also features 60+ local restaurants and wineries.

Three-day tickets are still available on the fest’s website, where you’ll also find a map of the area, directions to the park and information on local hotels.

Girl Talk told us about his dream festival, which includes both Juelz Santana and Fleetwood Mac. What else would you expect?

Australian singer Lenka will tour the U.S. in June alongside Brooklyn trio Elizabeth & the Catapult, starting with New York City’s Bowery Ballroom on June 10. Full route on her website, with more dates to be announced.

The singer released Two, the follow-up to her 2008 debut, back in April. Producers David Kosten (Bat for Lashes), Guy Sigsworth (Björk, Seal) and Eg White (Adele) also contributed to the album.

Lenka performs on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on June 8, and in the meantime, check out the singer on her transition from acting to music.

Ignore the calendar–you know it’s officially summer when festivals and fairs start sprouting up through the cracks of New York sidewalks. Among the dozens of quirky fairs last weekend, two reined supreme: the Bust Craftacular and Food Fair, and the weekly Brooklyn Flea’s Smorgasburg Food Market.

The Bust Craftacular was a raucous affair at 82 Mercer Street in SoHo, its seventh annual event. Equal parts Grandma-on-acid and militant political schtick, this much-beloved New York indie event offered up its usual fair trade/organic/vegan-optional beauty booty, clothing, jewelry and snacks.

Notables included Dolce Nonna Italian organic antipasti ($6–$8), Liddabit Sweets locally-sourced candy ($2–$8) and pop-ins and signings from Babycakes’ Erin McKenna and Prune chef (and author of the fantastic memoir Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef), Gabrielle Hamilton.

The Smorgasburg food market brought in the usual Greenmarket/chef all-stars (People’s Pops, SCRATCHBread, Brooklyn Grange, Ronnybrook, Txikito, The Meat Hook), exploding with caffeinated, vaguely elitist foodie energy. Flea newbies like Queen’s Dahn Tu and King’s Crumb spooned out their banh trang tron and homemade biscuits with seasonal jams.

The Bust is over, but the Smorgasburg is just getting started. To get hungry for next week’s feast, listen to the boys of The Meat Hook explain how their special blend of sausage will help you in the sack.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will release their third full-length, HYSTERICAL, September 20 in the U.S. and September 12 everywhere else. Produced by John Congleton (Chairlift, Wye Oak, The Roots), this is their first album since 2007′s Some Loud Thunder.

The band plays select dates on the West coast and in Europe throughout August and September, including stops at End of the Road Festival and the Berlin Festival. Full route on their website.

For a preview of the new album, check the video they’ve put together.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Hysterical from CYHSY on Vimeo.