The Game (Rapper)

Static

The Game

Little Brother

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

The Game

Doctor's Advocate

Rotation

Doctor's Advocate

Home Alone Again

Panic Room is a great movie -- if you've never seen one

Playbill

Lucky Boys Confusion

Stay Tuned

Polly Esther's temporarily has pulled the plug on its TV show; the Game Room's picture is much clearer

Local Rotation

Local Music Reviews

Turning the Screw: Surreall, Asher & Cudi, Eminem vs. Mariah, Slum Village, Young Jeezy, Ghostface, Nas, DJ Hero, Guerilla Maab, 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: "#1 Dame in the Game," Surreall Wire To Wire Kid Cudi continues his rapid ascension to stardom, scores ... More >>

A 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 ... More >>

And So It Begins

The Game is close to beginning -- once you've had Flea and Josh Groban collaborate, things can only go up. We will say the Dr Pepper BCS trophy is likely the cheesiest-looking major trophy in sports. WIth the DP logo slapped prominently on it, the thing looks like a stand-up display at a Diamond Sha ... More >>

1992 Redo: DJ Flea and Dat Boi T Give Underground Artists (and Listener) a Free Weekly Music Platform

​ It's something we haven't addressed yet, but it's been brought up numerous times in our talks with Houston's underground Latino rappers. When Univision's hip-hop stations in Houston went away this last decade, so did those artists' airwave platform. But sometimes you have to look back in order t ... More >>

Turning The Screw: Chamillionaire, Bun, Trae, Mystikal, Swizz Beats, The Game, Tila Tequila, Maury Povich, Jay Electronica 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: "Creepin'," Chamillionaire feat. Ludacris Wire To Wire Cham's Major Pain tape is supposed to be release ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: Barefoot in the Park, La Bohème, Speech and Debate

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: "Creepin'," Chamillionaire feat. Ludacris Wire To Wire Cham's Major Pain tape is supposed to be release ... More >>

Before the Flood

West Texan Ned Sublette reflects on pre-Katrina New Orleans in a new memoir.

Bun B Counts His Money; Kenny Chesney 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. ​"Get Well Soon, Bun" Single of the Week: "Countin' Money," Bun B feat. Yo Gotti Wire to Wire That Trae vs. The Box situat ... More >>

Top 5 Rapper "Secret" Identities

Rocks Off wonders what hip-hop would look like if rappers were true to who they really are, or should we say... who they were. Perhaps it would look like the video "Swagger Wagon," by The Sienna Family, the latest Internet phenomenon that has amassed 2.4 million hits in less than a month. Those G's ... More >>

Church for Thugs

50 Cent decides to be a little more selfish on upcoming LP Black Magic.

Has 50 Cent Jumped The Shark?

Photos by Marc Brubaker / Click here for a slideshow​9:24 p.m.: While waiting at the box office to get our tickets a kid walks up and asks, "Excuse me, how much are tickets?" He looks absolutely crushed when he hears that they're about $50. It's super sad to see. I mean, he just wanted to see ... More >>

MTV Nominates Trae As "Hottest Breakthrough MC Of 2010"

It appears that Trae's ongoing difficulties with 97.9 The Box - again, you might want to check back here tomorrow; we'd sure appreciate it - are beginning to resonate outside the 713 and 281. Earlier today, MTV.com announced the local rapper and community activist known as "Tha Truth" is a finalis ... More >>

Remember Crime Boss' All In The Game?

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. Crime Boss All In the Game (Suave House, 1995) ​Crime Boss was Suave House Records' most vin ... More >>

Friday Night: Sting At The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Photos by Groovehouse​Sting with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion June 25, 2010 "If you love somebody," Sting once sang, "set them free." Friday night at the Woodlands, he set a good two dozen of his songs free from their original arrangements, and set ... More >>

Game Time: 10 Simple Rules To Safe Fireworking (With Video Of People Being Unsafe!)

What could go wrong?​For those working today, I hope you all had a very happy and safe 4th of July weekend. For those blessed with a vacation day today, I hope your happy and safe 4th of July weekend continues. This post is actually for you.I realize that many of you took in the city's fireworks ... More >>

Game Time: LeBron is Making Me A Texas Longhorn Fan

Kevin Durant -- the anti-LeBron​It's July, it's the All-Star break, the Astros have reached the "what P.R. grab can we make?" part of the season about six weeks earlier than usual, and if I may say, hiring Jeff Bagwell as hitting coach should have far-reaching ramifications on the ball club that w ... More >>

Game Time: YouTube Rewind -- "Ram It", By The 1986 LA Rams (The Godfather Of Awful Team Videos)

Try to forget. Just try​The year is 2010, and our society has advanced in so many ways. In a scant 20 years, we've gone from the ability to even own a cell phone being a luxury to being able to do everything from watch television, stream music, play games, and download porn on those very phones. ... More >>

Jack Freeman: Why Does Houston's Rising R&B Star Want To Kill R&B?

