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Ask a Rapper: Brew of Dark Sunz and Lower Life Form, "We're All Hustling"
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 introducingliston@gmail.com. Video by flygirltv This Week's Rapper: Brew of Lower Life Form/Dark Sunz Brew, "EZ on Urself" This Week's Subject(s): Rappers and the hustler lifestyle; how hip-hop is like Michael Jacks
August 25, 2009A Third Ward Pawnshop iPod and the Mysterious Fate of Previous Owner "Scooby"
Whoever he is (was?), Scooby's iPod wasn't short on R. Kelly.So a couple of weeks ago, after three or four years of increasingly faltering service, Rocks Off's 30 GB iPod finally died. Completely. Out of sheer broke-assedness, we had held on to it for longer than most. By the end, its quirks and shenanigans were endless, not least its inability to hold a charge whether or not it was actually turned on, so perhaps it was something other than foolishness that impelled us to wear it out in the r
August 26, 2009Turning 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 download it. It's free. You know, when we first heard "Forever," the Drake/Eminem/Weezy/Kanye collaboration, we were pretty underwhelmed. But the more we listen to it, the more we like it. Sorry, you
August 31, 2009Ask A Rapper: Grammy-Winning Electro-Songbird T-Pain
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 introducingliston@gmail.com.Larami Culbertson Note: We'd just like to mention that in the scant two-month history of the Ask A Rapper column, we've brought questions to two Grammy winners. You know, it's nothing r
September 1, 2009The Forgotten Festival
September 3, 2009The H-Town Countdown, No. 21: Ganksta NIP's South Park Psycho
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. Ganksta NIP South Park Psycho (Priority, 1992) We wrote about NIP at length a couple of week's ago. Read about him here if you missed the article. South Park Psycho was the debut work of South Park's monster rapper Ganksta NIP. It's 14 tracks of balled-up fury and viscer
September 3, 2009Ask a Rapper: Scooby of G.R.I.T. Boys Gives Us the Three Greatest Houston Rap Groups Ever, Including His Own
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 introducingliston@gmail.com. This Week's Rapper: Scooby of G.R.I.T. Boys This Week's Subject(s): Rap groups as pornos; selling out group members; the three best rap groups from Houston. Ask a Rapper: Being a member
September 8, 2009Zoya Shuhatovich plays Shostakovich
September 10, 2009Five Direct Beatles Connections to Texas
Four postcards included in the limited edition of The Beatles: Rock Band Looks like Beatlemania 2.0 is in full swing. Rocks Off may have mentioned how excited we are to play The Beatles: Rock Band at Coffee Groundz tonight, with prizes, drink specials and much laughter as we try to gnash our way through "I Saw Her Standing There." Shortly after noon, we called over to Cactus Music to see how the freshly released remastered Beatles catalog was selling. The complete box set sold out in pre-sale
September 9, 2009Five Spot: A Crap N.O.R.E. Track Reminds Us of Bun B's Better Days
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.Marco Torres Yesterday, N.O.R.E. released "Set Trip," a wispy, "Look How Tough I Am," available-via-Internet track that nobody's going to care about in four or five days. We mention it though, because it features a swift contribution from one of Houston's hip-hop archetypes: Bun B. We actually saw Bun B not to
September 11, 2009Turning the Screw: Dustin Prestige: ESG, 50 Cent, Lil' Jon (Whaaaat?!), Lil' Wayne, Snoop & Dre, Taylor Swift's Revenge, 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.Courtesy Dustin PrestigeSingle of the Week: Dustin Prestige (right), "Polos and AKs, Pt. 2" Wire To Wire Counting down the days until ESG releases his album. Please don't let it be crappy, please don't let it be crappy, please don't let... And for this week's installment of Books That Probably Aren't Helping The Book Ind
September 14, 2009Overkill? No Such Thing
September 17, 2009Ten 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 are in our twilight years, we will think wistfully back to how we lived as teenagers, how we lived as college students, how freely we loved our first loves... and tearfully, we will remember the peop
September 17, 2009Fix Your Face
September 24, 2009Busdriver
September 24, 2009Eric Roberson
October 1, 2009Songs By ACL Artists That Should Be Covered By Other ACL Artists
Isn't it fun to imagine all your favorite bands are best friends? And that when they spend time together, as so many of them are doing right this second at the Austin City Limits festival, they would inevitably learn each others' songs? Here are some songs by ACL bands which we'd like to see covered by other ACL bands. We think they've got time to make it happen. Song: Sleepyhead Original Artist: Passion Pit Who Should Cover It: The Dirty Projectors "Sleepyhead" is the weirdest song that Roc
October 2, 2009Turning The Screw: Z-Ro, Cham, Plies, 50 Cent, The Kanye, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, DJ Mr. Magic, Fabolous, T-Pain, The Undergods 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: "Haterz Got Me Wrong," Z-Ro feat. Gucci Mane and C-Ward [This is another leaked single from the phantom Z-Ro album we wrote about last Friday. If this does happen to be Heroin repackaged, do not be surprised to find Ro in a dumpster somewhere very soon. J. Prince does not fuck around.] Wire To Wire:
