Lil' Wayne

Rappers and Republicans: Still the Same?

Turning the Screw: TxHustla, Beanie Sigel, Lil' Wayne, Ciara, Kanye, Tupac, Akon, Usher and More

Turning The Screw: Crew54, DJ AM & Travis Barker, G- Unit, Pharrell, Eminem, Nate Dogg, Kanye, Wu-Tang vs. UFC and More

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

The Worst Lyrics of 2008: NCAA-Style Showdown

And now it's time for the "I love you like a fat kid loves cake" memorial Worst Lyrics of 2008, March Madness-style tournament, this year a terrifying mélange of appalling oral-sex requests, bargain-bin philosophies, grammatical atrocities, and cringe-inducing pillow talk. To elevate the drama, I p ... More >>

Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles ... More >>

Lil Wayne, Live In Living Color

After all the hype and air-guitar awards-show appearances, Lil Wayne's much-anticipated debut as a full-on rock performer, "Prom Queen," has finally leaked. This will be above-the-fold news on whatever content-aggregator supplies your RSS fix, but only because for the music business right ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Balls Deep, UGK, DMX, MC Hammer, Theophilus London, Run-DMC, Lil' Jon 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: "Hoes," Balls Deep Wire To Wire Bun B will release the final UGK album, 4 Life, this March. We ... More >>

Five 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 ... More >>

The Game

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 ... More >>

Can Lil Wayne Overcome His Spotty Live Track Record?

Weezy Peezy

Chatter's Ever-So-HandyAC/DCtionary

Rock Around the Clock

T.I.: Paper Trail

Rock Around the Clock

Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III

Rock Around the Clock

Lil Wayne and High School Musical

The former UH undergrad gears up for a Non-Stop Dance Party

Real Recognize Real?

Promotional Cacophony at Miami's Ozone Awards

Devin the Dude

Devin the Dude performs Sunday, April 29, at Bar Rio, 6400 Richmond, 832-251-9600.

Play Our Dating Game

Fat Joe, Young Jeezy and Lil' Wayne

Lil' Wayne

Tha Carter, Vol. II

Aftermath: Lil Wayne at The Woodlands, Cussing Up a Storm and Selling Everything That Wasn't Nailed Down

Photos by Marco Torres​ Show of hands if any of you have ever been wrangled into a time-share scheme. Wherein you have to sit and listen to a talking head decked out in Sears' finest grind down your gears with a two-hour seminar on some delightful ocean-front property. Now, add in blaring hip-hop ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Killa Kyleon, Destiny's Child, New Boyz, Lil' Flip, Devin, Trae, Cham, Freddy Gibbs, Weezy, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Rihanna, 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: "H-Town State of Mind," Killa Kyleon Killa is so, so, so good at flipping at other people's songs. Wire ... More >>

He Said She Said: "Fuck You Owl City" and the other Worst Songs of the Decade

Sweet Jeebus, this decade had some awful pop music. You would think the Lord would spare us a little in light of all the terrorist attacks and hurricanes we got this past period. Where the past ten year cycles had disco, new wave, and classic West Coast hip-hop to sate the aural thirsts of Top 40 li ... More >>

What Can Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne And Other Stars Claim On Their Taxes?

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​ Got your taxes done? No? You poor dumb bastard. They won't let you just not do them, you know that, right? Unpleasant as it is, finding out you owe still more money after having paid a sales tax all year, it's nothing compared to what the government will d ... More >>

Inside Ozone Magazine's Sex Issue

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. We'll incorporate the number five in there somewhere. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. ​ Ozone magazine, the preeminent name in Southern rap p ... More >>

Busted! 20 Musician Mugshots

​ Getting arrested and booked isn't the end of the world, by any means. Well unless you just killed a shit-ton of people at a bowling alley or something, it really is. But if you are a rocker or a celebrity who committed a minor offense, it's just a funny footnote in your public life you can look ... More >>

Sammus: The Femme Rapper/Producer's Top Five Remix Tracks

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@gmai ... More >>

The Top Five Hurricane Katrina-Related Rap Songs

​New Orleans is home to many rappers, including Lil Wayne and Juvenile. So, when Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast five years ago this weekend, it only felt natural for hip-hop to step up and capture the debacle on wax. It's been five years since the disaster and this Katrina-inspired playlist ... More >>

South Houston Eighth Graders Tell Us What Music Is Good

​Teaching is often cast as a thankless, glamour-free job. Nothing could be further from the truth. For the past five years, Rocks Off has taught at a Title 1 (read: poor) school in Hispanic-heavy South Houston. We've been thanked several times for several things. And we've been to several 4- ... More >>

Sarah Palin, Twitter, Weezy Top 2010's Most Tired Stories

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, Kyle Hubbard, Fat Tony, Renzo, Brad Gilm ... More >>

Big Freedia

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, Kyle Hubbard, Fat Tony, Renzo, Brad Gilm ... More >>

Eminem, Bob Marley, Pink Big With 8th Graders These Days

​As a middle-school teacher, you can be certain of a few things: At any given time, no less than three boys in your classroom are plotting to draw penises on something. It's nuts. They're penis-crazy. We've found penis drawings on everything; books, rocks, test tubes, stopwatches, milk cart ... More >>

Odd Pairs: Ten Upcoming Nights of Music Bring Wild Variations

Photo by groovehouseTry to guess who's playing the same night as Toadies.​Diversity is a big deal in H-Town. In fact, our cultural diversity creates such a wide variety of musical styles, it is hard to figure out just what kind of music town we are. In places like Memphis, Nashville, Seattle a ... More >>

