Hip-hop A-listers including Rick Ross, Akon and Plies were caught grossly exaggerating their gangster credentials this year. (Turns out they were painfully law-abiding. The horror!) But even if your favorite rapper wasn't caught in a lie, you can bet he or she put out a hilariously absurd record or two in 2008. Here are the most preposterous rap songs of 2008.
RICK ROSS, FEATURING T-PAIN
"The Boss"
(Def Jam)
Though Rick Ross claimed on his debut album, Port of Miami, to know Manuel Noriega, T
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: "Funny Valentine," Dustin Prestige
Wire To Wire
Lupe Fiasco, whom you'll remember recently announced his retirement, is rumored to be putting out rock music as British-accented Percival Fats, lead singer of Japanese Cartoon. (Listen here; it's actually pretty good.) The band denies such claims, s
Paul Wall
Fast Life
www.grillsbypaulwall.comDid high gas prices kill off Paul Wall? Not really - that's just a coincidence. Rather, the H-Town artist known for his candy cars and diamond grills has suffered from being too closely identified with a regional sound that is no longer fashionable. Just as Chingy stopped selling records after the St. Louis "right hurrrr" movement fell off, Wall has been hurt because the chopped and screwed sound has lost popularity.
It's too bad, because his latest al
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 "That's what we want", and from that day on we were hooked.
Since we started getting tattoos we have seen the world change in regards to how inked people are regarded. They were one or all the follow
