LL Cool J

Django Unchained: The Most Moving Scene Quentin Tarantino Has Yet Filmed

Django is Like “Accidental Racist,” Except Not Godawful.

Dear Grammys, I'm Breaking Up With You

Dear Stupid Grammys, I have a bone to pick with you. I sat through Taylor Swift's uninspired opening act while she half-sung/half-yodeled at a guy on a spinning bullseye. It was complete with an insulting and transparent Alice in Wonderland costume ripoff (which I'm not getting, by the way... is s ... More >>

DJ Sun's Guided Tour of One Hundred, Part 1

DJ Sun knows how to release an album right. For the past three months or so, the Houston turntablist, producer and radio-show host (KPFT's Soular Grooves) with an enviable address book and a local residency almost every night of the week -- not to mention a multiple Houston Press Music Award winner ... More >>

Happy E-Day: What If Elvis Had Lived?

Note: Elvis Presley would be 78 years old today, if he had not (supposedly) died in Memphis in August 1977. This article originally appeared as part of Rocks Off's "Elvis Week" in January 2011, and still seems plausible two years later. Do you realize that Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, the dude who w ... More >>

Remembering Hip-Hop Mogul Chris Lighty

Sitting at my desk for the past day or so, I've struggled to come up with words about numerous subjects. Since Sunday, I've had to assume control of my dad's company with him being in the hospital threatening critical condition. I've never been more scared or felt more vulnerable at that point - f ... More >>

Last Night: Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias at Toyota Center

Check out more pics of Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias in our slideshow. Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias Toyota Center Houston August 26th, 2012 "I'm just a simple girl from The Bronx, don't let the sparkly pants fool you" -- Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lopez has played many roles. She has be ... More >>

Fist-Fighting With Hip-Hop Headlines: Drake, Iggy Azalea, Etc.

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 most egregious one, pasted them below, then added ... More >>

Houston, Circa 1981

Ask A Rapper: D-Risha Discusses Sports' Worst "Decisions"

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 >>

The American Bandstand (Extended) Hot 100

Somehow it's hard to believe that Dick Clark was only 82 years old when he died after suffering a "massive heart attack" Wednesday morning in Santa Monica, Calif. (Since I managed to survive one myself, I've noticed that anytime someone dies of a heart attack, it's always "massive."). Despite his yo ... More >>

Cornbreadd Goes To Washington: Maurice Duhon Talks U.S. House Campaign

Cornbreadd - make that Maurice Duhon Jr. - is, to use a term of the trade, good copy. He's articulate, opinionated and effervescent, a tireless self-promoter with a genuine concern for and interest in the welfare of others - first his fans as the rapping front man of Houston Press Music Award winne ... More >>

Last Night: Robert Earl Keen At House Of Blues

Robert Earl Keen House of Blues December 28, 2011 It sucks when your college roommate is more successful than you. Heaven knows Rocks Off was pleased as punch to hear ours had ended up blowing merchant marines for salvia in Vladivostok (just kidding, Doug!), but Robert Earl Keen's old front porch p ... More >>

True Blood: A Couple Of Things We Missed

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series,True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston. ​Listen, Gothtopia makes mistakes... mostly mistakes named Amy ... More >>

The Top 25 Comedy Rap Songs Of All Time: Nos. 10-6

​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 >>

The Top 25 Comedy Rap Songs Of All Time: Nos. 15-11

​The countdown continues (Click here for Nos. 25-21, and here for 20-16). So far we've seen everything from Star Wars raps to Irish street beats to towering mainstream figures like Eddie Murphy, MC Hammer, and Afroman. Today's playlist should be triumph for the nerdcore crowd, and features som ... More >>

Beyonce's 4 & 11 Other Numerical Album Titles

​Beyonce is not the first artist to title her album after a number. Here are 11 more - one of which B may have to unseat from the top of the charts when her fourth solo album, 4, is released next month. Chicago, Chicago III-Twenty 1 (1971-91): Chicago had a simple formula for naming albums: ... More >>

