Jay-Z

Beyowza!

Drenched In Blog: Ike Beats Tina to Death

I Must Know Immediately If Beyonce and Jay-Z Are Married!

Over the Weekend: Main Street, Astros, Beyonce and Jay-Z

Turning the Screw: Fela Kuti, Jay-Z, Left Eye, Lil Wayne, Ed McMahon, Ciara, DMX and More

Turning the Screw: Lil Wayne, Hip-Hop and the Election, Wu-Tang Clan, Danity Kane, The Kanye

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 7

Jay-Z, House of Blues, October 16: "Jay-Z and his dozen-man band tore through the Brooklyn rapper's phone-book-thick catalog -- topped by the thunderstruck, 'Back in Black'-­borrowing "99 Problems" -- as Bun B, several Houston Texans (and Texans Cheerleaders) and the rest of the sold-out house ... More >>

Ludacris: Theater of the Mind

Jay-Z, House of Blues, October 16: "Jay-Z and his dozen-man band tore through the Brooklyn rapper's phone-book-thick catalog -- topped by the thunderstruck, 'Back in Black'-­borrowing "99 Problems" -- as Bun B, several Houston Texans (and Texans Cheerleaders) and the rest of the sold-out house ... More >>

The Shredder

One Show, One Sentence

Kanye, Jay-Z, Mary J. and Rihanna Clamor for Diva Status

One Show, One Sentence

Product Lines of the Rich and Famous

On sale now

7L and Esoteric

A New Dope

Pretty Girls Make Saves

As video games go indie, Wack imagines a few likely pairings

Between the Cracks

Profiling local bands

Teairra Mari

Make Her Feel Good

Dead Prez

RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta (Sony/Columbia)

Fade to Black

Jay-Z previews his latest opus, The Black Album

Turning the Screw: Chamillionaire & Z-Ro, UGK, Slim Thug, Trae Day, Chris Brown, Meth & Red, Diddy, MCA, O.G. Style 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: Chamillionaire feat. Z-Ro, "Denzel Washington" Wire To Wire Slim Thugga cut off his braids. Not sure ho ... More >>

Turning the Screw: New Trae and G.R.I.T. Boys, R.I.P. DJ AM, Kings of Leon Remixed, Jay Z vs. Rush Limbaugh, Uncut Pimp C, 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: Trae, "Letter to tha King" Wire To Wire The G.R.I.T. Boys finally put out some new music. Make sure you ... More >>

Four Possible Reasons Jay-Z Is Skipping Houston on His Blueprint 3 Tour

​Self-proclaimed king-of-rap Jay-Z unveiled his autumn tour schedule last week. The 26-date jaunt - which began Monday night in Chi-town and winds down just in time for Thanksgiving - will take Hovito all around the world, from New York to London to Kentucky to noise-rock haven Providence, R.I., t ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Chalie Boy, Royce da 5'9", Saigon, Soulja Boy, Jay-Z, Adam Yauch, 50 vs. Fabolous, Young Gunz, Method Man, Big Moe, 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: "I Look Good" remix, featuring Bun B, Slim Thug and Juvenile Note: We initally hated Chalie Boy's "I Lo ... More >>

Ask a Rapper: Fat Tony on Why Hip-Hop Is a Young Man's Game, and Jay-Z's "Coldplay Rap"

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 >>

Five 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 g ... More >>

Five Spot: Linking Jay-Z To Houston, And Not Through Beyonce

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. Jay-Z is in town Monday. This is huge. Jay is the most commercially, mainstr ... More >>

Aftermath: Jay-Z Goes Into Overtime At Toyota Center; Gyno-Mom Approves

Photos by Marco Torres / Click here for a slideshow​7:22 p.m.: God Dammit. The show was advertised as starting at 7 p.m. on the Toyota Center site, which of course means it'll start exactly at 8 p.m., which of course means it'll really start AROUND 8:15 p.m., which is more like 8:30 p.m., bu ... More >>

Fails Of The Week: Glastonbury "Ice Ice Baby," Sony "No Beyonce On YouTube," Fat Mike The Peeing Clown And... Bono

If you're reading this, you're either on the Internet, or else you've mastered multi-dimensional thought-projection processes that would make Michio Kaku cry like a little girl. We'll assume the former, and just in case you don't already know, the Internet has decided that the word "failure" is too ... More >>

Taylor Swift Is A Nazi(?!): Musical Fun With Google Auto-Fill

​ Really, Beyonce? We had no idea. But when Rocks Off read Katharine Shilcutt's hilarious test-drive of Google's auto-fill feature on our sister blog Hair Balls earlier this week, we knew we had to give it a spin ourselves to see what kind of smack the sentence-finisher was talking about some of t ... More >>

The Top 10 Music-Video Riots

From Agnostic Front's "Riot, Riot Upstart"​Just like the Stones said, "Summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy." Only the best social insurrections and riots happen in the heat of the summer. It makes us wonder why Houston hasn't had more angry, heat-stoked street ... More >>

Is Tupac Really One Of The Top Five MCs Ever?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't a national holiday Rocks Off will have some of them hear discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Trae, Mr. Lee, V-Zilla, Fat Tony, Candi Redd, Yung ... More >>

The Top Five Hidden Rap Tracks

​Life bursts at the seams with mysteries we'll never fully understand, like the Texans' decision to pass on Vince Young, Kesha's entire existence and the strange concept of hidden songs. Some of them are superior to the ones that make an album's final cut and track listing. Why hide a song th ... More >>

The Five Most Bogus Rapper Apologies

​It's the unwritten rule in rap: never apologize. Offering apology in hip-hop is a sign of weakness and rappers simply can't appear weak, no matter what. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Yet, every now and then we'll see a rapper apologize for stepping out of line. Earlier this week, Paul Wa ... More >>