October 5, 2009ACL 2009 Day Three: Spin the Black Circle
Photos by Mark C. AustinIt only took one song in to Pearl Jam's Sunday night closing set at the Austin City Limits music festival for it to dawn on Rocks Off that for way too long this band has been forsaken by back-handed hipster discount and radio-influenced apathy. No band from the grunge-era is still honing their craft as well, and continues to thoughtfully subvert their own musical journey as much as Pearl Jam. Opening with "Why Go" from Ten, the band wasn't just firing on all cyli
October 5, 2009Inside the Rappers Studio
October 8, 2009Turning 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 Look Good" song until we realized that he's from rural Texas. We still don't like it very much, but we've actively stopped wishing for him to get polio. Wire To Wire Here's the album version of that Roy
October 12, 2009Dancing With the Stars: Things Ain't The Same Without Delay
Someone needs to find this guy a hobby...I'll be honest: I didn't know if I'd be able to find the strength to soldier on now that Tom "Dazzle Me Dreamy" DeLay had left Dancing With the Stars. What light be light if Tommy be not seen? Now I finally knew what Jesse and Slater meant when they sang "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You." Tom Bergeron tried to make me forget my pain when he breathlessly informed viewers last night that four new dances were being introduced in a first for t
October 13, 2009Five Clips In Memory of L.A. Punk Documentarian Brendan Mullen
Brendan Mullen, documentarian of the early L.A. punk scene, died this past Monday at the age of 60. From the basement of a porno theater to The Decline of Western Civilization, the Scottish-born implant helped chronicle early American West Coast punk both orally and through the written word, ending his life's work with a series of books on the scene. Below, five videos in his memory. First, here's Mullen in the seminal documentary on L.A. Punk explaining in technical terms why punk is better tha
October 16, 2009It's Brodeo Time! RodeoHouston Announces Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Brooks & Dunn for 2010
Daniel KramerThe Jonas Brothers at RodeoHouston 2009 Monday morning, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announced the first four entertainers next March's musical entertainment at Reliant Stadium. Jonas Brothers, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and Brooks & Dunn have all been tapped to perform at next year's rodeo. The Kix and Ronnie date will be the duo's last rodeo appearance, as B&D plan to part ways at the end of 2010. This will be the Jonas Brothers' second Houston rodeo appearance a
October 19, 2009Ask a Rapper: Karina Nistal Loves Common, Mike Jones Not So Much
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 introducingliston@gmail.com. This Week's Rapper: Bilingual Latina femmestress Karina Nistal This Week's Subject(s): Rappers switching genres; Rappers getting that money. Sadia ZubairAsk A Rapper: Okay, we might be
October 20, 2009Season of the Witch
October 22, 2009Lonesome Onry and Mean: Has Miranda Lambert Sparked a Revolution In Nashville?
If there is a ticking time bomb signaling the impending end of the '80s hair-band nature of mainstream country music, Miranda Lambert is probably lighting the fuse. Lambert's third album, Revolution, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart last week and sold 23 percent more (almost 69,000 units) out of the gate than her previous album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which ended up as the 2008 Country Music Association album of the Year.It doesn't take many listens to the searing Revol
October 22, 2009"My Son Is the Lizard King, and I'm an Admiral": Successful Rock-Star Parents
Late Thursday, word came across the ticker that legendary comedian and TV star Soupy Sales had passed away at age 83. After a stint in the military and on radio, Sales went on to be one of the major pioneers of televised sketch and children's comedy. In 1965, he pulled a stunt where he asked his young viewers to go into their parents' wallets and purses and send him those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" in exchange for a postcard from Puerto Rico. The stunt didn
October 23, 2009Aftermath: Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill and a Whole Lotta Gear at Warehouse Live
Photos by Jody Perry Fans in the crowd at Warehouse Live's Dinosaur Jr. show Friday night should have known what was in store for them when J Mascis' roadies began setting up his equipment. Six amps for a single guitar player. If you thought the show was loud, imaging standing three feet in front of them, like Mascis has for the last 25 years.Aftermath finally made it through the security line in time to catch the last few songs from opener Lou Barlow, once friend and then foe of Mascis. T
October 26, 2009Turning the Screw: Lil Keke, Trae, Dre vs. Rush Limbaugh, Weezer, Weezy, Chamillionaire, 50 vs. Jay-Z, The Kanye, Nas, DMX, Big Pokey, 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: "Still Here," Lil' Keke Wire To Wire Again, congratulations to Trae and the newest tiny Trae. Hey, Rush: Fuck off. Sincerely, Dr. Dre.