10 Great Instances Of Rappers Honoring Other Rappers

​People often forget that hip-hoppers are humans, too. They breathe, sleep, eat, and salivate at the sight of buttermilk donuts just like us. And, every now and then, they'll geek over other rappers, just like us. It would have been so much easier to compile a list of rappers dissing other ra ... More >>

Starchy Arch's Top Six Rap Songs About Sex

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 sheaserrano@gmail.com. ... More >>

SXSW Last Night: LL Cool J Knocks Out Red Bull Thre3style

Marco Torres​The largest party of this year's SXSW included eight world-renowned DJ's, one legendary hip-hop group, a rap pioneer, and more than 10,000 screaming fans who took over a entire city block of Austin's Warehouse District Saturday night. Fueled by Red Bull and love of the turntable ... More >>

Will Mainstream Rap Ever Stop Objectifying Women?

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, Lil Flip, D-Risha, Renzo, Kyle Hubbard, Do ... More >>

Top Five Athlete-Rapper Team-Ups

​Speak of the devil... Give an NBA player a mike and he'll give you one of the worst performances of all time. Put the same athlete in the company of a decent rapper and the result might surprise you. If you're still haunted by the bitter taste of our worst rapper-athlete collaborations, here ... More >>

Future Elvis: What If The King Had Lived?

​Do you realize that Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, the dude who was in the Darth Vader suit, and Ron Paul are all the same age as Elvis Presley would be on Saturday? Look at Woody Allen next time you see him on TMZ and just think, he's as old as Elvis. In order to get in the frame of mind to t ... More >>

Girl Talk: "Me Wanting To Interact With The Music I Really Like"

Bridget Maniaci​ A few days before Girl Talk's Summerfest show this Saturday, Rocks Off took some time to chat with the mash-up maestro - who refuses to call himself a DJ - about his biomedical engineering degree, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2008's Feed the Animals and Super Happy Fun Land. ... More >>

Flagrant Foul

Just Wright is just wrong.

Fix Your Face

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is more hip-hop than most rappers.

Capsule Art Reviews: "Heroes Alter Egos," "Houston Collects: African American Art," "Joe Mancuso: Still Still Life," "(Re)Vision: A Preservation of Houston's Inner Loop," "Transcendental Smoothie"

Capsule Art Reviews: "Heroes Alter Egos," "Joe Mancuso: Still Still Life," "Neo HooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," "(Re)Vision: A Preservation of Houston's Inner Loop," "Transcendental Smoothie"

Capsule Art Reviews: "Defending Democracy," "Neo HooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," "(Re)Vision: A Preservation of Houston's Inner Loop"

Houston's Nigerian-Born Battle-Rapper Godwon

Balls and His Word

Capsule Art Reviews: "Defending Democracy," "Drapetomania: A Disease Called Freedom," "Heroes Alter Egos," "Neo HooDoo: Art for a Forgotten Faith," "(Re)Vision: A Preservation of Houston's Inner Loop"

Grammar Rock

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs break a few rules

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Letters

Whitey on the Mike

The all-time greatest white-boy rhymes

Boxing the Rock

Six of the year's best multi-disc sets (and one of the worst)

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Omar

Best by Far (Spun)

Talky? You Bet!

Sheila Jackson Lee's verbosity leads to a jackpot

Think Different

Could it be that this year's crop of summer movies requires a brain cell or two?

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

Shine your boots and bust out your cowboy hat -- it's that rodeo time of year

Phantom of the Opry

Trying to get to the bottom of the Dr Pepper "Freaky Old Guy" mystery

Gin and Vamoose

Mystikal and Floetry both love the nightlife -- but only one of them loves the boogie, too

DJ Peretz

Friday, January 11

George's Jungle

Author sees women and Europe surpassing men and New York as the prime exponents of black culture

Jennifer Lopez/Vitamin C

J. Lo (Epic)/More (Elektra)

Paydirt!

Oliver Stone delivers the ultimate guy movie with Any Given Sunday

Heavy Neglect

Local Music News

Night & Day

December 10 - 16, 1998

Busy Body

Rotation