Nas (Rapper)

Distant Relatives

Houston's Luisa Diaz is NYC rapper Nas's biggest fan, with the tattoos to prove it.

Nas' Biggest Fan Lives In Houston, With the Tattoos to Prove It

Think about your favorite musician for a minute. Do you remember the first time you heard his or her voice? Can you relate each album or song to a different stage or major occurrence in your life? How many times have you seen him or her (or them) in concert, let alone met and engaged them in conver ... More >>

Five Great Violent Hip-Hop Songs (for Lupe Fiasco)

Lupe Fiasco used to be a talented, socially conscious rapper known for putting out really good hip-hop albums. Since he hasn't done one of those in a while, he's more well known these days for criticizing President Obama and espousing conspiracy theories about 9/11. Recently he was back in the news ... More >>

Hell Freezes Over: The Ends of Five Great Musical Feuds

Last month marked the end of one of the great musical feuds of the 1990s. Any Britpop fan knows you can either be a fan of Oasis or of Blur, but not a fan of both. The two bands hated each other's guts and were in constant competition throughout the decade. So all of us in the press were shocked wh ... More >>

Five Weird Bands to Watch in 2013

I have to be honest with you here, readers: when I see a "bands to watch in (insert year here)" list, I usually give it a cursory look, wretch in disgust, and x out of it as quickly as possible. Not because the bands are awful, because they're bland! Almost every list focuses on some flavor-of-the-w ... More >>

Last Night: Nas Raps Most of Illmatic at Ei8ht Lounge

Nas Ei8ht Lounge February 14, 2013 "I ain't been to no All-Star shit in so long... I'm glad it's in Houston," a cheerful Nasir Jones told the crowd that packed one of Washington Ave's newer establishments, E8ght Lounge on Thursday night. "I love y'all." Inside the venue itself, a sprawl with two b ... More >>

All the Rappers Who Will Be Here All-Star Weekend, Part 2

"Are you going to StripperFest?" "Excuse me, am I going to what?" "StripperFest. It's a thing at All-Star Weekend." Rewind: All the Rappers Who Will Be Here All-Star Weekend, Part 1 If I told you a complete stranger with his or her own guide to All-Star Weekend told me such a thing, I would be ... More >>

Top 5 Reasons Not to Be a Concert Promoter

Have you ever dreamed of promoting your own shows? I'll bet you've even sat around at times plotting out your own bills, dreaming of how awesome it would be to see an all-star line-up of, let's say, Poison, Ratt, Tesla, WASP, White Lion, and Cinderella. And while that sounds absolutely horrific, I'm ... More >>

Justin, Selena and Music's Top 10 Heartbreaking Split-Ups

By now, we've all had a few days to digest the awful, shocking news that North America's sweethearts, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, have decided to buck destiny and call it quits. We're not entirely sure how this could have happened, but Obama was just reelected. Clearly, our worst fears are alrea ... More >>

Nas, Lauryn Hill

Nas & Ms. Lauryn Hill Playing Bayou Music Center October 31

Rapper Nas and Ms. Lauryn Hill today announced their tandem Life Is Good/Black Rage tour, with an October 31 Houston date inluded. The duo will be at the Bayou Music Center on Halloween Night. Nas just released a new disc, Life Is Good, this past July and Ms. Lauryn Hill -- as she is now being bill ... More >>

New Music From Scarface, Nas, Trae, Kirko Bangz, Bun B, Slim Thug, Paul Wall, Z-Ro... In 2 Songs

Let's not dance around this too much. Two songs came out Thursday that you need to hear. The first inexplicably comes via DJ Khaled, rap DJ/producer/screamer/barterer. His new album(!?) comes out this August, which respectable Houstonians will be strong-armed into purchasing because it includes gu ... More >>

