Trey Songz

NBA All-Star Game: Your Prop Bets For This Weekend

Michael Jordan turns 50 this weekend, I'm not sure if you've heard. In case you missed the incessant career retrospective pieces that ran on Sportscenter or the story of MJ's renting the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston for his birthday shindig this weekend, the most iconic team sport athlete o ... More >>

Upcoming: The Lumineers, Andrew W.K., Fall Out Boy, Solange, Twin Shadow, etc.

Adam Bricks: With Benjamin Wesley, Ancient Cat Society., Sat., April 13, 9 p.m., $10. Continental Club, 3700 Main, Houston. Andrew W.K.: With Lisa's Sons, Square & Compass, DJ Dan Castillo., Mon., March 11. Sun., March 10, 8 p.m., $10/$15. Boondocks, 1417 Westheimer, Houston. The Association: Wed. ... More >>

Upcoming: B.B. King, Coheed and Cambria, Rick Ross, Zappa Plays Zappa

Adolescents, Youth Brigade, The American Heist: Sun., Dec. 30, 8 p.m., $15/$17. Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak, Houston. Akina Adderley & The Vintage Playboys, Nick Greer: Sat., Dec. 1, 10 p.m., $10. Continental Club, 3700 Main, Houston. American Fangs, Southern Backtones, Deep Cuts: Fri., Dec. 14, ... More >>

Trey Songz Slips New Chapter V to Wire Road Studios

Heights' Wire Road Studios Celebrates Grand Opening Trey Songz has good people. An hour before his scheduled arrival at Wire Road Studios -- quite a cutting-edge, modern music chamber, considering the humble neighborhood living around it -- to join about 20 hip-hop heads, hype men, helpers and hang ... More >>

Saturday Night: Nicki Minaj at Bayou Music Center

Nicki Minaj Bayou Music Center July 28, 2012 I am told by countless bloggers that Nicki Minaj is a "polarizing." Her Grammy performance, her lyrical abilities, whether she's a rapper or pop star, the quality of "Starships"; all have been debated endlessly on this here World Wide Web. Because the I ... More >>

Fist-Fighting With Hip-Hop Headlines: Drake, Iggy Azalea, Etc.

You are a human and you have eyeballs and you also have the Internet, so you've likely read some things. That's sort of what this is, except sort of not too. We went through a ton of headlines of hip-hop "stories" from the past week, picked out the most egregious one, pasted them below, then added ... More >>

Sex and the Radio: A Weekend With 97.9 The Box

For those who may not know, being a blogger and writer also means you sort of have to support yourself with a 9-5. Some chose teaching, others chose busting their ass at a prospective company. Somehow I chose to be a town-car driver. An entrepreneur, a goddamn transporter of people. There are perks ... More >>

Senze: Local R&B Loverman Lays It On Smooth

Each week, 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? E-mail their particulars to sheaserrano@gmail.com. You know what you can never have en ... More >>

20 Years of Hip-Hop Soul Hits: Happy Birthday, Mary J. Blige

Photo by Marco Torres​Every time we hear a new Mary J. Blige single on the radio, we ask ourselves, "REALLY, MJB? Again? OK, girl." We literally said that in the car last week when we heard her new single "Mr. Wrong." Of course, the proclaimed "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" has never given us reaso ... More >>

Saturday Night: LMFAO At House Of Blues

Photos by Todd Brooks/Courtesy of Hot 95.7​LMFAO House of Blues October 22, 2011 9:11 p.m.: Generally, this would be too early to get a show. But tonight, Kreayshawn, one of hip-hop's most incendiary acts, is performing. We did not want to risk missing it. 9:15: Oh, hey, a woman wearing a g ... More >>

Sex, Money & Other Ways To Guarantee Urban Radio Airplay

A cursory glance at the year-to-date urban radio chart reaffirms an age-old music industry adage: Sex sells. You can see the Top 10 at the bottom of this post, but first let's talk about a few of the chart's recurring themes. Sex Sells: Miguel's "Sure Thing" occupies the top spot with 86,785 spins, ... More >>

The Great Grinding Debate: Which Song Is Freakiest?

Bun B: "I wouldn't know. At all."

