Public Enemy

RIP, James Brown

Drenched In Blog: The Humpty Blog

Turning the Screw: Fela Kuti, Jay-Z, Left Eye, Lil Wayne, Ed McMahon, Ciara, DMX and More

Rotation

Rotation

Rotation

You Go, Gil

The Public Enemy

Domy screens the James Cagney classic about booze, broads and big shots

Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, UGK, Pharoahe Monch, David Banner, Immortal Technique, Jedi Mind Tricks, Supernatural, Rahzel

Rock the Bells goes down Wednesday, August 8, at Reliant Arena, 1 Reliant Park, 832-667-1400.

Papa Didn't Take No Mess

RIP, James Brown

Our top DVD picks for the week of March 28

RIP, James Brown

Steal These Albums

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

Local Rotation

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

High Rollers

The party is tall and sexy at Forbidden City

Le Tigre

This Island (Strummer/Universal)

Hog Heaven

Get your motor running at the Lone Star Biker Rally

Messing with Texas

Rockers bash Bush, with varying results

Pop Goes the Bastard

Unlike the UK, Houston resists the urge to commit plagiarhythm

Kamikaze Rap

Public Enemy's Chuck D. speaks

Found Magazine’s Denim and Diamonds Tour

Davy and Peter Rothbart share their latest trashy finds

Atmosphere

Davy and Peter Rothbart share their latest trashy finds

The 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 le ... More >>

Copyright Infringement

Get your hands off my sound

Win A Free Public Enemies DVD; Check Out Five Other "Enemy" Movies

Johnny Depp is the "sexiest man alive." I know this because it's what I've been told by People magazine, my wife, all my wife's friends, my sister, and that girl I dated in college who used to make me watch 21 Jump Street before she'd allow me to get her clothes off.He's also the star of Public Ene ... More >>

(Don't) Book 'Em, Dano: 42 Artists Who Have Absolutely No Business Touring Together

​ When Rocks Off received word last week that indie duo The Big Pink was embarking on a 2010 tour with NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, our initial thought was, "Cool," followed closely by, "Ew." For once, there's a promo poster we really have no desire to see. But then our next thought was, "Coul ... More >>

He Said She Said: Songs For A First (Perhaps Only) Date, Part 2

​He Said is going to admit right here and now that he has never been a master of the first date. True it is that we have dated some very awesome and artistic women, but we always lack when it comes to that first swing out of the box. He Said is way better at the weeks, months and years after that ... More >>

Turning The Screw: All the Way, Z-Ro, Devin, Lil' O, UGK, Nicki Minaj, Ras Kass, Lil Wayne, Beyonce, Dre, Aziz Ansari, Wu-Massacre 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: "Bring The Kush Back Freestyle," ATW Attn: Houston's Underground Rappers: You are on notice. These two ... More >>

A Playlist For Our Wetbacks in Arizona And For All Who Pray For Them

"It may well be that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition is not the glaring noisiness of the so-called bad people, but the appalling silence of the so-called good people."- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.​There's something so powerful about music. It gets us through life's bu ... More >>

5 Rappers Who Dissed The Radio, Sucka!

​ "Radio - suckers never play me" - Public Enemy, "Rebel Without a Pause" Eazy-E once walked up to legendary disc jockey Greg Mack and asked him what he could do to make his music radio-ready. Mack's reply? "Well, you could start by cleaning up the lyrics." Ever the savvy businessman, Eazy returne ... More >>

Is The National Recording Registry Ready For The Geto Boyz?

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 introducinglisto ... 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 >>

Top 10 Anti-Drug Rap Songs

​A kabillion rap songs out there celebrate ganja and booger sugar - case in point: Young Jeezy at the Arena Theatre this weekend - but anti-drug rap songs are insanely rare. You have a better chance of finding a mastered copy of Detox. Luckily for you, Rocks Off went digging and found 10 great ... More >>

Five Terrible Rap-Related Business Ideas

​If you believe the bean counters at Forbes, rhyme still pays and the 2010 hip-hop cash kings (Jay-Z, Diddy, Eminem, etc.) are cashing major checks from their business ventures. But cashing in on rap commercialism is no cake walk. If you have no intention of ever making Forbes' Cash Kings list ... More >>

Twenty Eleven: Houston's Answer To B.o.B.?

