Subject: Hip-Hop and Rap

• Album Review: Akon, 'Freedom'

  The Smoking Gun Web site exposed Akon earlier this year, unearthing police documents that show he's greatly exaggerated his arrest record and incarceration time. And so on his third album, Freedom, he downgrades himself from Konvicted (the title of his last CD) to "Troublemaker." Even this description refers more to his tendencies to steal women's hearts than their cars, however, and the album's title track is not so much about release from prison as existential cleansing. (Sonically, it's quite

  December 2, 2008

• LowBallVideoChatter: Mediocre Chinese Hip-Hop

  I'm not sure what I think about this Chinese hip-hop video from an act called T.H.P., other than the fact that it's depressing how they take the worst elements of the worst contemporary American hip-hop videos and duplicate them, as if all those Jay-Z and 50 Cent clips were pieces of highly conceptual art. What I REALLY wanna know is: what would Chairman Mao think?  

  December 10, 2008

• The Year in Music: 2008's Top Ten Pop Songs

  BY ANNIE ZALESKIPop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles saturated the Top 40 -- or what passes for hit-oriented radio in this topsy-turvy musical climate -- while proving that accessibility doesn't necessarily preclude creativity.

  December 17, 2008

• Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

  You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were demolished by a Midwestern black man, and gender barriers were hurdled by an Arkansan and an Alaskan.Democracy has a few awesome new dance moves rolling into the Obama presidency, and it'll be a feast f

  December 18, 2008

• Last Night: Snoop Dogg, Warren G, The Twins at the Glass House

  BY RYAN RITCHIELast Night: Snoop Dogg at the Glass House in Pomona, Dec. 26, 2008.Wanna know if you're old? Go see Snoop Dogg and ask yourself which category of fans you fall in to. You're either in a) the group of shaggy-haired teenagers who wouldn't mind if he played "Sensual Seduction" twice, or b) the group of 30-somethings who've been listening to tha Doggfather since his "Deep Cover" debut and want nothing more than to hear that song, a few verses from Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" and all of "D

  December 27, 2008

• Busted Rhymes: The Top 10 Most Preposterous Rap Songs of 2008

  By Ben Westhoff 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

  December 29, 2008

• Old School Hip-Hop: Back from the Dead

  I've been a Sirius Satellite subscriber (hello alliteration) since the night before Howard Stern broadcast his first censorship-free show. But in that time, I've come to love certain aspects of the other channels and have recommended this product to everyone from friends to my parents.Sirius and XM, its competitor, merged a few months ago after what seemed like an endless battle to turn two into one. To be honest, I didn't follow the merger as much as I should have because ultimately, I really d

  January 28, 2009

• Paid Dues Festival Line Up Announced

  As of yesterday, the 4th Annual Paid Dues festival actually ANNOUNCED it's line-up slated to perform at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino on Mar. 28.  The festival is presented by rapper Murs (or Murs 3:16, whatever) in association with Guerilla Union (one of hip hop's most venerable omni-brands, if you don't know,you betta ask somebody). Over the years, it's been dubbed by many as the hip hop equivalent to Coachella. The day long event is known for supporting some of country's most i

  January 28, 2009

• [Aural Reports] DJ/Student Mono/Poly Violates No Anti-Trust Laws With His Beats

  December 4, 2008

• I made way for the S-O-V

  Caught Lady Sovereign (aka the S-O-V) Friday night at the Echo in Los Angeles. It was my first time seeing her after bumping her debut, Public Warning, for a few years. The Echo has a downstairs venue called the Echoplex, and on this night, Fucked Up and the Underground Railroad to Candyland were playing. I missed TURTC, but saw a few friends, so all wasn't lost. Upstairs, the S-OV's DJ, Francis, was playing some hip-hop dance tunes that I really dug. Part of what I really like about Lady Sover

  February 9, 2009

• [Summer Guide] Notable Music Releases for Those Who Still Buy Albums

  June 4, 2009

• [New Books] 'Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop' by Adam Bradley (Basic Civitas Books)

  March 26, 2009

• Club Pick: GZA at Detroit Bar TONIGHT!!!

  There are some things that are hard to imagine. It's the kind of stunning news that you usually have to hear a couple of times before you actually believe it. When a flyer for a live performance by the GZA of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan appeared on the Detroit Bar website, you probably thought it had to be some mistake. GZA? At Detroit Bar? No way. Then you got hit with it again in this weeks article [see Rex Reason's story here] on the platinum-selling MC. Okay, now it has to be real, because yo

  March 6, 2009

• Posthumous J Dilla record out in June

  A 25-track disc comprised of beats made by the late J Dilla is "dropping" (that's hip-hop for "being released") June 2 on Nature Sounds. Dilla was a much-heralded producer who gained fame in the late '80s with the group Slum Village. Many credit him for helping to place Detroit on the hip-hop map, but it was role in the production team The Ummah (with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammed) that made him a hip-hop household name. Dilla's time with The Ummah saw him work on A Tribe Called Quest's two fin

