Grandmaster Flash

Top 5 Songs That Sample Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we all have a nice long weekend thanks to the birthday of one Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Many people just see it as a day off, others just don't seem to understand why we celebrate it. But Dr. King was a civil rights pioneer who still inspires many to this day. He inspires artists so mu ... More >>

Baby Chino, World's Youngest DJ: "I Have Haters"

Austin-born Ri-yan Dolan is only eight years old -- he turns a ripe nine on August 25 -- and holds the title of the world's youngest DJ, spinning under the name DJ Baby Chino. At a time when kids half his age can operate iPads and iPhones with ease, it should be no surprise that Dolan was only five ... More >>

Swedish Band Amplifetes Releases "Where Is the Light" as a Video Game

Swedish psychedelic pop band the Amplifetes has taken an innovative approach to releasing a single -- by making it available as a video game, and entering players in a contest to win a trip to the Arctic Circle. A while back we talked about Bjork releasing singles as apps, which is a similar concep ... More >>

New Doc The Art Of Rap Spills Hip-Hop's Secrets

Rap wasn't always like Lil Jon's yelling his famous "What!?" and "Okay!", or repeating your name over and over throughout the song like Houston's own Lil Flip. Nowadays most see rap as lyrics telling a woman how to position herself or look for a man, rhymes about money and talk of toking up. But th ... More >>

Mo' Better Tunes: The Ultimate Spike Lee Soundtrack

​When Spike Lee puts out a new film, I always make a point to check it out, even if I hated his last one. He's directed more hits than misses, and even his duds have been quality duds. The first Spike Lee joint that I saw as a kid was Malcolm X, which I definitely did not understand at all beyond ... More >>

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

RIP Heavy D: Why Are The '90s Slowly Dying On Us?

​Word just came from TMZ on Twitter - yeah, yeah - that hip-hopper Heavy D has passed away at the age of 44. The artist, born Dwight Arrington Myers, was the leader of Heavy D & The Boyz, best known for cuts like "Chunky But Funky" and "Now That We Found Love". So far details have Myers coll ... More >>

Top Five Movies That Influenced Hip-Hop Culture

​Rappers love to imagine their lives as movies. They see bits of their lives on the big screen and turn to those cinematic treasures to help them make sense of their immediate environment: "If Tony Montana can rise to meteoric heights, so can I; if Frank Lucas can make it out of the game alive ... More >>

Top 10 Musician WTF Hobbies

Zazzle.com​Musicians are weird. Well, the good ones, at least. It's a little-known, beloved factoid. While artists' news, drama, and private lives are sometimes aired to the point of over-saturation, it becomes more interesting when we learn relatively kept insight into their rockers' offstage ... More >>

Friday Night: Legends Of Rap At Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Marco TorresRakim​"Legends of Rap" featuring Rakim, Slick Rick, Whodini, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte Verizon Wireless Theater October 15, 2010 For more photos from Friday, see our slideshow here. Friday night at Verizon Theater was a celebration of hip-hop legends, the types that would ... More >>

Top 10 Rap Covers By Non-Rap Artists

​Artists have many ways of expressing admiration for their peers. Name-dropping those who inspire them in liner notes and offering them groupies on the tour bus are just a couple of ways of showing respect. Covering one of their popular songs? Now that's the ultimate tip of the hat. That's an ... More >>

Is The National Recording Registry Ready For The Geto Boyz?

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 introducinglisto ... More >>

DJ Hero: A Review

​The geniuses that first let you rock 'n' roll with guitar legends in Guitar Hero decided to bring out a new instrument for gamers to party on. This time, Activision brought out the turntables for their newest title, DJ Hero. Available for the Playstations 2 & 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii, DJ ... More >>

Atmosphere

Turning The Screw: Jay'Ton, Bushwick, Nas, Akon, Dre, Diddy, DJ Hero, Grandmaster Flash, The Kanye, T.I., Three 6 Mafia, Bubba Sparxxx, 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: "We Here," Jay'Ton feat. Trae and Yung Quis Wire To Wire: Nas is not a fan of Canada. Akon, who ... More >>

Aftermath: Duran Duran at Verizon Wireless Theater

Photos by Chris Gray Alone among its pretty-boy peers in the early and mid-'80s, Duran Duran was the blackest band to regularly hit the pop charts from either side of the pond. Only the Aussies in INXS had anywhere near the same level of interest in funk and disco, and the chops to pull it off. ... More >>

Numbers' 30th Anniversary

The Station Showcases Work "Defending Democracy"

Making Change

Houston Has a Bad Reputation with Touring Indie Bands

They'd just as soon give us a miss.

Drenched In Blog: Japanese Melody Roads and Songs for Houston's Highways

NOTSUOH'S

TEXAS PRAIRIE FIRE

Honor Bound

A fictional look at the future of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

SPOOKY SPOTLIGHT

The Houston Press guide to all things Halloween

Back in tha Mix

The MFAH's Mixed Media Series

Art Girls Are Easy

Beats of Basquiat: The Final Chapter

Master in da House

Hip-hop's co-founder is back in a Flash

Play "Free Bird"!

Using the Bob-O-Meter to rate cover songs

Legendary Beats

Get a heady dose of drum 'n' bass at Planet of the Drums

Steal These Albums

The ten most dangerous and radical hip-hop records of all time

Tasty Samples

The H-Town Throw Down's menu boasts a mad mix o' music

Hip-hop, Tejas

Latinos take on rap music and make it their own

Hushing Up

What's all the fuss about Hush?

Compton's (Back) N the House

Four discs trace the development of the original gangstas

Ugly Kid Slug

Atmosphere MC Sean Daley saves the world by saving his circle of friends

Life in the Slow Lane

DJ Screw lived mostly for his work, as if he would have time later to celebrate his success. That time would never come.

New Releases Reviewed

Luscious Jackson

Kamikaze Rap

Public Enemy's Chuck D. speaks

Overseas Transmission

Hip-hop's origins in a German synthesizer?

Rap Gets Puffy

Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs fathers a return to hip-hop pop

Rooting Interest

The Roots make rap for both your hips and your head

Rotation