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 sheaserrano@gmail.com. Photos by Brad GilmoreTwenty E ... More >>

Nine Rappers About To Be Eaten By Their Own Beards

musiconplay.net​In today's crowded music industry, it's becoming increasingly difficult for artists to stand out from the pack, but sometimes a facial package of ample weight and gargantuan growth will do the trick. Look out, these hip-hoppers are one hair strand away from disappearing into th ... More >>

Anthrax's Charlie Benante Shouts Out King's X And The Refused

​Of the three bands on the bill at Sunday's Jagermeister Tour Houston stop, Anthrax is perhaps the one with the most varied reach. Sure, everyone loves Slayer, and Megadeth has a dedicated following of Mustaine-iacs, but it was Anthrax who touched the most upon hip-hop and hardcore punk. The ... 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 >>

1991: Best Music Year Ever?

Rocks Off Sr.'s choice for 1991's best album.​1991 was one of the biggest years in modern music. It was when metal went pop, radio country ruled, grunge went mainstream, and rap began its climb to chart dominance, even if it was spearheaded by a white candy rapper from Dallas. There were man ... More >>

Ice Cube

Rocks Off Sr.'s choice for 1991's best album.​1991 was one of the biggest years in modern music. It was when metal went pop, radio country ruled, grunge went mainstream, and rap began its climb to chart dominance, even if it was spearheaded by a white candy rapper from Dallas. There were man ... More >>

Everlasting House

House of Pain reignites Celtic pride that once had nation jumping around.

The Odd Afterlife Of House Of Pain's "Jump Around"

A couple of weeks ago, Rocks Off told our younger brother, eight years our junior, that we were interviewing legendary '90s hip-hop group House of Pain. He gave us a confused look. So we started singing: "Jump around. Jump around. Jump up and up and get down." "Oh yeah, the song from Mrs. Doub ... More >>

The Odd Afterlife Of House Of Pain's "Jump Around"

​A couple of weeks ago, Rocks Off told our younger brother, eight years our junior, that we were interviewing legendary '90s hip-hop group House of Pain. He gave us a confused look. So we started singing: "Jump around. Jump around. Jump up and up and get down." "Oh yeah, the song from Mrs. ... More >>

Top 10 Dancing Mascots In Rock & Hip-Hop

blastfurnacetv.wordpress.com​Today, Mark "Bez" Berry from the Happy Mondays turns 46, which is a feat unto itself, considering the amount of drugs that his band did in their heyday. Bez was the band's dancer until their breakup in 1993, when he joined Black Grape with Shaun Ryder. Today he is ... More >>

Mesrine (Part 1 & 2)

blastfurnacetv.wordpress.com​Today, Mark "Bez" Berry from the Happy Mondays turns 46, which is a feat unto itself, considering the amount of drugs that his band did in their heyday. Bez was the band's dancer until their breakup in 1993, when he joined Black Grape with Shaun Ryder. Today he is ... More >>

The Best Tony Hawk Video Game Soundtracks

​It sounds like heresy to most older folks, this writer included, but for about the past decade, a lot of younger gamers have been discovering punk rock, ska, and classic and indie hip-hop through the Tony Hawk series of skateboarding video games. The idea may be repellent to those of us who r ... More >>

How Bootsy Collins Became A Bass Player

​Recently Rocks Off had the great pleasure of speaking with one William Collins, known around the world by his platform-heeled nickname, Bootsy. The man with the mellow voice and star glasses is on any short list of best bass players in the world, thanks to his long years with James Brown, as ... More >>

10 American Anthems That Tell It Like It Is

​Captain America, Marvel's newest superhero movie, comes out today. We'll pause until the excitement passes. ... Rocks Off likes Captain America. The three comic books we read with any regularity as a scupper were Cap, Batman (Detective Comics), and Spider-Man. But we love America. The land ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest Leaking 2011 Lineup On Turntable.fm

​After leaking artists including Okkervil River, Odd Future, X and - most people believe - Slayer, Austin's Fun Fun Fun Fest has officially begun announcing its 2011 lineup via the brand-new file-sharing/social-media hybrid Turntable FM. Fun Fun Fun began streaming songs from this year's arti ... More >>

Fun Fun Fun Fest Adds Spoon, Black Lips, Cannibal Corpse

​That probably spooked you all, huh, thinking we added those three to our own BestFest, right? In addition to previously announced biggies like Slayer, The Damned, Public Enemy, the Hot Snakes reunion gig, and the Danzig Legacy project, these new three only sweeten the deal for FFFF attendees ... More >>

And, Uh, Um, OOPS: The Third Members Of Great Musical Trios You Probably Can't Name

​Last night we all watched as Governor Rick Perry blanked on the third department he would do away with if he was elected president. It was one of those moments - a la Scanners - when we all tensely waited for his head to explode, figuratively. Of course we love the guy and he's too precious t ... More >>