What Is The Best Album Cover Ever?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. ​This Week's Panel: Bun B, Lil Flip, Hollywood FLOSS, hasHBrown, Kyle Hubbard, Renzo, Brad Gilmore and Nash White Not Invited: Kanye, bec ... More >>

Rap's 10 Most Hated People Of 2010

​Hatred is a popular sport in hip-hop. Players of this sport include everyone from fans to peers. There's no specific reason for loathing. Sometimes, being the best in your league is an egregious enough crime to inspire a strong dose of vitriol. Here are the 10 most hated hip-hop artists of 20 ... More >>

Atoning for the [Cinematic] Sins of the Father

A poor *black* kid? They'll never buy it.​That rumbling you heard yesterday was the muted "harrumph"-ing of thousands of American film journalists after news of the Will Smith/Jay-Z Annie reboot was confirmed: Overbrook Entertainment has formally announced a partnership with Jay-Z for future ... More >>

Five Terrible Rap Acts Who Will Never Crack the "Diddy List"

The Super Broker Shuffle: Your eyes and ears will never forgive you​I'm a sucker for lists, I've said that before. If it makes me a less cerebral person, so be it. I'm not apologizing. For a "list addict" like myself, Forbes magazine is like a big plate of list cocaine. They'll come up with a ... More >>

Narduwar The Human Serviette's 11 Best Interviews

exclaim.caNarduwar (left) and the patron saint of 4/20​Nardwuar The Human Serviette from "Vancouver BC Canada" knows all of your favorite bands, artists, and rappers better than you, and better than they know themselves. At first glance, he kind of resembles a Canadian Matthew Lesko (the free- ... More >>

White Rappers & The N-Word Conundrum: 4 Case Studies

"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 Best Episodes Of MTV's Unplugged

​MTV Unplugged was like health food for your soul during its heyday on the music channel, which was full of junk food. When artists stuck to the template and went untethered to electronic instruments and really dug into their music with new eyes it was amazing. Debuting in 1989 with Squeeze ... More >>

Jay-Z & Kanye's Throne Tour Stop Delayed To December 5

Toyota Center's Web site is now listing the Houston date of rap titans Jay-Z and Kanye West's joint tour to promote their forthcoming album Watch the Throne as Monday, December 5, rather than the previously announced Wednesday, October 26. Promoter Live Nation confirmed the change, but has not se ... More >>

How Jay-Z & Kanye West Kept Watch the Throne From Leaking Online

howfresh2.comJay-Z's business plan: Don't leak the masters, get a Rolex.​The kingdom is safe. The throne has been watched. In an age where albums spring leaks like baby diapers, Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne arrived on the appointed date without even as much as a drip. For the first ... More >>

What Is Jay-Z's Best Album?

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 Gray​This Week's Panel: Bun B, Slim Thug, Z-Ro, Chingo Bling, Chane, Pyr ... More >>

Top 10 Hip-Hop Album Intro Tracks

​Before iTunes and Amazon gave us the luxury of picking and choosing which tracks we want off an album, we had to buy the entire CD or cassette tape to listen to everything we paid for. The intro tracks are usually what help us decide if the album is something we were going to love start to fi ... More >>

The X Factor: Boot Camp, Minus Sgt. Hartman

​The pace of the audition rounds was so fast, I didn't realize the judges put through 162 people in the first two weeks of The X Factor. When the field arrives in Los Angeles for "boot camp," they are informed that they will be shaved down to a field of 100, which will ultimately be reduced by ... More >>

Occupy All Streets: Jay-Z Tries to Iron Out T-Shirt Controvery

​Jay-Z hasn't been in the right Empire State of Mind lately. First, the native New York mogul released an "Occupy All Streets" t-shirt on his clothing label, Rocawear. Then, the shirt was immediately taken off the online catalog following a backlash from critics. Then, it came back, but back o ... More >>

Of Leather Diapers, Mulch and the Accessibility of Jay-Z

Earlier this afternoon, a news bit landed in our inbox. It was about Jay-Z remarking (playfully) that his and Beyonce's baby, the first for both, was going to wear leather diapers. A story, then: Two days ago, Boy B came to me with a proposition. The moving parts seemed simple enough. To paraphr ... More >>

Watch the Throne: Jay-Z and Kanye West

Earlier this afternoon, a news bit landed in our inbox. It was about Jay-Z remarking (playfully) that his and Beyonce's baby, the first for both, was going to wear leather diapers. A story, then: Two days ago, Boy B came to me with a proposition. The moving parts seemed simple enough. To paraphr ... More >>

Ask A Rapper: DJ Mr. Luke Picks The Most Intriguing Rap Storylines Of The Year

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 >>

10 Things Rock Music Should Do This Year to Regain Former Glory

​When I saw School of Rock for the first time, I was struck by just how accurate Jack Black's character was when teaching kids the meaning behind rock music. Telling the one girl with the great voice to listen to "Great Gig in the Sky" or letting his students know that "one great rock show can ... More >>

Eat It: Restaurants Owned by Musicians

​Hotlanta is so hot that they can even turn their airport into a club. Stay with us. A few days ago, Ludacris announced that he will close his Asian/Singaporean restaurant, Straits, and embark on a new "restaurateur" opportunity: opening a "Chicken and Beer" restaurant inside of Atlanta's Hart ... More >>

Ten Cruises We'd Rather Take Than the KISS Kruise

​Imagine a vacation where made-up members of your favorite glam rock band wander the decks of a cruise ship. Does that sound like heaven on earth? Well, glam boy, you're in luck as the second annual (yes, they've done one before this) KISS Kruise sets sail this October featuring that cuddly '7 ... More >>