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Five Spot: Five Reasons Not to Mess With Trae
August 15, 2008Aftermath: Bun B and Orgone at Warehouse Live
August 22, 2008Aftermath: Z-Ro Listening Party For Crack
August 29, 2008Slim Thug Breaks a Four-Year Dry Spell on Sophomore LP Boss of All Bosses
April 2, 2009Tonight: Lil Keke Listening Party/CD Release at Venue
Two years in the making, original Screwed Up Clik member Lil Keke's - whose 1997 hit "South Side" remains a milestone in Houston rap - new LP Loved by Few, Hated by Many is out today on Swishahouse/TF, with distribution by Universal Motown; guests include Slim Thug, Paul Wall and Birdman (who appears on first single "I'm a G"). Giant magazine is hosting a CD release/listening party 10 p.m. tonight at Venue, 723 Main. RSVP here or pick up free tickets at Keke's 4 p.m. in-store appearance this a
November 18, 2008Los Magnificos: Like a Live H-Town Mixtape
Los Magnificos 2008 bounces into Reliant Center Sunday. Bun B Whip, ride, slab, some bit of street slang Rocks Off won't even hear for another eight months - cars are as essential to hip-hop as crossfaders and lyrics that rhyme. But no city's rappers place their wheels on a higher pedestal than Houston, so it's no surprise that Sunday's Los Magnificos auto show, sponsored by 97.9 the Boxx, features as many local rap luminaries as gleaming Cadillacs hopping all over the place. Get a load of
November 21, 2008Artist of the Week: Coline
Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. How else to say this than with bold, forthright honesty: we thoroughly enjoy campy R&B. It's shameful, we know. But while Z-Ro, Trae and The Last Dragon dominates our references, sweet R&B calls forth our sincer
January 21, 2009Trae's Son Lil Jared Joins tha Family Business
This iced-out lil' playa is Lil Jared, 8-year-old son of Houston rapper and Assholes by Nature ringleader Trae tha Truth. By his own admission, Jared has been "wreckin' the mic ever since I was two," and even has his own adorable little Assholes by Nature chain. Although he's already appeared in several of his dad's videos, Lil Jared makes his official mic debut in "Ballin' Smashin'," which debuted yesterday on worldstarhiphop.com. He can spit pretty well - you know, for an 8-year-old -
February 19, 2009Five Spot: 25 Lighters for Fat Pat
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. February 3 marked the 11th anniversary of the legendary Screwed Up Click MC Fat Pat's passing. (Soooo not brilliant.) As such, we've been on a big Mr. P-A-T kick. We're not sure if it's just the euphoria of reminiscing or not, but we're currently remembering him as being phenomenal. His voice
February 20, 2009Five Spot: Pimp C Was Pretty Good
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. So we were reading this Bun B interview the other day, and among discussions of how the final UGK album is progressing (very well, thanks) Bun spoke briefly on how Pimp C's lyrical work on "My Angel" was his favorite. The song, if you've never heard it, is an ode to the greatness of Pimp's mother. It's del
March 13, 2009Five Spot: Slim Thug is Back
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Photo by thebestbradley Numerous emails from PR people over the last two or so months have informed us that but a scant four years after his first official solo album dropped, Slim Thug is prepping for the release of his sophomore effort. While the inappropriately titled debut left many disappointed (Already Pla
March 20, 2009Young Mammals Chow Down on First LP Carrots
Dynamically Yours
February 26, 2009UGK: UGK 4 Life
April 16, 2009A New Class of Rappers Finally Bucked Houston's Syrupy Stereotype This Year
It Is What It Is
December 25, 2008T.I.: Paper Trail
November 27, 2008Los Magnificos Car Show
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November 20, 2008Z-Ro: Crack
November 6, 2008Cory Mo: Still Payin' Due'z Vol. III
October 9, 2008SPC Weekend Plumbs the Roots of Houston Rap
September 11, 2008Five Spot: Chamillionaire, Consistent as Oatmeal
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.For some reason, there was this kid that we went to middle school with who, despite only having said about four words to him ever, we never forgot. He was a burly, hard-looking kid named Detective Torres. Actually, his name was Jesse Torres, but everyone called him Detective To
May 1, 2009Local Album of the Week: Paul Wall's Fast Life
Paul Wall Fast Life www.grillsbypaulwall.comDid high gas prices kill off Paul Wall? Not really - that's just a coincidence. Rather, the H-Town artist known for his candy cars and diamond grills has suffered from being too closely identified with a regional sound that is no longer fashionable. Just as Chingy stopped selling records after the St. Louis "right hurrrr" movement fell off, Wall has been hurt because the chopped and screwed sound has lost popularity. It's too bad, because his latest al
