Lupe Fiasco used to be a talented, socially conscious rapper known for putting out really good hip-hop albums. Since he hasn't done one of those in a while, he's more well known these days for criticizing President Obama and espousing conspiracy theories about 9/11. Recently he was back in the news ... More >>
Hip-hop is a genre based around storytelling skills. Some people can't form a coherent story and it sometimes still works for them, but the absolute best are the ones who can keep you hanging off their heavy wordplay and take you through the twists and turns of a good story. Ghostface Killah and MF ... More >>
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. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? E-mail sheaserrano@gmail.com. ... More >>
You are a human and you have eyeballs and you also have the Internet, so you've likely read some things. That's sort of what this is, except sort of not too. We went through a ton of headlines of hip-hop "stories" from the past week, picked out the ten most egregious one, pasted them below, then ad ... More >>
Rock and pop music in the United States has earned a distinguished reputation for quality protest anthems and anti-war songs, from Country Joe and the Fish all the way up to friggin' Green Day. And that's great; it really is. Not only are many of the tunes timeless, but criticism of our society's m ... More >>
If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music editors have selected t ... More >>
Most of the world's biggest rappers - Jay-Z, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, T.I., 50 Cent - have performed in Austin within the past week, are about to perform, or are at least in the city partaking in the SXSW festivities. Rocks Off was leaving Stubb's late Thursday night and heard Snoop Dogg performing ... More >>
Yelawolf Warehouse Live February 16, 2012 My ears salute the kid who told Yelawolf he wasn't hip-hop. Must have been a high-school bully, one of those corny jocks with well defined biceps. We'll call him D'Angelo. D'Angelo probably teased Yelawolf, smacked him around in the bathroom, lol'd when he ... More >>
Delirium is the youngest of the endless. She smells of sweat, sour wines, late nights, old leather. Her realm is close, and can be visited; however, human minds were not made to comprehend her domain, and those few who have made the journey have been incapable of reporting back more than the tiniest ... More >>
*At one point or another Marco TorresComing in at No. 10...The Guinness Book of World Records has always been a fascinating and somewhat random thing to be a part of. Some people strive to be in the book to get noticed, while others get in the book completely by accident for good and bad th ... More >>
jizzrelics.blogspot.comThis will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, but Rocks Off enjoys an adult beverage now and then. Sometimes we even enjoy more than one. And every once in a while we just might happen to, say, spend an entire Sunday drinking champagne on a patio and wake up the ... More >>
Welcome to the top 10 greatest comedy rap songs. Some real winners have gone before (see 25-21 here, 20-16 here, and 15-11 here), but now we're getting to the tunes that are absolutely necessary to have. Get ready for some sharks, clowns, prime disses, and most of all a sorely missed comedy l ... More >>
"You're talking to the wrong white man, my friend. My people were the white man's nigger when yours were still painting their faces and chasing zebras." - Herman 'Hesh' Rabkin (Jerry Adler), The Sopranos Yes, that was their name.Freshman year of college. One of my good friends was a white ki ... More >>
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. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. ... More >>
Back in December 1998, when Eminem was just hitting MTV and rap radio, we remember people pronouncing his name as "Eee-mine-im," and not the candy-inflected way it actually was. We even made the mistake during our first viewing of "My Name Is" late at night on the video channel and calling a ... More >>
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. Something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. ... More >>
Freedom of speech is one of the most cherished rights that Americans have, and the fight for that right has drawn some of the greatest legal battles in our history. We like to believe that, after 200-plus years of defense of that right, that we can take it as a given. However, this week mark ... More >>
Now a Recovery in more ways than one.Eminem quietly scored a major victory in a case involving download royalties this week. The U.S. Supreme Court threw out an appeal filed by Universal Music Group, the world's largest music empire, against Eminem's former production company F.B.T. Productio ... More >>
Marco TorresSome rivalries are beyond repair. You'll never catch Kobe and Shaq trading smiles at a joint family picnic. 50 Cent and The Game will still be mugging at each other at the 2021 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. Batman will always despise that sonamabitch The Joker. Truth be told, hip-hop is a ... More >>
Nielsen SoundScan released its annual report on music sales Monday, and the results were less than surprising. Physical sales continued to decline, digital sales continued to rise, and crap pop continues to reign supreme both at the cash register and on the airwaves. During the period of Jan ... More >>
Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't a national holiday, Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn GrayThis Week's Panel: Lil Flip, Hollywood FLOSS, Yves of The Niceguys, ... More >>
Mike Myers will probably go down in history as the most uncomfortable white guy next to a black guy in TV history, thanks to Kanye West's unscripted outburst during that infamous Hurricane Katrina telethon. It began with Myers reading his part of the script verbatim. Two-thirds into the PSA, ... More >>
The list of drug casualties in rock and roll is a long and sad one. All the suicides, car crashes and the stray gang-related murder are outweighed by the amount of people who just can't stop putting junk into their system, or at least moderate it to a point where they aren't lying cold on a h ... More >>
Marshall Mathers III has certainly enjoyed great success, but it hasn't been easy for the guy. He's had difficulty overcoming addiction and depression, and like many of us, he keeps returning to that one bad relationship over and over again. His latest album, Recovery, has brought him back in ... More >>
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 it to sheaserrano@gmail. ... More >>
Eminem is an interesting fellow. He was when he lit the world on fire with The Slim Shady LP back in 1999, and when he followed that up a year later with The Marshall Mathers LP. He was even interesting when he clumsily scrapped together some songs in 2009 and called it an album (Relapse, or, ... More >>
Rice University just got a lot more... trill. Never thought you'd hear those words in the same sentence? Yeah, us too. But as hiphopdx.com reports, you just might be seeing a lot more "Diamonds and Wood" and "Front, Back & Side to Side" in the Rice University parking lot. That's because B ... More >>
She Said heard her first holiday song Monday, at around 9 p.m. in the Montrose Walgreens, and suddenly she was transported to her own personal hell - one filled solely with late-night pharmacy shoppers and Mariah Carey's
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: "#1 Dame in the Game," Surreall Wire To Wire Kid Cudi continues his rapid ascension to stardom, scores ... 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: "Heart of a Hustler," Dead End Alliance feat. Lil Keke and Mike D Wire To WireHow bad-ass is Bun B that ... More >>
So Eminem is back. Eminem. A man who is a paradox wrapped inside an enigma and served with two joints and a beer. The man has totally homophobic and misogynistic lyrics, yet he has performed with Elton John and is, by all accounts, a loving single dad to his little girl. He seems dumb as dirt in som ... More >>
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 the expected hip-hop sites recently all went crazy for "Crack A Bottle" (above), an annoyingly catchy Em ... More >>
Hard to believe it's been 20 years since gangsta rap went overground with N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton. Through Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg to Tupac and Eminem, it launched most of hip-hop's biggest stars for a good decade, but these days even artists like T.I. and Lil Wayne have sacrificed serious st ... More >>
The other kind of white gang
Mourning the latest hip-hop casualty in two easy steps
The all-time greatest white-boy rhymes
Encore (Interscope)
The Printz (Modular Recordings/Geffen)
D12 looks to get out from underneath Eminem's shadow
Beg for Mercy (Interscope)
A gusher lay beneath the surface, but you had to drill deep
Sunday, December 22
November 9
Atmosphere MC Sean Daley saves the world by saving his circle of friends
The Eminem Show (Aftermath/Interscope)
Thursday, November 1
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