MC Hammer

Copy Cat Recipe: Pappa Geno's Wicked Philly

Holy shit, you guys. I made Pappa Geno's Wicked Philly at home and it was the best thing ever. For real -- this cheese steak is legit. Like MC Hammer legit. Maybe I'll call it the MC Hammer. Or maybe the BV Hammer. I don't know, I'll have to think about it and get back to you. If you haven't had t ... More >>

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems: 5 Musicians Who Had to File for Bankruptcy

Recently it was revealed that Cat Power was not only suffering from a serious illness called angiodema that was threatening to stop her European tour, but also that she has filed for bankruptcy. That tour has indeed been postponed, but Cat Power is hardly the first musician to be running low on cash ... 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 >>

The Soundtrack of Our Youth: 5 Lackluster Rap Songs From Children's Flicks

What's worse: A movie geared towards kids and teens or the soundtrack to a movie geared towards kids and teens? It's a tough call because both can be pretty awful and uninspired. Sure, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is great and had an excellent soundtrack but let's not fool ourselves: We all sat through ... More >>

Top 5 Ringtones For People You Want to Avoid

Sometimes we just don't want to hear from certain people. Unfortunately we pick up the phone and see who is calling, and it just puts a damper on our day. Why can't we have some better warning to not pick up the phone? We all have that creepy ex who calls or texts wanting to hang out, or that one- ... More >>

Going The Distance: The Hot 100's 10 Longest-Charting Songs

Let us hop in our time machine and head back to a magical place in the past known as Dec. 23, 2010. Here is a snapshot of things going on at the time: Rocks Off was making wishes for the year 2011; Kanye West was knee deep in Album of the Year wins for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy; Eddie Vedder ... More >>

Top Six Rap Videos Set In Places Of Worship

Rocks Off was only 13 years old in October 1992 when singer Sinéad O'Connor sang an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War" on Saturday Night Live and, on cue, tore an image of Pope John Paul II into pieces while singing the word "evil." "Fight the real enemy," she exclaimed at the end of one of ... More >>

John Mayer, Cowboy?: 6 WTF Moments Of Musical Reinvention

Oh, you hadn't heard? At some point between his extended hiatus from singing and the recording of his newly announced album, Shadow Days, ol' big-mouth Mayer seems to have stumbled on some old Willie Nelson CDs and raided the nearest Cavender's in a transformation Rocks Off can only assume as bein ... More >>

Here's The Pitch: Top 10 Commercials Starring Musicians

Madonna's infamous "Like a Prayer" Pepsi ad, 1989​Every now and then, name-brand companies need a little extra pizzazz when it comes to advertising, and often they turn to the music world to do this. Either way, it's a win-win situation for both the artist and the company because the artist us ... More >>

5 Musicians Who Changed Their Names to Inspire Jim Crane and the Astros

​This week, the new owner of the Houston Astros Jim Crane opened Pandora's Box of Hearty Suggestions For A Struggling Franchise and discussed changes to the team. Cheap beer (yay!), cheaper seats (double yay!) should be one of the first things but Crane suggested that the Astros do the unthink ... More >>

U Can't Touch This: The Top 5 Dance-Rap Tracks Of All Time

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 >>

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 >>

Life After Rock Stardom: 7 Artists' Post-Musical Careers

naylandhouse.comFuture ordained minister MC Hammer wasn't kidding on his 1990 hit single "Pray."​Let's face it. Not everyone is cut out for - or interested in - being a sixtysomething rock star. But what type of careers awaits a retired musician? Many rock stars stay in the music industry real ... More >>

Top Five Rappers Turned Preachers

sickhop.com​Much has been made about Bun B's Religion and Hip-Hop Culture class at Rice University. But he's not the first artist to herd a flock of hip-hop disciples. A few others have taken the gospel to the streets. The roster includes two Bad Boys gone good, a hip-hop pioneer, a '90s megas ... More >>

5 Memorable Foods Advertised During Saturday Morning Cartoons

If only they'd been edible, Madballs would have been the perfect product. It's difficult for me to believe that I used to set my alarm to get up on Saturday morning, but I did. If there was a show I wanted to see that was on before sunrise, sometimes I would even set it for earlier than I did on a ... More >>

Five Artists That Make Deadlier Weapons Than Creed

Nooooo!!! Anything but "One Last Breath"!!!​The headline is promising: "Norwegian Boy Fends Off Wolf Pack With Heavy Metal." Pretty awesome, right? Picture the frozen steppes of Rakkestad - we're just assuming there are steppes there - and it's after 2 p.m. in the wintertime, so the sun has ... More >>

Houston Rap Year-End Odds And Ends

​We're seven days away from the beginning of the New Year. Let's make sure we go in there clean, shall we? Time to dump out the mailbag: First, stay tuned for our Top 10 Houston Rap Albums of the Year, coming Monday. Iceberg Slim of Screwheads Only traded emails with us while we put it togeth ... More >>

