Cali

Grading XXL's Past 5 "Freshman 10" Classes

Apparently there are still rappers who want to make the XXL Freshman 10 class this year. Take Riff Raff, for example. He wants it so badly that he has been following everyone on Twitter who votes for him in the contest. The magazine began running its annual list of noteworthy, "undiscovered" rappe ... More >>

Openings & Closings: Downtown Derring-Do

Restaurants and bars are betting on downtown in increasing numbers, as more business owners perform daring feats like -- gasp! -- moving into vacant spaces on Main Street or taking over failed locations with zest and zeal. Now that I've gotten all of the Errol Flynn language out of my system for th ... More >>

Health Department Roundup: Cali, Tiny Boxwood's and a Short Film

Terry McCoy's blog on HPD apparently targeting Oh My Gogi (Terry really loves saying "Oh My Gogi") has raised questions about the city's motivations for going after food trucks, as well as law enforcement's role in health inspections. Meanwhile, regular old health inspectors are still doing the job ... More >>

Reader's Poll: The Best 40 Albums of 1992

As we close out our 1992 week here on Rocks Off -- part nostalgia trip, part making you all feel old -- we look at the best albums of that year. The rock-music world was still on a Nirvana high, and the fruits of Cali hip-hop were ripening, with widely praised and consumed albums from Dr. Dre and Ic ... More >>

Health Department Roundup: Vietnamese Edition, Plus Feast and Peeing Outside

Quite a few Vietnamese places in this week's reports, from Midtown to the west side. And at the end of this post we address peeing outside, so stick around. Pho Saigon (2808 Milam) got hit with five violations last week: dirty non-food-contact surfaces; dirty floors; raw food and cooked food not se ... More >>

MUY CALIENTE SUMMER EDITION

Tops Drop: A Larger-Than-Life Fat Tuesday Playlist

​Happy Fat Tuesday, y'all! Rocks Off mentioned in a previous post, about rappers and Houston restaurants, that some of the best artists are "Big" and "Fat": Big Pokey, Fat Pat, Big Moe, etc. Every day is Fat Tuesday for these rappers. They're all about overindulgence and that's why we love th ... More >>

Bastards, Thugs & Hoggs: This Week In Houston Rap Videos

Ah, rappers and music videos. Some are vehicles for self-promotion, others are tools used to promote a message, a gaggle of asses or some good ol' wholesome debauchery. In the case of the Houston rap class, music videos are always eye opening glimpses into the future, either telling what a talent co ... More >>

Marcus Manchild Reporting via Text from Magic City

Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour was at Warehouse Live November 11 (read the re ... More >>

Marcus Manchild Loves Scottsdale

Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcu ... More >>

Saturday Night: Dom Kennedy At Warehouse Live

Photos by Charne Graham​Dom Kennedy, Doughbeezy Warehouse Live Studio September 10, 2011 Saturday night, Aftermath was engulfed in clouds of marijuana smoke as we entered Warehouse Live for Dom Kennedy's show, part of the Cali native's "Scoremore Texas Tour" that had already stopped in Dallas ... More >>

Muhammadali Seeking Funds For Ride To Awesome Fest

​Muhammadali needs a magic tour bus... not just to pick up school children and drive them around "inside the human body," they're also trying to get to a DIY punk festival called Awesome Fest 5 in San Diego. There will be a big benefit show with free food to raise money for the guys' prospect ... More >>

CMJ Spotlight Shines On Houston Rapper Nosaprise

Mark C. Austin​Here's a cool bit of news for your holiday enjoyment. Today CMJ singles out Houston rapper Nosaprise in its "Sonicbids Spotlight" segment, and takes the first steps toward discovering there's a lot more to Space City hip-hop these days than just chopped and screwed. "His rhymes ... More >>

Rap-A-Lot's Prince Wants To Reunite Cash Money Family

​If you thought Rap-a-Lot had a solid outing last year with Pimp C's posthumous debut and Bun B's perfect Source score for Trill OG, wait till you see what J. Prince has lined up for 2011. The Houston label's Commander-in-Chief spoke to TheSource.com about his plans for the year. You can exp ... More >>