May 14, 2009Ciara: Fantasy Ride
May 21, 2009Five Spot: DJ Vlad Co-signs Kyle Hubbard
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, albeit sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. You can five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.Back in November of last year, we co-signed the dopeness of rapper Kyle Hubbard, a self-admitted "dorky, four-eyed white kid," proclaiming him the Rocks Off Artist of the Week. Hubbard, as you can see in the above picture, doesn't exactly have the prototypical "rapper
May 22, 2009Five Spot: Flying the Mddl Fngz
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.Mddl Fngz is a hard hitting (and totally texter-friendly) rap group that formed in 2002, in part as an offshoot of UGK when Pimp C was incarcerated. They're lyrically talented, gruff in their presentation, and utterly convincing in the Look How Mean I Am In My Black Shirt And H
May 29, 2009Five Spot: Remembering "Five Star General" Big Hawk
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.MTV's Cribs has to be one of this generation's finest cultural achievements. For anyone who's never seen it - and thus, indirectly shown far more independence of character than we possess - the show consists of a camera crew showing up at some famous person's home and following
June 12, 2009Turning the Screw: Slim Thug Associates, Willie D, Jay-Z vs. Auto-Tune, 50 Cent, Paul Wall, Big Hawk, Jazzy Jeff, Trae & Z-Ro and More
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Associates" Wire To Wire Poor, poor Willie D. We were excited the other day when we read this thing about how vinyl sales had ballooned up to nearly 3 million(!) in 2009 - ever since Chris Gray's vinyl feature ran in 2007, we've been stoked about the increasing possibility of being able to build up a
June 15, 2009Slide Show: Bun B and Friends at Warehouse Live
Marco Torres A who's who of rap talent from both Houston (Devin the Dude, Lil' Flip, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire) and out of town (Lupe Fiasco, the Cool Kids) turned up at Warehouse Live Saturday, June 20, to help the one and only Bun B "Swang on 'Em" for a couple of hours. Photographer Marco Torres was in the thick of the action. UGK for life! Click here for the slideshow.
June 22, 2009Turning the Screw: Archie Lee & Coota Bang, R.I.P. Michael, Lil Jon, Jae Millz, Drake, 50, Tupac, Chris Brown and More
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Down For My Block," Archie Lee and Coota Bang Wire To Wire Michael passed. Three thoughts: 1. Michael was one of the greatest, most innovative musicians of all time, loved immensely by (it seemed) the entire world for the better part of his youth. So we're very curious to see how much the molestation
June 29, 2009Five Spot: Lil Keke's Don't Mess With Texas
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Last week we wrote about ESG's Ocean of Funk, which spiraled into an email conversation with several different regular emailers/local rappers (and Matt Sonzala) about the 20 greatest Houston rap albums of all time. That's the "recent bit of news" that we're going to use to seg
July 3, 2009Five Spot: Houston R&B Collaboration King Billy Cook
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.This weekend, Bun B and Mya are shooting the video for "Show Me Something," the electro-wispy "Upgrade You"-ish single from her forthcoming album. We used to be a fan of Mya back in the late '90s. We listened to "Movin' On" for a good three hours straight when it first came out
July 17, 2009Inquiring Minds: Fresh Houston Rappers the Nice Guys
Photos by Jamaal Ellis A few years back, Houston was the city the rap world was talking about. Artists like Paul Wall, Slim Thug and Mike Jones showed the entire nation (and beyond) what H-town had been up to for years. Those days are gone now, though, and the city is left wondering where local musicians are planning to take us next. No one has taken the reins as of yet, but after sitting down with the Nice Guys, the local group may be next at bat. The Nice Guys - MC Yves Saint, producers Free a
July 17, 2009Turning the Screw: All-Houston Edition with GT Garza, Trae Day, Trouble Sum, Jay'Ton, Paul Wall, Z-Ro, Letoya vs. Slim Thug, Coast, Z-Ro, Juan Gotti and More
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: GT Garza, "52 Pick Up" (We've listened to a bunch of GT's stuff, but this remains to be the rawest thing we have ever heard from him. He is in full beast mode.) Wire To Wire Likely because Trae Day is this week, we're feeling especially Houston-y. Thus, all of the items in this edition of Turning the S
July 20, 2009Mike Jones! Who?