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 >>

Game Time: Football -- This Season's First Round of Best Bets

Oregon Ducks: Ignore the uniforms and jump onboard​Okay, it's the first officially great football weekend of the season (loaded college slate plus first weekend of NFL).Last weekend's college slate was sort of like a "soft" opening for a new restaurant, working out the kinks in anticipation of the ... More >>

Rocks Off's All-Star Team Of Rap Ballers

hoopedia.nba.com​Basketball and hip-hop have crossed paths for decades. In the words of self-proclaimed No. 1 draft pick Drake: "I swear sports and music are so synonymous/ 'Cause we want to be them, and they want to be us." To mark the start of NBA training camp, Rocks Off assembled an all-s ... More >>

NFL, College Football and Brett Favre's Wiener -- 5 Winners, 5 Losers

Brett Favre can't get out of the headlines​I hope everybody had a lovely Texans bye weekend (insert lame joke about "Texans giving up fewer than 300 yards passing to BYE" here), and that you're refreshed, rejuvenated and ready for the back half of the football season. I'm on vacation this week vis ... More >>

Lupe Fiasco: Four Ways He Will Write A Song About You

​Balls-deep in that miry slough of disappointment that seems to befall every major artist who wants to change the world, Lupe Fiasco has been in a controlled rage lately. That can only mean one thing: His next album will boast songs about anyone who so much as snickers at him. But poking the ... More >>

Time Waster Tuesday -- NBA Superstars Videos (via YouTube)

"'Remember when' is the lowest form of conversation." -- Tony Soprano Tony was right, you never want to be "remember when" guy, and I try my best not to be. But the fact of the matter is, for many of us, what happened between the ages of 16 and 28 constitute the "good times." High school, maybe ... 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 >>

Four Hip-Hop Tattoos Gone Very, Very Wrong

celebritytattoogallery.com​People get tattoos for a number of reasons: to commemorate someone or something special, to make a statement, to remind themselves of who they are, or as a consequence of a drunken night out with friends. Whatever the motivation, tattoos always draw attention. Oh, a ... More >>

2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest Video Recap

Justin Bieber, your All-Star MVP​Travel day today back from Phoenix, so I'm submitting the ultimate Cliffs Notes version of dominant performances during the NBA All Star weekend. (I'll be back at full blog strength tomorrow.) Here goes: - Justin Bieber was named most valuable player of the c ... More >>

Five Terrible Rap Acts Who Will Never Crack the "Diddy List"

The Super Broker Shuffle: Your eyes and ears will never forgive you​I'm a sucker for lists, I've said that before. If it makes me a less cerebral person, so be it. I'm not apologizing. For a "list addict" like myself, Forbes magazine is like a big plate of list cocaine. They'll come up with a ... More >>

KGOW'S KAPOW KAPOW

1560AM weaves pop culture, locker-room humor and irreverence into sports-talk radio.

Cover Story: For Love of the Game

​When working on this week's feature story, I was surprised at just how much help my background as a musician would help me, especially since I was writing about a sports radio station. Over the last 25 years, I've spent a lot of time in bars, recording studios and rehearsal spaces with other ... More >>

ESPN Headlines -- Sex, Lies, And Shrunken Testicles

It's a bad news day when you're hoping for stories on barry Bonds' shrunken balls​"I see trees of green ... red roses too I see em bloom ... for me and you And I think to myself ... what a wonderful world." -- Louis Armstrong Clearly, Louis Armstrong would have never made it as a sports fan ... More >>

Seven Movie Roles We Think Would Be Perfect for Nicki Minaj

All work and no play make Nicki something something...​Hip hop artist Nicki Minaj might be getting an opportunity to use the drama skills she acquired when she was studying acting at the performing arts high school she attended in New York. She's already exhibited her acting skills in two of h ... More >>

NFL Draft Liveblogging, Starring Sean Pendergast

Rick Smith, you shall be judged immediately​The topic that has dominated sports talk radio lately -- at least in a city such as Houston that is experiencing a severe drought in anything worthwhile to talk about for its current franchises -- is the NFL Draft. It has turned into an off-season L ... More >>

Houston Texans 2011 Draft Summary, Including Best Porn Name

Brandon Harris is no Cam Newtown​The Texans 2011 draft is over, and it had a decided Wade Phillips-ian flavor to it. Not that I'm complaining. With poor to mediocre drafts every year since the 2006 haul that produced five contributors (including three Pro Bowlers) for the current roster, some ... 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 >>

Six Horrible Ceremonial First Pitches -- A Video Anthology

When a wookie outthrows you.....​I preface this post, a post where I'm about to ridicule people for making awful ceremonial first pitches at professional baseball games, by saying that I would dread throwing out a first pitch at a baseball game. I would be a nervous wreck all day long leading ... More >>

10 Popular Rappers' Disney Alter Egos

Watch The Throne.​Were you ever mildly attracted to Jafar in the Disney movie Aladdin? We were, probably because he reminded us so much of Prince. So, needless to say, Rocks Off is pretty stoked that Disney is bringing back some of our beloved iconic villains-like Jafar and Scar-to 3-D. We' ... More >>

"Drank In My Cup" Producers Sound M.O.B.'s Top 5 Beats

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 introducingliston@gmail.com ... More >>

Last Night: Sting At Verizon Wireless Theater

Sting Verizon Wireless Theater November 17, 2011 Photos by Jason Wolter​Sting gets a lot of shit that Rocks Off has frankly never really understood. Is it the myriad social causes? The way he expected you to know who Chaucer was? The tantric sex thing? We're not going to sit here and defend a ... More >>

Merry Christmas! This Weekend's Football Best Bets

Santa's offering up some money-line action​Before I get into this weekend's best bets, a couple paragraphs on the Texans' 19-16 loss to the Colts last night: Was that officiating crew terrible last night? Yes. But good lord, I've never seen a bigger bunch of whiny babies than Texan fans last ... More >>