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Getting Off
Attorney Tyler Flood says he wins 80 percent of his clients' DWI trials, even if they were 100 percent drunk as a skunk.
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City of Coffee
Is Houston about to become America's coffee capital?
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Houston's Choice for Mayor
Black Guy, Rich White Guy, Lesbian or Hispanic Republican
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Looking for a Bull Market
Killen's Steakhouse in suburban Pearland is probably best during boom times.
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Burgers and Hash
Lola, a modern diner in the Heights is dishing up some top-notch Texas short-order cooking.
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BBQ Buffet
Korea Garden Grille offers a stellar selection of barbecue items in unlimited quantities — and new and interesting ways to eat them.
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Getting Off
Attorney Tyler Flood says he wins 80 percent of his clients' DWI trials, even if they were 100 percent drunk as a skunk.
-
Looking for a Bull Market
Killen's Steakhouse in suburban Pearland is probably best during boom times.
-
Burgers and Hash
Lola, a modern diner in the Heights is dishing up some top-notch Texas short-order cooking.
-
Down the Rabbit Hole
Lose yourself discovering Michael Bise's work at Moody Gallery.
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National Features >
City PagesYou don't need to read Sarah Palin's book to hear the ravings of a mad woman. By Matt SnydersMiami New TimesThe rise and fall of a chubby sex-cult leader. By Natalie O'NeillRiverfront TimesTom was a hot-tempered cross-dresser with a garage full of guns--and then he became Rachel. By Nicholas Phillips
Common: Universal Mind Control
Published on January 06, 2009 at 12:24pm
Despite his status as a happy, respected old-timer, Common has to rap about something, and his eighth album, Universal Mind Control, is a hodgepodge effort. It contains would-be club bangers full of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo such as the title track ("Charismatic / Asiatic / I hustle for mathematics") and would-be seduction tracks, like "Sex 4 Suga" [sic], more likely to cause snickers than arousal. Having established a place in the hip-hop pantheon with albums like Resurrection and Like Water for Chocolate, the South Side Chicago native has been palling around with models and celebrities like Kanye West and Pharrell Williams for some time now. But at least he didn't get the models to rap and produce on this CD, which comes off sounding as uninspired and labor-intensive as a Neptunes joint. "Punch Drunk Love" has a grating chorus from Kanye and Common lines like "We exchange like students / 'Cause I study a broad" and "I'm the doctor / I can hold it till my patients is up." But "Announcement" is even worse, with Pharrell spitting an unintelligible couplet involving Blow Pops, fellatio and Botox. "This is hip hop baby," Common sings. No, it's not. It's the sound of a man who needs to take up golf.
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