Nine More Washed-Up Musicians On Reality Shows

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Everybody's favorite lovelorn rock has-been Vince Neil has signed on to Skating With the Stars, an upcoming reality show sure to feature an exact recreation of the photo illustration above. Times, it seems, are tough all over, and Neil can't be the only ... More >>

Sunday Night: Rick Ross At Arena Theatre

Ed. Note: Due to an email malfunction, Shea was unable to send his review until Monday evening. Photos by Marco Torres​Rick Ross Arena Theatre October 24, 2010 10:09 p.m.: Just walking in now. Papa Reu is finishing the catchy-but-not-catchy-enough-to-still-get-very-excited-about-hearing-it-l ... More >>

Musicians Who Will Fetch The Least In TwitChange Auction

​TwitChange, a charity organization dedicated to helping Haiti led by the only Desperate Housewife who doesn't look at least partially mummified, Eva Longoria, is having an auction that will change the very nature of self-obsession as we know it. Several celebrities have gotten together and ag ... More >>

The 5 Scariest Things About Denny's

boost ventilatorBasically an entire goddamn Grand Slam Breakfast between two slices of bread.​In the recent kerfluffle regarding Denny's new sandwich, the Fried Cheese Melt, we seem to have forgotten that it's far from the only reason to be afraid of the 24-hour restaurant chain. Allow us to r ... More >>

Musical Theology With John Coltrane, Robert Johnson

​Naxos continues to release episodes from the Masters of American Music documentary series from the '90s, and here are two from the latest releases (the two others profiling Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie). Not a straight biographical doc or even a chronological one about his album releases, The Wo ... 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 >>

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 >>

Kick 'em While They're Down: The Worst Songs Ever Recorded For Charity

Please take this thing away from me. Please.​ When Rocks Off received an email touting Sting's new MySpace charity video for the Prince of Wales' Rainforest Project, we almost chipped a fingernail hurriedly clicking on the link, which promised oodles of celebrities such as Olivia Newton-John, Rich ... More >>

Ten Cover Songs So Bad They'll Shrivel Your Soul

Two nights ago, while carelessly patrolling the back alleys of the internet, Rocks Off stumbled across Hilary Duff's execrable cover of The Who's "My Generation". Well, what did you think, YouTube commenters? ​ You sure you're not being too harsh? ​ Yeah... ours too. Someday, when we ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Chamillionaire, Kid Cudi & Jay-Z, Mike Epps, The Kanye, T.I., Chris Brown, DJ AM, Slim Thug, 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: Chamillionaire, "Good Morning" Wire To Wire Despite what you initially want to think about Cham's new s ... More >>

Rocks Off Exclusive: A Sneak Peek at Tom DeLay's Dancing With the Stars Dance Card

By now, the news about former Sugar Land Congressman Tom DeLay's impending appearance on ABC's Dancing with the Stars has had time to sink in, and the long-term ramifications of this colossal melding of two of our greatest loves (reality television and the suffering of others) are starting to becom ... More >>

Memorial Day Rockers, Part 2: The Navy

The U.S. Navy has an equally strange list of famous musician alumni as any other branch: Two musical laughingstocks and a titan of mournful soul were former midshipmen.

Five Spot: OHMYGOD MC HAMMER AND VANILLA ICE ARE DOING A REUNION SHOW!!!

The Ice / Hammer feud raged furiously in grade-school study halls across the nation.Photo by marcelgermain 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. Dude ... 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 >>

Turning the Screw: Soulbrotha, Slim Thug, Will Smith, Lil Wayne/Michael Phelps, Jodeci, DMX, MC Hammer, Yungstar 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: "Viva La Revolucion," Soulbrotha Wire To Wire Slim Thug says March will be highlighted by the relea ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Prince AJ

Leaving no gimmick unturned, that Super Size Me guy goes searching for Public Enemy No. 1 in Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Vince Neil, Quiet Riot, Slaughter

Vince Neil, Quiet Riot and Slaughter perform Friday, July 27, at Sam Houston Race Park, 7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway West, 281-807-8700.

Let It Blow

The Original Dirty Rapper is still coming up with new ways to scandalize

Can't Touch the MMMBop

A new boxed set excavates the '90s

Those Damn Kids

In Pasadena, it's those damn adults

Boxing the Rock

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

How to Dismantle an Atomic Mom

A critic debates the merits of U2's latest with his mother

Rick James RIP, Bitch

Houston DJs pay homage to the funky one

Art Theory

The big dumb glam of Fischerspooner don't need no education

Fallen Angels

Charlie’s high-flying heroines kick ass, but not the sequel syndrome

Fat Joe

Tuesday, June 18

Annus Horribilis

The El Orbits' David Beebe comes back from the near-dead

Risky Business

ROI Films is aiming for the big screen

Rave Rules

No one over 25 should be in attendance, but if you are, here's the game plan

Riding the Rap

A new book chronicles the bloody rise and fall of Death Row Records

Rap Gets Puffy

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

Break's Over