Pharrell Williams

Aftermath: Common and N.E.R.D. at Verizon Wireless Theater

Against Me! at ACL Fest

Turning the Screw: K-Otix, T-Pain, Bun B & Face?, Jay-Z & Coldplay, Master P, The Game, The Kanye, MF Doom and More

Aftermath: Madonna at Minute Maid Park

Photos by Daniel Kramer “Did you cry?” Aftermath asked a new friend during the mass exodus from Minute Maid Park after Madonna’s first Houston show since she opened 1990’s Blonde Ambition tour at the Summit. “Yes,” she said, and from what Aftermath could gather from an informal stra ... More >>

Idol Beat, Part 1: More Hollywood Week

Photos courtesy FoxYou thought the funeral was over? You thought all those tears were dried up? You were wrong, my friends - so very, very wrong. Aye, verily, the bloodletting continued unabated as Hollywood Week wound down. Hey, Ryan Seacrest warned us at the outset: "The stakes are as high ... More >>

Common: Universal Mind Control

Photos courtesy FoxYou thought the funeral was over? You thought all those tears were dried up? You were wrong, my friends - so very, very wrong. Aye, verily, the bloodletting continued unabated as Hollywood Week wound down. Hey, Ryan Seacrest warned us at the outset: "The stakes are as high ... More >>

Spymob, with N.E.R.D., the Roots and Kelis

Wednesday, August 27

Superproducer Pharrell Williams is at Home in N.E.R.D.

The Nose Knows

Kanye, Jay-Z, Mary J. and Rihanna Clamor for Diva Status

The Nose Knows

Rap's Rapidly Vanishing Female MC

The Why Chromosome

Billion Dollar Babies

Rappers and their ten-figure dreams

Britney Spears, Blackout

Blackout

Royal Treatment

The King of beats holds court

Immigrant Song

Watch out for Miami rapper Pitbull's bite

Houston Hip-Hop

Mike Watts and his stable of northside rappers take a southside legend's style to the masses

Jamie Cullum

Monday, May 15, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-629-3700

Eva's My All-Star

Monday, May 15, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-629-3700

Reform School

The College Dropout rethinks his stance on education in the year 2010

Thug Life

Slim Thug has paid the cost to be the Dirty South boss

Monsters of Hip

Five bands' worth of Urban Outfitters employees grace Cardi's stage with shopworn licks and attire

On the Down-Low

Shovel away all that Usher, Prince and Lil Jon you've been jamming, and dig this year's buried black-music treasures

On the Down-Low

Shovel away all that Usher, Prince and Lil Jon you've been jamming and dig this year's buried black-music treasures

Rotation

Handsome Boy Modeling School, Molotov and Rufus Wainwright

How Long, Oh, Lord, How Long

Another outpost of crap plops onto the Houston dial, as this open letter reveals

N.E.R.D.

Fly or Die (Virgin)

Cee-Lo

Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine (Arista)

Kelis

Tasty (StarTrak/Arista)

The Neptunes

Clones (Star Trak/Arista)

Invisible Man

Kenna doesn't care if you see him. He just wants you to hear him.

Black Gold

A gusher lay beneath the surface, but you had to drill deep

Clipse

Lord Willin' (Star Trak/Arista)

Turning the Screw: Slim Thug & Friends, Bun B & Friends, 50 Cent & Susan Boyle(!), Kid Cudi, Chris Brown, OutKast, Kidz In the Hall, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Sade, 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: Juicy J & Project Pat feat. Slim Thug & New Genesis, "Ike Turner Pimpin'" "I'm a motherfuckin' ... More >>

Y'all Musta Forgot: Slim Thug's Already Platinum

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. Slim Thug Already Platinum (Geffen, 2005) ​Already Platinum was Slim's official debut album, but mor ... More >>

Bama Boyz On Producing Beyonce's "Why Don't You Love Me"

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@ ... 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 >>

Last Night: Gorillaz At Toyota Center

Photos by Jim Bricker​ Gorillaz Toyota Center October 19, 2010 For more photos from the show, see our slideshow here. Gorillaz may have overspent on their first-ever extended tour. True, the entire concept is that the group is officially made up of four cartoon characters, so there kind of ... More >>

Remember Slim Thug's Boss of all Bosses?

Houston's history is dotted with albums that, fairly or un, have been swept aside. We'll examine them here. Have an album that you think nobody knows about but should? Email sheaserrano@gmail.com. ​Slim Thug Boss of All Bosses (Koch, 2009) Boss of all Bosses is Slim Thug's official sophomore ... More >>

Narduwar The Human Serviette's 11 Best Interviews

exclaim.caNarduwar (left) and the patron saint of 4/20​Nardwuar The Human Serviette from "Vancouver BC Canada" knows all of your favorite bands, artists, and rappers better than you, and better than they know themselves. At first glance, he kind of resembles a Canadian Matthew Lesko (the free- ... More >>

What Hip-Hop's Cash Kings Should Buy With All That Loot

​Forbes has unveiled its annual list of hip-hop cash kings. The Top 20 includes 21 big shottas - who said math was a requirement to work at Forbes? - with whom we'd gladly trade bank accounts. Pop the hood to see Rocks Off's breakdown of the Top 10 earners and what they should buy with all th ... More >>

Pharrell Launches New Qream Liqueur At Exclusive Event

Photos by Marco Torres​Pharrell Williams wears many hats. He's a Grammy-Award winning producer, singer, songwriter, rapper, and successful clothing designer. Amongst those things, Williams has picked up one more project to juggle. Friday night, Williams dropped into Houston for the launch of ... More >>

Top 6 Most Underappreciated Hip-Hop Albums, By Le$

​This Week's Rapper: Le$ (pronounced "Less," though it's way more fun to call him L-E-dollar sign) This Week's Topic: Underappreciated albums, mixtapes, songs, etc. Last year, Le$ released a very good mixtape called The Beautiful Struggle. It was almost entirely overlooked. So, we asked L-E- ... More >>

The X Factor: Rain Delay and Judges' Houses

Photo by FOXJust wait until the "Judges' moms' houses" round!​First, this recap was delayed because the Wednesday night baseball playoff game was rain delayed, canceling that night's X Factor episode--yet another reason for me to hate baseball. Second, naming the latest round of competition "t ... More >>

DJ EQUE: "Bad Azz Red Gurl" Etches Her Name In Wax

Photo by Marco TorresDJ EQUE at the launch party for Pharrell's Qreme liqueur, Las Vilas, September 23, 2011​DJ EQUE has been making her mark in the industry for more than 10 years, but it was never something that came easy for her. The Houston-bred beauty had a lot to prove before she was tak ... More >>

Y'all Musta Forgot: Le$'s Luminescent Settle 4 Le$ Vol. 2

​"I gotta stay paid 'cause I like fly shit." -- Le$, "Gangsta" There was this time where, on Twitter, Le$ remarked that someone -- a street tough, presumably- had told him that his shoes were ugly. He Instagramed the right one. It was an Ice Cream sneaker, an explosion of colors and ideas fr ... More >>

Tips For A Successful NYE from David Anderson, Houston's Party King

photo by Marco TorresHaving a great time? Probably thanks to this guy.​ Remember that one awesome party, the invite-only one with the open bar that was sponsored by a liquor company, where everyone was beautiful and hip, and you got to mingle with Big Boi or Pharrell Williams or Bun B? Either ... More >>