Back On My Block: Celebrating 10 Years of Scarface's The Fix

Ten years ago today, Scarface broke through nationally for good with The Fix. His work with the Geto Boys had made him a cult favorite, making his story of being better than amazing to put Houston on the rap map. The Diary; Mr. Scarface Is Back rank as Nos. 3 and 6 on Rocks Off's list of the Top 25 ... More >>

Heat Index: The 10 Summer Album Releases We're Sweatin' the Most

Most places in the world, summertime is easy living: No school, no snow and no real responsibilities beyond mowing the lawn every couple of weeks. Here in Houston, summer is a little more intense. Triple-digit temperatures, hurricane warnings and Astros baseball present an annual threat to our city' ... More >>

Nas, Ms. Lauryn Hill

Shot In The Dark: Angels & A-Holes

When you're in the photo pit taking pictures for a publication such as Rocks Off, you can become the unwanted center of attention from both the audience and especially the artists. Most of the time you are only a few feet away from the performer, and often in their direct line of sight. They can and ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012

So, we come to it: the end of all things. Four days of madness, Doritos, Skrillex and finally, St. Patrick's Day. Before we bid SXSW 2012 farewell, allow us to share our favorite moments from SXSW day four. Later, we'll let you know which shows weren't so hot. Find our favorites below, and if there ... More >>

Fool's Gold Makers Dirty And Nasty Discuss... Fool's Gold

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? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. Thi ... More >>

7 Musician Exes (Or Daughters) Who Should Write Tell-All Books

7. Dita Von Teese (Marilyn Manson): Famed burlesque performer Dita Von Teese (above) met Marilyn Manson in 2001. He proposed in 2004, and the couple wed a year later. Von Teese filed for divorce when she couldn't deal with Manson's alcohol abuse and his extramarital affair with actress Evan Rachel W ... More >>

Bill O'Reilly, Battle Rapper: The Blowhard's Illest Beefs

"I got dirt on you, doggy!" ​Pac and Biggie... Nas and Jigga... Bill O'Reilly and every rapper who has had some commercial success. You can't exclude O'Reilly from battle rap, he is a heavy-hitting contender in the hip-hop arena. Remember when he insisted that people boycott Pepsi products be ... More >>

White Rappers & The N-Word Conundrum: 4 Case Studies

"You're talking to the wrong white man, my friend. My people were the white man's nigger when yours were still painting their faces and chasing zebras." - Herman 'Hesh' Rabkin (Jerry Adler), The Sopranos Yes, that was their name.​Freshman year of college. One of my good friends was a white ki ... 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 >>

Rise Of Lil B And Odd Future Both A Gift And A Curse

​So you've written the greatest song the world has never heard. You spent a good two-and-half hours on those brain-melting metaphors, and another three laying them on wax. Every bar requires repeated listening to fully digest. Your ad-libs are on point like Chris Paul. The beat knocks harder ... More >>

Seven Food-Inspired Rap Songs

Yeah, they actually exist. Here are seven tasty rap tributes to food sure to get you salivating. 7. Freestyle Fellowship - "Cornbread" Aceyalone recommends a meal plan that will have you reaching for a bottle of Pepto. Cherry coke, cantaloupe, and a trip to the chocolate bar? Uh...no, ... 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 >>

Top Five Hip-Hop Foes Turned Friends

Marco Torres​Some rivalries are beyond repair. You'll never catch Kobe and Shaq trading smiles at a joint family picnic. 50 Cent and The Game will still be mugging at each other at the 2021 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors. Batman will always despise that sonamabitch The Joker. Truth be told, hip-hop is a ... More >>

Wu-Tang Clan's Best Pop-Culture References

​Rocks Off can't rightfully remember the last time the whole Wu-Tang Clan was ever in Houston, if they ever have been. For some reason, we keep wanting to think they came once with Rage Against The Machine around 1997. In 2007, they came to Dallas on the Rock The Bells summer tour with Nas, Ta ... More >>

Homecoming

Gang Starr's DJ Premier still mourns partner Guru.

