Subject: Ludacris

• Usher Gets Weird (At Least His Producer Does)

  Usher is rather fond of Dat Girl Right There. I never thought the day would come that I'd gush over an Usher track. But “Dat Girl Right There” (who hasn't had similar complex thoughts?) featuring Ludacris and produced by Rich Harrison is amazing—sonically anyway. The electronic backing is ominous and strident, something you're more likely to encounter on a Conrad Schnitzler LP than in a chart-bound R&B tune. It's a coming attraction for Usher's next album, which is due out in 2008. I w

  November 14, 2007

• CSULB-Ludacris Concert Protest

  February 15, 2008

• To Do Tonight - 2/23

  REGGAE CRUISE, 7 p.m. For all the Reggae-loving bredren. Star Party Cruises, 140 Marine Dr. Alamitos Bay Long Beach CLUB RUBBER, 8 p.m. Celebrating their 12-year anniversary. Galaxy Concert Theater, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd. Santa Ana LUDACRIS, 8 p.m. And for extra entertainment: a protest outside. Cal State Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach MORRIS DAY & THE TIME, 8 p.m. Time to get your groove on. Cerritos Center, 12700 Center Court Dr. Cerritos SINGLES VALENTINES PARTY FOR COUPLES,

  February 23, 2008

• Live Review: Ludacris on 02/23

  Review, video and photos by Patrick Chavis. Ludacris, Pacific Division Walter Pyramid, Cal State University Long Beach February 23, 2008 A night of protests, hos and intellectual conversation in the LBC: isn’t that what hip-hop’s all about? The opening act—Pacific Division from Palmdale, California—have created a large MySpace buzz. The hip-hop trio were humble and when they weren’t talking about music, they talked about their old jobs working to make it big in a town they wanted

  February 24, 2008

• What you missed over the weekend: Part XI

  Dave Segal moved into Detroit Bar on both Friday and Saturday nights: "Free the Robots' thrilling [Friday] live show blew away Afrika Bambaataa's moldy DJ set. Local upstarts overshadowed a legend!" And on Sat, "DJs Josh One, Hyder, James Pants and Peanut Butter Wolf spun loads of great hip-hop cuts and freaky dance tracks that didn't fit neatly into any categories." Saturday took our interns Patrick Chavis and Nate Jackson to Cal State Long Beach for the Ludacris concert/protest and the Costa

  February 25, 2008

• Will Rappers Cost Obama the Election?

  Please, Plies, come out in support of Sarah Palin Young Jeezy's brief flirtation with John McCain on the set of Saturday Night Live aside, it's clear rappers favor Barack Obama by a wide margin in this election. (Check out this survey, for starters.) Though emcee after emcee has supported Obama with endorsement tracks, the big-ups at this point are likely doing more harm than good. Witness the negative media reaction to Ludacris's Hillary/McCain/Bush-bashing "Politics as Usual" cut, which cause

  September 29, 2008

• [CD Review] T.I., 'Paper Trail' (Atlantic)

  October 9, 2008

• The Vandals, Asher Roth, More Added to Bamboozle Left

  With less than a month to go before Bamboozle Left, a whole mess of new acts have been announced for the two day festival, set for April 4 and 5 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. Pleasantly, a couple of the acts are even from Orange County--like punk legends the Vandals (on April 5) and Irvine's The Jakes (April 4). Splendid!Also added: white boy rapper Asher Roth (pictured, whose Asleep in the Bread Aisle album is scheduled to be released next month and will feature collaborations

  March 9, 2009

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

  January 1, 2009

• Why Southern Hip-Hop Is the Same as FOX News

  May 1, 2008

• Career Killah

  Is Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface as Dumb as He Sometimes Acts?

  November 15, 2007

• Fo' Sizzle!

  Summer concerts/festivals to heat the beat

  June 7, 2007

• Indie Vs. Major: Who's Got the Flavor

  Urban music in 2006 was typified by what it wasnt as much as what it was

  December 28, 2006

• Slam Dunk

  June 22, 2006

• Oh, Dread

  June 30, 2005

• Space Race

  May 5, 2005

• Stacks the Vinyl Authority

  February 17, 2005

• Virgin Megastore

  January 13, 2005

• College Admissions

  Take the Kanye West aptitude test

  June 24, 2004

• Jamie Foxx

  June 25, 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

• 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