The Game (Rapper)

Top 10 Spitters In Music History (w/VIDEO)

Spitting. It's a symbolic form of communication that means nothing good in any language or culture -- a sign of disrespect that garners admiration or adoration from no one. Well, except for fans. Stars and celebrities themselves get mighty pissed off if you spit on them, but if they spit on you, you ... More >>

Top Five Video-Game Concept Albums

Video games are art now. The president said it and everything, so you know it's legit. That makes me very happy, because I do believe that games represent a specific medium of artistic expression. Anyone that argues hasn't played BioShock Infinite yet. Art Attack: Reviews for the Lazy Gamer: BioSh ... More >>

Park City's Breakouts

The movies to know from Sundance - and the year ahead.

Kendrick Lamar

5 Cool & Cheap Weekenders: December 7-9

Come See My Dead Person Walters, December 8 The gypsy-punks in Come See My Dead Person have come out of hibernation to release an eponymous new 13-song set of songs. The manic pickin', the boisterous drinking anthems, and strange old-world stank are here in spades, with the proverbial fur really f ... More >>

The 5 Best Shows In Houston This Week: October 15-18

Metric House of Blues, October 15 Along with future members of Stars and Broken Social Scene, Metric front woman Emily Haines went to an arts high school in Toronto, and started the group with guitarist James Shaw after returning from college in Montreal and Vancouver. Metric has found it difficult ... More >>

ACL 2012: Saturday's 9 Best & Funniest Moments at Zilker

The return of terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad rain made Saturday a muddy but fun mess. Thankfully, the downpours didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd on day two of ACL, but it did seem to thin out the herds. Aside from remembering how to walk in inches-deep goop like we did back at the Dillo ... More >>

Rufus Wainwright

Reader's Poll: The Compact Disc Turns 30

This week the compact disc turned 30 years old, and will no doubt spend it drinking with friends and wondering where the time went and lamenting the fact that they haven't gotten married yet. Few people know that the first commercial CD produced was Billy Joel's 1978 release 52nd Street, an album ... More >>

VIDEO: HPMA Winners Tell All In Our "Confessional"

The 2012 Houston Press Music Award Winners HPMA Ceremony Heavy With Winners, Light on Drama Slideshow: Pics from the 2012 Houston Press Music Award Ceremony You're about to see some very wide eyes on some very surprised people. We stuck a camera and microphone in front of the winners backstage an ... More >>

Years of Refusal: 8 More '80s Icons Who Should Follow Morrissey Into Retirement

Morrissey announced this week that he plans to retire in two years. That's tragic news in some circles, but we think it's a good move. In 2014, he'll turn 55, and the Smiths thing is never happening. How much longer is he supposed to do this? Another ten years 'til he's 65? He's Morrissey, not a Chi ... More >>

RIP Donna Summer: Disco Queen Dies At 63

Donna Summer, the disco queen whose salacious songs sometimes clashed with her traditional values, has died of cancer at age 63, TMZ is reporting. Boston native Summer, born LaDonna Andre Gaines, sang in her church choir as a teenager before winning five Grammys and becoming one of the top-selling ... More >>

2012 NFL Draft -- Live Blog

I made an analogy on my radio show this morning on 1560 The Game that the NFL Draft tonight is like Christmas Day for many NFL fans. Air of anticipation, excitement of the unknown, food, it's all there. (My co-host, John Granato, compared it to Hanukkah because it's played out over several days, but ... 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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: 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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Church for Thugs

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

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 >>

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 >>

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

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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