July 23, 2009It's Trae Day... and Everybody's Celebratin'
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the City of Houston's proclamation of "Trae Day," the chairman and CEO of Houston's Assholes by Nature is throwing a giant block party from 3-9 p.m. in the parking lot of TSU Stadium at Cleburne and Tierwester in the Third Ward (or, appropriately enough, the Trey). Scheduled to appear are U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee - try to contain your surprise - City Councilmembers Peter Brown and Ron Green, and a Lil Wayne album's worth of rappers including Bun B,
July 22, 2009Flashing Back to the Heyday of DJ Screw
Ed. Note: To go along with this week's feature on Mike Jones, Mike Giglio takes a look at the origins of Houston rap's once and future calling card, "screw music." Photos by Mike GiglioScrew: The Next Generation (l-r): Randy, Big Bubb, Bird Wearing corn rows, a wife beater and green courdoroys, and holding a bottle of windex, Bird washes the glass doors at the Missouri City's massive Kingdom Builders church. "Your hair looks nice today," he says to a woman in a dress and high heels, as he h
July 23, 2009Aftermath: Trae Day (Pre-Shooting) at TSU Stadium
[Note: These are the notes from Trae Day prior to that whole pesky "six people getting shot" thing. For more info on that, check out our reports here and here.]Photos by Henry Rizoh/ Click here for a slideshow Aftermath and hip-hop blogger Rizoh from The Rap Up arrived nearly two hours after Trae Day was supposed to start, and we're still too early. There are maybe 200 people here. On the bright side, at least it's really hot. There are two ambulances parked near the entrance of the parkin
July 23, 2009Catfish Reef: The Rise of Swishahouse
[Note: this is the second in a series on the origins of Houston rap, to go along with this week's feature on wayward star Mike Jones.]Mike GiglioAs a local hip-hop writer and radio host, Matt Sonzala (also a former Houston Press Music Listings Editor) did what he could to promote Houston rap to a larger audience. Within the city, though, that part was always easy. Thanks to the success of acts such as the Geto Boys and Lil' Troy, who also had their turns in the national spotlight, and the DJ
July 29, 2009The H-Town Countdown: Setting the Table
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. For the next six months, we'll be counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com.For the last few weeks we have pored over countless Houston rap albums, attempting to narrow down the mass into the 25 best. And if that weren't enough, we then ranked them, top to bottom. It was some stressful shit. Imagine going to the beac
July 30, 2009Five Spot: J-Dawg, Z-Ro's Lyrical Match (Seriously)
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.You know, prior to the three seconds of gunshots that unwound all the good will, Trae Day was actually a solid event. As expected, there were the usual concert-day shenanigans that kept us entertained before Trae, Bun, Ross, and Shawty Lo (finally) took the stage - seriously
July 31, 2009Ask a Rapper: Grammy-Winning Mixtape Messiah Chamillionaire
The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place -lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good- so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email introducingliston@gmail.com. This Week's Rapper: Chamillionaire This Week's Subject(s): The currency rate of a Chamillion; Houston artists aiming for fans outside of Houston; the age-old question: did he ghostwrite for Paul
August 18, 2009A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"
The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, no one area musician sounded more like Southeast Texas. That he spent his life moving all over the area, on both sides of the Sabine, only serves as evidence in favor of one of our geographical hypothe
August 18, 2009Mr. Boomtown, On Directing Slim Thug And Mike Jones