The Five Most Bogus Rapper Apologies

​It's the unwritten rule in rap: never apologize. Offering apology in hip-hop is a sign of weakness and rappers simply can't appear weak, no matter what. Sorry, that's just the way it is. Yet, every now and then we'll see a rapper apologize for stepping out of line. Earlier this week, Paul Wa ... More >>

The Top Five Hidden Rap Tracks

​Life bursts at the seams with mysteries we'll never fully understand, like the Texans' decision to pass on Vince Young, Kesha's entire existence and the strange concept of hidden songs. Some of them are superior to the ones that make an album's final cut and track listing. Why hide a song th ... More >>

Is Bun B's Trill OG Really Worth The Source's Highest Rating?

Ed. Note: Unlike The Source, Houston Press style abbreviates "microphone" as "mike." ​Bun B's Trill OG has become the first hip-hop album to earn 5 mikes in The Source since 2005. In case you haven't picked up a copy of the magazine since the Clinton administration, here's a breakdown of its ... More >>

Blogging From Bonnaroo: Damien Marley and Nas, Tori Amos, Steve Martin

Photo by Mark C. Austin/See a slideshow​Houston artist Tyagaraja recently won the Ford Fiesta Team Houston Battle of The Bands, the grand prize of which was a trip to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. Meghan Hendley, keyboardist/vocalist for Tyagaraja, reports back to us wit ... More >>

Nas & Damien Marley Keep It All In The Distant Family

Photos by Marco Torres​ At 36, Nas has been one of hip-hop's most consistent record makers for the last decade. While his latest offering, Distant Relatives, isn't stone genius like, say 2001's Stillmatic, it's one of his best albums in years. Unfortunately for his place in music history, Nas cut ... More >>

Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley

Beyonce's Naughty T-Shirt, Devin's Suite 420, Eric B Vs. Nicki Minaj, Rick Astley Chopped And Screwed...

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: Kritikal Van Gogh, "Dog Eat Dog" Wire to Wire ​Beyonce had tongues wagging at this weekend's Coac ... More >>

Y'all Musta Forgot: Scarface's The Fix

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. Scarface The Fix (Geffen, 2005) ​The Fix is the seventh solo LP from Scarface, the album that h ... More >>

SXSW Aftermath: Distant Relatives Nas And Damien Marley Do The Riddim Thing

Dan Oko​ Sometimes SXSW screws even the badge-holders; many of whom waited an hour for this show. By the time the levels were set and rapper Nas took the stage, unfortunately, half the showcase time had burned away. Still, with what remained Nasty Nasir Jones and Damien "Jr Gong" Marley - pursuing ... More >>

V-Zilla is Houston's Hip-Hop Monster on the Mike

​ "The reason I want to be alone, is I'm tired of all the things that went wrong that would've went right if I had did 'em on my own." - Nas That quote is perfect for this story because Victor Gurrola, Jr., aka V-Zilla, was once the best rapper the world had ever seen who wasn't known by his own c ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Paul Wall, Pink, The Kanye, Jay-Z, Eminem, Necro, Bow Wow, Black Eyed Peas, Big Moe 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: "Bizzy Body," Paul Wall feat. Webbie Wire To Wire Pink is upset at The Kanye because of his appreciatio ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Flatline & Trae, Eminem, T.I., Jay-Z, Nas & Kelis, The Kanye, Danger Mouse, Devin the Dude 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: Flatline feat. Trae, "Fuckin' With Texas" Wire To Wire Eminem says he's the reason for the Chinese Demo ... More >>

Ludacris: Theater of the Mind

Aftermath: Nas and Talib Kweli at Warehouse Live

Aftermath: Geto Boys at Warehouse Live

Not Your Father's N-Word

Eight months after its "burial," the American language's most dangerous epithet is more popular than ever in hip-hop

“Perspectives 157: Xaviera Simmons”

The CAMH gets funky

Blog Critics' Greatest Rap CDs List

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