Welcome to the weekly Newsroom Poll, where we will give you a sneak peek into the lives and minds of some of the correspondents, writers, editors and producers here at MTVNews.com. Every week, they'll answer a poll question that will reveal some of what we talk about behind the scenes here in the newsroom. Enjoy!

Nothing gets us excited like a good list, so when MTV News' James Montgomery made a list of the best albums of 2009 so far, it sparked a ton of debate amongst the staffers here. We also had long talks about whether or not Drake's mixtape really is the greatest we've heard so far this year. All this back-and-forth led to this week's question: What's the best song of the first half of 2009?

Joel Hanek
Even though the mixtape this song debuted on Kanye's blog last summer, I'll have to go with Kid Cudi's "Day N' Nite." Sure, I may be biased because he's a fellow Clevelander, but that song has a long shelf life (probably due to the countless remixes that are put out). Everything he does is catchy, from Kid Cudi's style (which is something that straddles singing and melodic rapping) to the track itself (from the major scale synths to sampling bands like RATATAT and Band of Horses). I don't think a song without a proper album has been this successful since Lisa Loeb's "Stay." (Lisa Loeb / Kid Cudi comparison = Success!)
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By Akshay Bhansali

Curiosity brought me to Le Poisson Rouge in New York City last night for the release of N.A.S.A.'s first album, The Spirit of Apollo. Come to think of it, it brought MTV News correspondent Kim Stolz there as well. Why? Well, the debut album from N.A.S.A. (stands for North America, South America) — made up of DJ Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon — features Chuck D, Spank Rock, M.I.A., Lykke Li, David Byrne, DJ AM, Santogold, Kanye West, Kool Keith, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, Method Man, Sizzla and the Cool Kids ... and yes, the list goes on and on. Not bad for a first record from a yet-unheard-of recording pair.

Based solely on the guest roster of The Spirit of Apollo, one would think the music gods commanded "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" and this record was conjured up. But really, as the duo say on their MySpace page: "The Spirit of Apollo is an ongoing creative collaboration between two lifelong music aficionados, Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon, and their friends, friends of friends and musical heroes."
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A Tribe Called Quest, the Pharcyde, De La Soul. The date is ... last Saturday?!

The 1994 — excuse me, 2008 — Rock the Bells Tour is well under way, and I was there at the Los Angeles installment to catch up with a truly epic bill of hip-hop greats, both old and new. This year’s lineup is no joke, combining the aforementioned, fully reunited legends with contemporary, sure-to-be-hall-of-famers like Nas and Mos Def, and of course several up and coming “kids" (Kids in the Hall and Cool Kids, to be exact) to form a monumental trifecta of hip-hop’s past, present and future. Laugh it up, you lucky New Yorkers, but the rest of the country will be just fine without Jay-Z.

Hip-hop artists are genuinely the hardest workers in showbiz, as every artist we spoke with had all sorts of projects in the works. Expect more from Murs, Rakim, De La Soul, Method Man, Ghostface and Raekwon (but don’t let all the other reunions get your hopes up for catching a glimpse of Wu-Tang).

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