Last Night: B L A C K I E in 3-D at Warehouse Live

​B L A C K I E Warehouse Live April 7, 2011 Well it wasn't quite 3-D, because real life itself is already four dimensional (props, Jim), but nonetheless, last night's experimental B L A C K I E gig in the studio space at Warehouse Live was eye-popping as hell. The show, opening with the Scr ... More >>

More Local Music News Than Record Store Day Exclusives

Welcome once again to another installment of our smash hit series, Magnolia City Mixtape. This week is just like all the rest, with a bumper crop of local music news for your eyes and ears. ​We'll start off with our soundtrack, which happens to be an EP from local rock outfit Rivers, entitled ... More >>

Saturday Night: Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne & Friends At Toyota Center

Photos by Marco Torres​Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Rick Ross, Bun B, Trae, Yelawolf, Travis Barker & Mix Master Mike, Twist, Shanell, Birdman Toyota Center April 16, 2011 7:22 p.m.: We had not planned on getting here until way later tonight, but Bun B mentioned on his Twitter that the show ... More >>

Yelawolf

Photos by Marco Torres​Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Rick Ross, Bun B, Trae, Yelawolf, Travis Barker & Mix Master Mike, Twist, Shanell, Birdman Toyota Center April 16, 2011 7:22 p.m.: We had not planned on getting here until way later tonight, but Bun B mentioned on his Twitter that the show ... More >>

Lil Wayne Documentary At Center Of Lawsuits

Lil Wayne is currently shooting a documentary for his I Am Music IItour, but he's come under fire for a different film. Tha Carter, a Weezy-sanctioned documentary released in 2009, is at the center of a litany of lawsuits between Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment and film production company Di ... More >>

The 2011 BET Awards, Or The Vindication Of Chris Brown

​6:58: High-five to the Houston Press for flying us out to Los Angeles to cover the BET Awards. Cool move. Thus far, it's been extra fun. We ran into Kobe and, um, saw some people filming a movie, and... uh... there were some angels or something, and... there... there was... eh, shit. We're n ... More >>

Is Tha Carter IV Really Better Than Watch The Throne?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Every Monday that isn't a national holiday (and soon after when it is), Rocks Off will have some of them here discussing issues relevant to their culture. Photo illustration by John Seaborn Gray​This Week's Panel: Chane, Kiotti, Dough ... More >>

What's The Leading Cause Of Poor Record Sales?

​Last week, the music world laughed up a hiccup as Lil Wayne pranced around the VMA stage in nut-suffocating, Le Tigre-inspired jeggings. While that performance affirmed that Wayne is no fashion guru, his chart performance a week later reminded us that he's very good at something else-selling ... More >>

Last Night: Lil Wayne & Friends At The Woodlands

Photos by Marco Torres​Lil Wayne, Rick Ross (feat. Bun B, Trae & Ace Hood), Keri Hilson Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion September 11, 2001 "Three things I want you to know about myself," Lil Wayne told the Woodlands Pavillion at the start of Sunday night's show: 1. "I believe in God." 2. "I ... More >>

When Gravity Attacks: 13 Memorable Onstage Stumbles

Lady Gaga kept a poker face after her Montreal fall.​Concert performances and award shows can sometimes really put the pressure on artists, who often get so nervous or excited that they may just faceplant the stage. We've complied you tube clips of some of the best mid-performance stumbles. So ... More >>

Sex, Money & Other Ways To Guarantee Urban Radio Airplay

​A cursory glance at the year-to-date urban radio chart reaffirms an age-old music industry adage: Sex sells. You can see the Top 10 at the bottom of this post, but first let's talk about a few of the chart's recurring themes. Sex Sells: Miguel's "Sure Thing" occupies the top spot with 86,785 ... More >>

Father Figures: 100 Famous Musicians' Paternal Professions

Mr. Peppermint: Sire of a Surfer.​If you're a Texan of a certain age, this week you've probably spent some time mourning the death of Jerry Haynes, the children's TV host better known as Mr. Peppermint. Haynes' show on WFAA-TV in Dallas, Peppermint Place, ran from the '60s to the '90s and was ... More >>

Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup" And Other Household Items That Need Theme Songs

​OK, we've never been devout Toby Keith fans. At all. Our image of him changed though as we heard more of his politics, post-"Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue" and he came out as a fan of gay marriage and gays in the military. Who says all country guys have to be right-wing torchbearers any ... More >>

BREAKING: Rapper Rick Ross Unconscious After Seizure

UPDATE: Ricky Rozay is tweeting from the hospital, so all seems well. That is the great arbiter in determining someone's health, tweeting. If they can't tweet, then something must be very, very wrong. Or they are sleeping. Photo By Marco Torres​Frequent Houston performer Rick Ross is current ... More >>

Rap Round Table: Who is the Best Shit-Talker in Rap Currently?

Some rappers happen to be thoughtful, intelligent people. Each week 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, medicine Girl, O.N.E., Preemo, Chane, Delo, Chingo Bling, Doughb ... 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 >>

Bummer, Dude: The 10 Big Musical Disappointments of 2011

Photo by Marc BrubakerThis guy's crazy rant at Fun Fun Fun Fest made the list.​All things considered, 2011 was a pretty bitchin' year for popular music. It wasn't all high-fives and Grammies for our musical heroes, however. More than few steaming flops, blown gigs and sour notes made the yea ... More >>

We Tell You Who Will Win Grammys So You Don't Have To Watch Them

SPOILER ALERT​The best thing about the annual Grammy nominations and awards shows is the clamor of anger that rises up when the mere mention of the event even comes up. Immediately people begin calling it a travesty, trotting out all the people who have been snubbed -- Jethro Tull beats Metall ... More >>