  March 11, 2009

• Last Night:"Quik's Groove" at The Grove

  Last Night: "Quik's Groove" featuring DJ Quik and um...some other people. Friday Mar. 13 at The Grove of AnaheimBetter Than: Getting a flat tire in a bad neighborhood.  Download: The new "Fuck Y'all" single by DJ QuikBetween the soft, melodic rise of string ensembles and the thumping energy of a band sopping with jherri curled g-funk swagger, it was obvious that last night at The Grove was not a postcard image of a typical hip hop show. Armed with over a decade of west coast classics and a

  March 14, 2009

• Quik's Groove: DJ Quik Live with Orchestra

  March 12, 2009

• Estelle

  March 5, 2009

• GZA: Wu-Tang's Genius at Work

  March 5, 2009

• [CD Review] N.A.S.A., 'The Spirit of Apollo' (Anti-)

  February 26, 2009

• Play On, Playah

  February 12, 2009

• Notorious B.I.G., Made B.L.A.N.D.

  January 15, 2009

• KRS-One

  January 8, 2009

• Rhythm and Blue Balls: A Case Against Current R&B, A.K.A. 'Rap and Bullshit'

  January 1, 2009

• [CD Review] E-40, 'The Ball Street Journal' (Warner Bros.)

  January 1, 2009

• Shwayze Carries the Fruity-Drink-Soaked Banner for 'Douche Rap'

  December 25, 2008

• [Aural Reports] Long Beach's Erick Coomes Lives High on the Low End

  November 20, 2008

• Mos Def

  April 16, 2009

• Live from Coachella: The Body Says No (plus, Okkervil River, Sebastien Tellier, Lupe Fiasco!)

  Hey, did you know it's hot here today? 98 degrees at last word. But it "feels" like, I dunno, a billion? Yep. Pretty awesome. Trying to summon my (in?)famous reserves of ENDLESS ENERGY, but not necessarily succeeding. The Cure are probably going to play like three hours today. That's pretty cool. Is it cool enough to keep us all alive until then? Only time will tell. I'm more sweat than man at this point. Like Hydro-Man, from Spider-Man. But made out of sweat, instead of just regular water. Ther

  April 19, 2009

• Method Man

  May 7, 2009

• [CD Review] Rick Ross, 'Deeper Than Rap' (Maybach Music Group/Poe Boy/Def Jam)

  April 30, 2009

• [CD Review] Ciara, 'Fantasy Ride' (Jive/RCA/LaFace)

  May 14, 2009

• Incoming: The Pharcyde Coming to the Grove of Anaheim

  LA's The Pharcyde (pictured) have been inactive for most of this decade, their last studio album being 2004's Humboldt Beginnings. Yet if you haven't guessed already, they've reunited for a few recent shows--last year at the Rock the Bells Festival series in Chicago, earlier in 2009 at the Good Vibrations Festival in Australia. And as you no doubt by now have concluded by their inclusion on this very blog, they're coming our way, specifically July 10 at the Grove of Anaheim. Tickets are $25-$28,

  June 12, 2009

• Incoming: Jay-Z at Honda Center in Anaheim

  Take that, non-smoking laws!Jay-Z has recently declared Auto-Tune dead via his (kind of awesome) new single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune);" possibly a weird sentiment given his close association to noted Auto-Tune proponent Kanye West, but hey, it's Hova, man. You can't tell that guy what to do. He doesn't know how to sleep, he's gotta eat, stay on his toes. He's got a lot of beef, so logically, he preys on his foes.

  July 6, 2009

• [CD Review] Various Artists, 'Wu-Tang Chamber Music' (E1 Music)

  July 9, 2009

• Jimmy Fallon: Savior of Hip Hop?

    For some reason, when ?uestlove announced in November that The Roots would cease touring and become the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, there was minor outrage. "Black Thought opening for Jimmy Fallon every night is the cultural equivalent of Miles Davis playing his horn on the subway platform to back up a semi-trained dancing spider monkey," wrote Gawker, while the Huffington Post reported that saxophonist and former Tonight Show bandleader Branford Marsalis advised the gro

  July 16, 2009

• Clipse and the Cool Kids

  August 13, 2009

• Top Five Little Known Facts About Soulja Boy

  ​I interviewed Soulja Boy (who I'll just go ahead and call by his real name DeAndre Way) recently, and it was pretty wild. The Atlanta-based, teen millionaire rapper wore his colossal, eponymous pendant--which he says contains a hundred Gs of diamonds--and bragged about how all the big names in hip hop have been kissing his ass lately. No idea how much his chain is worth, but the latter claim actually holds up. Though in the wake of his gimmicky 2007 YouTube smash "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" no