Most people in the world of music videos may not recognize the name Nahala Johnson, but lately, they've recognized his nom de film: Mr. Boomtown. The Port Arthur native (he now splits his time between Houston and Dallas) is a nominee for the BET Hip Hop Awards' Director of the Year. The show will be held October 10th in Atlanta.He's nominated for his work on two videos that really couldn't be any more different from each other -- Slim Thug's "I Run," with its breathtaking night-time
October 7, 2009Chatting With "Mr. Boomtown" About Directing Mike Jones, Slim Thug and More
Most people in the world of music videos may not recognize the name Nahala Johnson, but lately, they've recognized his nom de film: Mr. Boomtown. The Port Arthur native (he now splits his time between Houston and Dallas) is a nominee for the BET Hip Hop Awards' Director of the Year. The show will be held October 10th in Atlanta.He's nominated for his work on two videos that really couldn't be any more different from each other -- Slim Thug's "I Run," with its breathtaking night-time
October 7, 2009The H-Town Countdown, No. 15: Chamillionaire's Original Mixtape Messiah, or 20-Plus Ways to Dis Mike Jones
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. "You drop one track, he's still alive." - Chamillionaire, on why he aimed an entire dis album at Mike Jones rather than just one track Chamillionaire Mixtape Messiah (self-released - it's a mixtape, duh - 2005) For the most part, we've tried to avoid including mixtapes
October 15, 2009The H-Town Countdown, No. 14: Trae's Restless
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Trae Restless (Asylum, 2006) Disclaimer: We dissected this album without referencing "Swang," the album's best song and possibly the finest representation of what it is that makes Trae Trae. We did this in part because we wanted to see if we could do it, but mostly be
October 22, 2009Turning the Screw: Lil Keke, Trae, Dre vs. Rush Limbaugh, Weezer, Weezy, Chamillionaire, 50 vs. Jay-Z, The Kanye, Nas, DMX, Big Pokey, etc.
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Still Here," Lil' Keke Wire To Wire Again, congratulations to Trae and the newest tiny Trae. Hey, Rush: Fuck off. Sincerely, Dr. Dre.
October 26, 2009The H-Town Countdown, No. 13: DJ Screw's 3 N' Tha Mornin' Pt. 2 (Blue)
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. DJ Screw 3 N' Da Mornin, Part 2 (Big Tyme Records, 1995)While researching the Countdown, we came across two very distinct opinions regarding this album; naturally, they were almost diametrically opposed to one another. People either argued that it should be placed some
October 29, 2009Turning the Screw: Bun B, Slim Thug & Killa Kyleon, Bun B & Wale, Chingo Bling, Z-Ro vs. Lil Flip, Jay-Z, 50, The Kanye, Run-DMC, DMX, More Chingo, etc.
Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "She Love It" remix, feat. Bun B, Slim Thug and Killa Kyleon After watching the actual video for this song about 15 times, were able to deduce that some might consider it to be fairly derogatory towards women, so we decided to use this version instead. You're free to find it on your own though. And if
November 2, 2009The H-Town Countdown, No. 12: Street Military's Don't Give a Damn
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Street Military Don't Give a Damn (Wild Pitch, 1999)Surprise. Kids, meet Street Military. If you know who they are, then you no doubt sing their praises at parties, business meetings, funerals, whatever. If you don't know who they are, don't feel too badly. They've som
November 5, 2009Five Spot: Jigga, Skiing, Gay Sex and Swishahouse
Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. We've got this notebook that we carry around pretty much everywhere with us. A few bullets from there before we get into the videos. Skippy-dippy do! Jay-Z just announced new tour dates, and guess which major Texas metropolitan area landed a show? Yep. You got it: Dallas! (Oh, yeah, Houston scored a spot, too
November 6, 2009
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