The 2011 BET Awards, Or The Vindication Of Chris Brown

​6:58: High-five to the Houston Press for flying us out to Los Angeles to cover the BET Awards. Cool move. Thus far, it's been extra fun. We ran into Kobe and, um, saw some people filming a movie, and... uh... there were some angels or something, and... there... there was... eh, shit. We're n ... More >>

Hashtag Honors To Foreshadow Underground Rap Awards

K-Dogg: Rookie of the Year? Find out Friday.​This Friday, the second installment of the Houston Press Underground Rap Awards will post here. We've received a fair amount of emails/text/mentions/tags about it this month, which is cool. But before we get to that, let's run through a bunch of goo ... More >>

The Worst Concert Rip-Offs We've Ever Seen

jackslackofrestraint.blogspot.com​On this day in 1978, the rapidly disintegrating Sex Pistols finally fell apart for good. Conveniently enough, they did it onstage at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom, on the final night of the ill-fated U.S. tour that also lurched its way through San Antoni ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Shows Of 2010

Marco Torres​Editor's Picks: Mary J. Blige, Reliant Stadium (RodeoHouston), March: Exquisite. Beach House, Walter's on Washington, April: Can't hate on this one either. Magical. Wu-Tang Clan, Numbers, December: Against all odds, they brought the motherfuckin' ruckus.

German Shepherd

Johnny Falstaff is a honky-tonk translator.

Sam's Place

Lightnin' Hopkins finally gets his own historical marker.

No Shame

Dr. Dog shrugs off faint praise.

This Is Happening

Is LCD Soundsystem's party over on its latest — and perhaps last — album?

Battle of the Bands

Kids march towards a better future.Fighting declining interest and funding woes, two HISD high schools offer kids an oom pah pah way to better futures

Saturday: Hip-Hop For HIV Concert At Reliant Center

Photos by RizohFrom left: Paul Wall, Johnny Dang, C-Stone​Hip-Hop for HIV concert Reliant Center July 31, 2010 2:55 p.m.: Here now. It's crazy packed. The line to get in reaches back, back, back. Good to see. Before we get inside though, we should clear up a few of the plot points for the day ... More >>

Come as You Are

Pop muses help break the bond to Plush Lounge's previous ­occupant.

The Year of Magical Thinking

How Bun B dealt with Pimp C's death.

Sophia Fresh Work For T-Pain, Stay True To DJ Screw

Photos courtesy of Atlantic Records​Crystal, Skye and Cole Rose, collectively known as Sophia Fresh, may be one hit away from national fame, but they're unwavering in their loyalty to the Bayou City. Case in point: Sophia Fresh recently unleashed a remix of the DJ Screw classic "June 27" in ho ... More >>

Drake Gets Plenty Of Love From His Unofficial Hometown

Photos by Marco Torres​ 8:11 p.m.: Aftermath ends up having to park three floors down in the underground Bayou Place parking lot. We elect to take the stairs up to the street. We do this in part because it seems really lazy to take an elevator up three floors, but mostly because underground ... More >>

Girl's Got Rhythm

Hell's Belles guitarist Adrian Conner isn't put off by "Givin' the Dog a Bone."

"Rubberz" At The Ready For R&B-Ish Dude Marcel Francoeur

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. ​A snap judgment is the best. ... More >>

Chatter: Long Ball

Ex-ballplayer and busker George Thorogood: Now playing in a kid's movie near you.

Aftermath: Jay-Z Goes Into Overtime At Toyota Center; Gyno-Mom Approves

Photos by Marco Torres / Click here for a slideshow​7:22 p.m.: God Dammit. The show was advertised as starting at 7 p.m. on the Toyota Center site, which of course means it'll start exactly at 8 p.m., which of course means it'll really start AROUND 8:15 p.m., which is more like 8:30 p.m., bu ... More >>

Anatomy of a Diss

Breaking Curfew, Houston rapper MC Kane explains the protocol for putting people down.

Looking for Trouble

Jemina Pearl breaks free of Be Your Own Pet on Break It Up.

Electric Warriors

Life's a gas for local glam-rock sensations Roky Moon & BOLT.

It Was What It Was

Amid a wash of national phooey, plucking Houston rap's pivotal 2009 moment is easy.

Black Lightning

Top-notch songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson stops by Conroe.

Fix Your Face

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is more hip-hop than most rappers.

Artist of the Week: Prince AJ