October 26, 2009Lonesome Onry and Mean: All Hail the King of Irish Rock and Soul, Van the Man Morrison
Obviously with U2 and the Pogues alone, the Irish scene has had a huge effect on the pop music of the past half century. But no list of Irish influences on 20th century rock and roll can be complete without Van Morrison. In 1968, LOM's senior year in high school, Them played the Ector County Coliseum in our West Texas hometown of Odessa. By 1968, Morrison had left the band, but the rest of Them moved to the States and toured until the money ran out. Them made some very interesting bluesy roc
October 27, 2009Itzhak Perlman
October 29, 2009Tween Dreams
October 29, 2009The H-Town Countdown, No. 13: DJ Screw's 3 N' Tha Mornin' Pt. 2 (Blue)
Roughly 84,000 rap albums have been released in Houston since 1989. We're counting down the 25 best of all time every Thursday. Got a problem with the list? Shove it. Just kidding. Friendship. Email it to sheaserrano@gmail.com. DJ Screw 3 N' Da Mornin, Part 2 (Big Tyme Records, 1995)While researching the Countdown, we came across two very distinct opinions regarding this album; naturally, they were almost diametrically opposed to one another. People either argued that it should be placed some
October 29, 2009Turning the Screw: Bun B, Slim Thug & Killa Kyleon, Bun B & Wale, Chingo Bling, Z-Ro vs. Lil Flip, Jay-Z, 50, The Kanye, Run-DMC, DMX, More Chingo, 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: "She Love It" remix, feat. Bun B, Slim Thug and Killa Kyleon After watching the actual video for this song about 15 times, were able to deduce that some might consider it to be fairly derogatory towards women, so we decided to use this version instead. You're free to find it on your own though. And if
November 2, 2009Ask 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 introducingliston@gmail.com. Note: This edition will be a two-parter. We're discussing ageism in hip-hop, so it seemed appropriate to get the perspective of both the hungry up-and-comer and the cagey veteran. Playing
November 3, 2009Program Notes: Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 1809-1847Here at Rocks Off, we enjoy album covers with turds on them and making fun of R. Kelly as much as the next guy. And just wait until Chris Brown gets here next weekend. But there's a lot more to music than that. In a possibly fruitless effort to class up the joint a bit, we're introducing a new feature illuminating some of our favorite works in the classical repertoire as played by the Houston Symphony. We could have hardly picked a better pla
November 4, 2009A Few of Music's Biggest Tattoo Enthusiasts - Besides Rocks Off, Of Course
Don't act so surprised... As we can fatefully attest, rock and roll and tattoos go hand in hand. The first time Rocks Off saw a grizzled punk rocker walk by at Fitzgerald's back in the '90s with two sleeves full of tattoos and a chest full of nautical-themed art, we mentally pointed at him and said "That's what we want", and from that day on we were hooked. Since we started getting tattoos we have seen the world change in regards to how inked people are regarded. They were one or all the follow
November 5, 2009He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Grandfathers, Part 2
He Said Grandpa Songs He Said was lucky to have spent twenty-five years on Earth with his Grandpa Hlavaty, who passed away in the summer of 2008 of a brain hemorrhage. The man was arguably one of the biggest musical influences in He Said's life. The intrepid and stealthy Grandpa Gonzalez is kicking the around the country somewhere on a sweet motorcycle or driving through the Midwest in his gigantic RV and his chihuahua with Grandma Ana watching a movie in the back. Seeing that He Said is one-hal
November 5, 2009Which Hard-Rocking Northern Irishmen Might Blow AC/DC Off the Stage Sunday? The Answer Is The Answer
Rocks Off is about as excited about Sunday's AC/DC show as we were for the Black Ice ballbreakers' show 11 months ago, but for a much different reason. Last time it was because we hadn't seen AC/DC since 1996 at Austin's Frank Erwin Center; this time it's because we're itching to see the band behind our pick for hard-rock album of the year, Everyday Demons. It's not AC/DC, rather openers The Answer. Formed in Belfast in 2000, the Answer is fueled by the denim-and-diamonds riffs of guitarist P
November 6, 2009Aftermath: AC/DC, Deja Vu All Over Again - Except Maybe Better - at Toyota Center
