Mos Def

To Do: Listen to S.O.S. Radio, Hang Out with Wyclef

Turning the Screw: DZA, Trae, Al Sharpton, Common, Beyonce, Akon, Mos Def, Vanilla Ice and a Whole Lotta Obama

Turning the Screw: Promise Pseudo, Soulja Boy, Scarface, Rick Rubin, Akon, T.I., Doug E. Fresh, the Bee Gees 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: "Sunny," Promise Pseudo Wire To Wire We disliked Soulja Boy, and then we read this Scarface inte ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Caretta Bell

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. Photos courtesy of ... More >>

Be Kind Rewind Is a Muddle

Michel Gondry attempts to celebrate DIY filmmaking, but comes up short, stale and flat

2007 Music Year in Review

Michel Gondry attempts to celebrate DIY filmmaking, but comes up short, stale and flat

Hello, Houston!

Noise breaks down the months of live music ahead

Little Brother

Little Brother performs Friday, June 29, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483. Orgone and DJ Haul also perform.

Snap to It

Comeback kids, rhymin' Limeys and songs about partying defined Hip-Hop Nation in 2006

Hard Ride

Stuck with Bruce Willis in rush-hour traffic? You could always walk

Get Down with Dave

Chappelle returns with a raucous Block Party

Bum Rap

50 Cent wants to be an actor...but he's not

The Roots, with Floetry

Wednesday, June 8, at HUSH, 15625 Katy Freeway, 713-330-HUSH.

Steal These Albums

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

Feelings, Nothing But Feelings

The New York Times misses the point in its attack on "rockism"

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

The New York Times misses the point in its attack on "rockism"

Kanye West

College Dropout (Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella)

Best Hip-hop Radio Show

Vinyl Frontier

Mark Ronson

Here Comes the Fuzz (Elektra)

Safe, Cracked

The Italian Job, a remake better than the original, is a steal

X-ecutioners' Song

Four New York turntablists redefine the art of deejaying

Talib Kweli

Four New York turntablists redefine the art of deejaying

Zin Balance

The Third Ward's favorite son produces his most important album to date.

The Last Roundup: Broken-NCYDE, Jenny Lewis, H.A.W.K. & Z-Ro, Something Fierce and More

29-95's Joe Mathlete introduces the world to "crunkcore" artist Broken-NCYDE. Prima Donna meltdown or not, Jenny Lewis still has talent. If only she had manners. We Wore Masks screens her "See Fernando" video. Southern rap is still alive. Thankfully, Cocaine Blunts knows this, giving us H.A.W.K. an ... More >>

Summer Stock

29-95's Joe Mathlete introduces the world to "crunkcore" artist Broken-NCYDE. Prima Donna meltdown or not, Jenny Lewis still has talent. If only she had manners. We Wore Masks screens her "See Fernando" video. Southern rap is still alive. Thankfully, Cocaine Blunts knows this, giving us H.A.W.K. an ... More >>

Mos Def

29-95's Joe Mathlete introduces the world to "crunkcore" artist Broken-NCYDE. Prima Donna meltdown or not, Jenny Lewis still has talent. If only she had manners. We Wore Masks screens her "See Fernando" video. Southern rap is still alive. Thankfully, Cocaine Blunts knows this, giving us H.A.W.K. an ... More >>

Aftermath: Mos Def at House of Blues

Larami Culbertson​ 9:30 p.m.: Just walked in to see the place pretty well filled. Snoop is playing through the speaker system. If you walk into a venue and "Gin and Juice" is playing, you can take that as a sign that you're going to have a good time. Well, that or that a riot is going to break out ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Two: Aftermath

Photo by Mark C. Austin​Was it something we said or did? Aftermath openly gushed about how great the weather was on Friday and how it seemed that maybe, just maybe, we were going to finally attend an Austin City Limits (ACL) that didn't consist of heat and dust. Well, it seems that the powers ... More >>

ACL 2009: Best Tweets Of The Weekend

Armed with our sort-of handy cellphone we were able to Tweet from ground level at the festival, with sometimes hilarious and vulgar results. Mostly the latter, because we are foul people. Over time, our Twitter updates devolved into angry rants, as you will see below.@hprocksoff sez:Oh god they real ... More >>

Inside the Rappers Studio

Are you an aging hip-hop performer? Then the Rap Institute of Acting is for you!