Wu-Tang Clan's Best Pop-Culture References

​Rocks Off can't rightfully remember the last time the whole Wu-Tang Clan was ever in Houston, if they ever have been. For some reason, we keep wanting to think they came once with Rage Against The Machine around 1997. In 2007, they came to Dallas on the Rock The Bells summer tour with Nas, Ta ... More >>

First Look at J'Ouvert

The restaurant also happens to have wicked awesome to-go containers. It's the little things...​J'Ouvert is a huge holiday in the eastern Caribbean, celebrated from Trinidad to the Dominican Republic, that precedes Carnival each year. It's also a brand-new Caribbean restaurant that just opened ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Banh Mi

Cali.​Blame it on the Nom Nom kids from Great Food Truck Race--all those recaps left me with a serious craving for banh mi, the sandwich I basically subsisted on in college. When I discovered that the friend who had been DVRing the show for me had never tried a banh mi, I knew what this week' ... More >>

Top 5 Spots to Stay Away From: UH Area

Ferran.​A lot of great places to eat have sprung up around UH campus lately. This article, however, is not about those places. Below is our top 5 spots to stay away from. Bon appetit!

Death Of A Ladies' Man: R.I.P., Deano

Photo courtesy Houston ZooDeano, 26, with Cali, 5: That's what I love about these high school seals, man. I get older, they stay the same age. ​ The Animal God giveth, and the Animal God taketh away.Not long after the birth of the World's Cutest Giraffe, an old soul has left the Houston Zoo: Deano ... More >>

The Distillery: Rancid's Let the Dominoes Fall

What it do, Rancid? What's crackin', formerly crusty-punk rude boys? Been a long time since we last hang, bros. When Dan Zeller lent me Let's Go during senior year of high school, I knew y'all were onto something special: three-billy-goats-gruff sung scrabbling punk anthems and routs with just a hin ... More >>

$7 at Cali Sandwich

Photos by Blake WhitakerWhere: Cali Sandwich What $7 gets you: Delicious Vietnamese sandwiches, and then some. For seven bucks, you can purchase some greasy burger-joint fare, which is similar to methadone in its ability to induce sickly listlessness and regret. Or, if you're near Midtown, you can ... More >>

Montrose Does Its Part To Protest California's Prop 8 Decision

Photo by Melanie PangAfter waiting in anticipation to hold either a party or a protest, the LGBT community can take another collective exasperated sigh. It's back to the grind after Tuesday's California Supreme Court ruled to uphold Proposition 8, but also maintain the validity of approximately 18, ... More >>

The Terminator

Web exclusive!

Longhorns Party On, Burying Their Sorrows

Reverberations: Phenomenauts and Black Angels

Houston Takes a Stand in the Frozen Yogurt Wars

$13 at Cali Sandwich & Fast Food

$13 at Cali Sandwich & Fast Food

“Another Shocking Psychological Thriller,” “Sunburn,” “Light Always in Plural”

Three high-concept shows at the Houston Center for Photography engage both the mind and eye

California Guitar Trio

Musican threesome go bohemian

Ten Great Rap Albums from 2006

Re: Wanted: Stoopid Christmas Fotos

Grave Matters

The MFAH gives life to a provocative exhibition of Latin American art

Fit or Fat, Houston?

Letters to the Editor

Letters

Goy Gevalt

In Her Shoes is pretty but useless, a Prada with a broken heel

Best Art Gallery

Best Magazine on Texas Surfing

Playbill

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Capsule Reviews

A picture of our opinions on local exhibitions

Rappin' Up Gifts

A lucky seven underground hip-hop releases to slip into Christmas stockings this year

Pennywise

From the Ashes (Epitaph)

Blowin' Smoke

Biker Boyz is furious, but it ain't fast, which is a real drag

Best Cheap Sandwich

Cali Sandwich

Desperately Seeking Sandwiches

With Givral's temporarily out of commission, Houstonians scramble to get their banh mi thit fix

News of the Weird

Cali Sandwiches

Big hugs, tasty poor boys and durian -- if you dare

Big Sandy and his Boys