Photos by Daniel KramerYes, you've seen these photos before - hey, it's not our fault. Trust us, the band pretty much looks the same. Aftermath suspected AC/DC's return to Toyota Center might be a little similar to the ageless Aussies' December 2008 Black Ice tour stop here because, well, we cheated and looked up set lists from the band's Oklahoma City, Dallas and Austin stops last week on setlist.fm. Lo and behold, we were right. Sunday night, we saw the same songs (save two), the same borde
November 9, 2009Get Lit: Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times by Dr. Ralph Stanley With Eddie Dean
While growing up in rural Virginia in the shadow of his beloved Clinch Mountains, a young Ralph Stanley was given his choice of presents to celebrate his 11th birthday: a pig or a banjo. Thankfully for the history of American country and bluegrass music, he chose the latter, even learning to play it in the "clawhammer" style from his music-loving mother. Ralph Stanley first began performing - not surprisingly - in church, where his take on the simple, a cappella hymn style favored by the Prim
November 9, 2009Ask
A RapperAn R&B Sensation: Platinum-Selling, Grammy Winning Singer / Songwriter / Heartthrob Robin ThickeThe 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 introducingliston@gmail.com.Photos by Marco Torres Note: Due to a scheduling snafu, the follow-up to last week's Ageism in Hip-Hop discussion with Rob Quest had to be postponed until next week. Robin Thicke was in t
November 10, 2009The Boys Are Back
November 12, 2009Lonesome Onry and Mean: Dear Local Musicians, Grammy Consideration Is Not the Same Thing As Grammy Nominations
Ah, here we go again with local artists trumpeting "Grammy nominations." The latest is Atascocita-grown country singer Susan Hickman, who seems to fancy herself as a Miranda Lambert/Martina McBride type. We stumbled across Hickman accidentally through MySpace's "Status Updates," and our eye was immediately drawn to: "Susan Hickman Up for 6 1st Round Grammy Nominations." Now Lonesome, Onry and Mean doesn't claim to know everything about what's going on around here, but we do try to keep our ear
November 11, 2009Artist of the Week: Country Store Buffalo on Breast Implants, Beer-Drinking Bison and That Old Devil Cocaine
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. You are in the enviable position of someone about to witness history. Get ready for it. To help with the mood, why don't you go ahead and pretend like there are horns blaring in the background and somebody just released a f
November 11, 2009Aftermath: We Do Not Choke Other People, Even at a Dethklok/ Mastodon/ Converge/ High on Fire Metalocalypse
Photos by Marc BrubakerDethklok If you were to tell any random music fan on the street that a tour with the four bands on the "Adult Swim Presents" would be happening, they would say "Oh sure, fuck it. Why not? It's all loud." But that's sort of where the tour planners alternately went wrong and right. These four bands - Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge and High on Fire - represent four distinct strains of metal, which in turn also come with four groups of disparate fans. If there were open-minde
November 13, 2009Lonesome Onry and Mean: The Sickest, Most Twisted Musical Genre Isn't Gangsta Rap - It's Bluegrass
Not really sure whether it's our alcohol mixture, some pharmacological imbalance our sex life or just male menopausal phenomena, but lately Lonesome, Onry and Mean has been on an evil bluegrass jag. Nothing like playing our Stanley Brothers 45-rpm of "If I Lose" - "If I lose, let me lose/ I don't care how much I lose/ If I lose a hundred dollars while I'm tryin' to win a dime/ My baby, she's got money all the time" - to make us feel like drinkin' a barrel of moonshine, sharpening our razor and
November 18, 2009The Way He Sees It
November 19, 2009For Your Entertainment? Nice Try, Adam Lambert, But These Music-Awards Moments Were Even Creepier
The best news that Jennifer Lopez could possibly have heard this morning was that America is still more interested in clucking about public displays of gayness than in pointing and laughing when a diva falls on her ass. We imagine there's already one of those jumbo-sized Harry & David fruit baskets on its way to Adam Lambert's house with a thank-you card handwritten by J.Lo herself. Lambert's performance at Sunday night's American Music Awards (which Rocks Off missed, being at an actual c
November 23, 2009
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© 2009 Village Voice Media All rights reserved.