Double Vision

Equally gifted in jazz and R&B, area native Robert Glasper moonlights in Maxwell's touring band.

Rocks Off's Picks for This Weekend's Fun Fun Fun Festival

You can think of this weekend's Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin as the indie, metal, and hip-hop little brother of the more staid Austin City Limits Music Festival. The fourth edition of the two-day event held in Waterloo Park in Austin starts tomorrow afternoon. Per our stated life path, Rocks Off will ... More >>

Somewhere Trouble Don't Go

The best Texas albums of 2009...or what we could squeeze in.

Hit the Road, Jack: 10 More Notable Musical Deaths From the Past Decade

​ Looking back, this past decade wasn't too kind to rock and roll as a whole. We lost plenty of people who weren't exactly disgustingly huge as Michael Jackson or as monolithic as Johnny Cash. This decade took its share of people who were massively influential and iconic, but not on the grand worl ... 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 >>

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 >>

Talib Kweli

​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 >>

Saturday Night: Talib Kweli At House Of Blues

Photos by Marco Torres​Talib Kweli House of Blues September 4, 2010 Once upon a time, Talib Kweli was poised to become a mainstream hip-hop success. His blend of conscious rhymes with accessible beats made him a force in rap. Peers, from Jay-Z to Kanye West, constantly showered him with adula ... More >>

I Hate My Album: Five Artists Who Dissed Their Own Work

​Albums are to artists what children are to parents: You never want your favorite kids to move out, but you can't wait to send the other ones off to college. (Rocks Off should know; we were one of those favorites.) Here, we salute five artists who were brave enough to distance themselves from ... More >>

Top Five Rap Duos That Will Probably Never Happen

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 >>

Bun B Hosting Ugandan Breakdance Doc Screening

"I'm not a politician, so I'm not going to use politics. I'm not a soldier, so I'm not going to hold a gun. I'm a B-boy." - Abraham "Abramz" Tekya, Founder, Breakdance Project Uganda ​Thursday at 7 p.m. on the Rice University Campus, a screening of the inspiring documentary Bouncing Cats will ... More >>

Remember Thurogood Wordsmith's The Appetizer EP?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or not, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Thurogood Wordsmith The Appetizer EP (Self-released, 2010) ​The noodle-voiced Thurogood Words ... More >>

Bun B Panel Debates Rappers' Social Responsibilities

RizohTuesday's panel (l-r): Tre9, Malice, Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Trae Tha Truth, Bun B​There was a time when everyone either wanted to be hip-hop or sleep with her. Hip-hop, in her nascent days, was akin to that hot chick everyone wanted to take to the dance. But now that hip-hop is old and ... More >>

The Five Best - And Two Worst - Rapper Actors

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 introducingliston@gmai ... More >>

The Six Best Movie Samples In Rap Songs

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 >>

Black Star

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 >>

Last Night: Black Star At House Of Blues

Photos by Marco Torres​Black Star feat. Mos Def & Talib Kweli House of Blues September 8, 2011 Mos Def knows how to make an exit. With the lights dimmed and the curtains dancing toward the middle, Mos Def stayed on stage and shimmied to the beat of Archie Bell & The Drells' "Tighten Up." The ... More >>

Eight Shows MTV, VH1 & BET Should Bring Back

​We live in a time where crappy reality television has taken over three of the networks that were once originally dedicated to music videos, artist interviews and delivering current events from the younger generation's perspective. With all the flack that MTV (Music Television) gets about not ... More >>

Jon Black Dreams Up Five Collaborations The World Needs

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 >>

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 >>