  August 14, 2009

• [Locals Only] I&I Have Street (and Harbor Boulevard) Cred

  August 20, 2009

• Outgoing: Sleepy Brown at Galaxy Theatre Canceled

  In the latest chapter of the weird saga of the Sleepy Brown show scheduled for this Friday at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana--the same show that rather dubiously advertised superstar duo Outkast (who haven't performed together in forever) as a supporting act, which was later confirmed to be "one member" of Outkast that was never identified--has been canceled.I complained earlier that it's pretty odd to advertise Outkast, who are universally defined as the collective duo of Big Boi and Andre 300

  July 15, 2009

• TONIGHT: Jamie Foxx at the Grove of Anaheim

  Jamie Foxx, leave something for the rest of us. He can act, he can tell jokes, he can sing the hooks of smash-hit Kanye West tunes, and now he's got his own solo career going, too. His third studio album, Intuition (not to be confused with the Jewel song of the same name, not that anyone would), came out late last December, and hit #3 on the Billboard 200 despite some middling reviews.Sure, it would be easy to make Eddie Murphy/"Party All the Time" jokes if he wasn't working with legit hip-hop s

  July 2, 2009

• Outkast Playing at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana?

  In the "things that make you go 'hmm'" department: the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana is advertising Outkast as performing at their venue on July 17. (Click on the flier to see a bigger version.) Hmm.Yes, the same Outkast that gave us "Ms. Jackson," "Hey Ya," "The Whole World," etc. etc. etc. The same Outkast that hasn't toured or performed together as a duo in years. Surprising, then, that they would pick the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, of all places, to make a return, huh? And that it would be i

  July 1, 2009

• Peanut Butter Wolf

  August 27, 2009

• Release the Sounds: Only Built for Cuban Linx Pt. II by Raekwon the Chef

  ​In most cases, waiting 14 years to release a sequel to a legendary album would be considered waiting, uh, too long. But in the case of Raekwon the Chef  (of the Wu-Tang Clan), the choice to wait almost decade and a half to serve us a follow up to his landmark album Only Built for Cuban Linx wasn't a sign of laziness. Far from it. It just means he was being picky about using right ingredients to produce a bomb hip hop dish. Finally, Only Built for Cuban Linx Pt.II hits stores today, Sep.

  September 8, 2009

• TONIGHT: Too $hort at The Grove of Anaheim

  ​The canon of west coast hip hop legends holds a special place for Todd Shaw, better known as Too $hort, even better known as Bay Area hip hop's oldest mac. With almost 30 years in the rap game, his relaxed brand of raunchy realism could be recognized anywhere. 17 albums, 3 gold records, 5 platinum record and one double platinum record (1988's Life is...Too Short) pretty much proves that point. He's been rapping and doing shows since before most people who read this blog were even born. And wh

  September 11, 2009

• Travis Barker: More Hip Hop than Hip Hop

  ​Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has had plenty of side gigs over the years. Box Car Racer and 44 both featured other Blink members, while a duo called TRV$DJAM included his friend Adam Goldstein. Known as DJ AM, Goldstein, of course, was with Barker in a Learjet crash that killed four people in September, 2008, and he died late last month in an apparent drug overdose.

  September 17, 2009

• The Streets

  October 8, 2009

• MURS

  October 8, 2009

• Five Regrettable Music/Video Game Moments

  ​Motörhead are currently on tour (including a stop at the House of Blues in Anaheim), they also play a role in upcoming action/adventure game Brütal Legend, out next week on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 (we got a chance to play it at Comic-Con this year, it's a fun, straight-forward beat 'em up with some cool visuals). That game, with Jack Black voicing the main character and additional vocal appearances from Rob Halford, Ozzy Osbourne, Lita Ford and Motörhead singer Lemmy will probably be a

  October 7, 2009

• Black Keys Hip Hop Project: Good Thing or Great Thing?

  James Carney​We may be a day or so behind on this one, but in a quest to find some ever-elusive liner note credits for Black Key's Thickfreakness album, we stumbled onto something a hundred times better. Up until now, things were staying pretty quiet on the whole "rap-rock" front, at least for the summer. Turns out BlakRoc, a musical collaboration between the Keys and some of hip hop's living legends has been brewing since June. The record comes out Nov. 27. Needless to say, we dropped the lin

  September 17, 2009

• Last Night: Powerhouse at Honda Center

  ​Last Night: Powerhouse 2009 at the Honda Center featuring Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Lil' John, Flo Rida, Sean Paul, LMFAO, Kid Cudi, Far East Movement, New Boyz and Ya Boy.Better Than: A long, shitty drive to San Manuel Casino.Download: Pssh, like you really need ME to tell you what to download. Striding through a police-patrolled crosswalk in a sea of skinny jeans, fluorescent tees and accessorized millennial swagger, hallmarks of hip hop's new generation were unavoidable at Powerhous

  August 9, 2009