As our sister blog Eating...Our Words does, from time to time Rocks Off will be giving your our picks for the top taverns in various Houston-area neighborhoods. Of course, the lines can be porous, but here anything with a TABC license that cannot reasonably be considered either a restaurant, coffeehouse or live-music venue is fair game.

10. VENUE HOUSTON Venue is the kind of hip-hop bar our city needs to hold on to; there are pretty folks parading around in the fancy-schmancy digs, a discerning door guy, and bottle service. It's everything a bar that blares hip-hop in the middle of downtown needs, really. The DJ tends to pull from '90s and early-'00s hip-hop, which is an added bonus because, well, Ma$e.

719 Main, 713-236-8150, clubvenue.com

9. 5TH AMENDMENT If you're heading for 5th Amendment, you better like hip-hop, and you better be prepared to dance. You better like making friends too, because this little venue gets packed in a big, big way. The DJs tend to spin more current tunes, but every once in a while they'll throw in some random old-school stuff for good measure. So strap on your dancin' shoes and head on in. Even if you're hesitant, the go-go dancers will lure you in like furry-booted rap sirens.

2900 Travis, 832-474-3394

8. VIDA LOUNGE If you were over age 21 in the '90s, or lucky enough to snag a decent faux ID, chances are you remember when the Richmond strip was the place to be. Now if you're a hip-hop fan, Richmond is back in the game thanks to Vida Lounge. Its list of events boasts an impressive list of big names who hang out at the lounge. Antwon Blake, Patrick Beverly, and Big K.R.I.T. have all hosted events there in the past few months -- K.R.I.T. alone should hint at Vida's legitimacy, no?

5959 Richmond, 832-969-1268, facebook.com/vidalounge

List continues on the next page.