Interscope Records Inc.

Dr. Dre on His USC Academy: "This Is the Biggest Thing I've Ever Been a Part Of"

As our sister blog The Informer reported yesterday, Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine and boss of all bosses Dr. Dre pooled together $70 million they had lying around to establish the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. It will offer stude ... More >>

Remembering Possum Dixon's Celso Chavez

Celso Chavez was a mainstay on the Los Angeles music scene for many years, most prominently as guitarist for alt-rock group Possum Dixon, who were featured on an L.A. Weekly cover in 1998. He died one year ago today, May 9, 2012, from a staph infection and pneumonia related to years of drug abuse. ... More >>

Ariel Rechtshaid Is the Indie Super-Producer

He's not in bands, but he makes them sound a hell of a lot better

Kendrick Lamar's Mood Music

The Compton rapper carries the expectations of his city on his shoulders. It's tiring

Phlo Finister: A Portugese, Black, And Irish Former Model Who Sings R&B

Phlo Finister's hair is black and stick-straight. She's wearing Tims and a tight, cropped Tommy Hilfiger tank. Her boxers are puffed out of the approximately size 38 jeans that pool around her ankles. With her gold wire-rimmed sunglasses, she's Aaliyah, circa 1994. This is not what we expected. Th ... More >>

Tupac and Biggie Murders: An Up-to-Date List of Characters, Given New Evidence From Ex-LAPD Detective Greg Kading

Update: "The 'Keffe D' Tapes: 10 Highlights of Confession From Gangster Who Says Sean Combs Hired Him to Kill Tupac." Of the many theories that have emerged over the last 15 years as to who was behind the drive-by killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, the closest thing we've seen to an invest ... More >>

James Rosemond, Alleged Tupac Attack Orchestrator, Indicted For Interscope-Related Cocaine Ring

James Rosemond​Update: Interscope reps have responded to allegations that their L.A. offices were involved in the narcotics ring described below. Washing their hands of Rosemond, they call reports of Interscope's involvement "erroneous and completely unsupported," asserting that his alleged us ... More >>

Blu Interview: We Chop It Up With ​L.A.'s Patron Saint of Lyricism

Blu ​Blu soundlessly materializes in Silverlake's La Mill coffee boutique. The rapper's aura is so serene it forms a barrier against the sounds of jittery fingertips flitting across keyboards and conversations that seem to be in fast forward. I think of a line from "Down to Earth," a song from ... More >>

Interview With The Guy Who Ranks Rich Rappers For Forbes; Dre and Snoop Are On The New List, But What About Black Eyed Peas?

​Zack O'Malley Greenburg is the Forbes writer who puts together the magazine's annual "Cash Kings" list, which estimates the earnings of the wealthiest rappers of the past year and ranks the top 20. Their newest version came out yesterday; Jay-Z topped the list with $37 million, and L.A. is ... More >>

Music Picks: Balkan Beat Box, Cake, Ted Leo, Vanessa Paradis

Also Red Cortez, Troy Walker, Bun B and others

Trent Reznor Confirms Collaboration with Rage Against The Machine Track Is "Out There" and Discusses Collaborations with Tool's Maynard James Keenan and Soundtrack Work

Trent Reznor Says Rage Against The Machine Collaboration "Out There"

Dirt Nasty: Famous for Being (Almost) Famous

A strangely successful indie white comedy rapper conceived by former model/MTV veejay Simon Rex, who early on did porn to pay the bills? Welcome to L.A.!

Music Picks: Batusis, Interpol, Minus the Bear

Also, Taj Mahal, Shakira, Sufjan Stevens and others

Attention J-Dilla Heads: Slum Village's T3 on Finally Releasing the Album, Dilla's pre-Tribe Beginnings and that Whole "New Native Tongues" Reputation

E1 MusicSlum Village's T3: No fear of a black hat​"The idea for a Slum Village reunion album came from a conversation I had with J Dilla before he passed away," says T3, the last living member of the beloved Detroit rap group. Released this week, Villa Manifesto is a fitting end to the Slum Vi ... More >>

Street Drum Corps and 30 Seconds to Mars Wrap Tour at the Greek. What's Next? American Idol. We Go Backstage and Get the Scoop

View more backstage and concert photos in our "Street Drum Corps, 30 Seconds to Mars @ The Greek, Pt. 1" and "Pt. 2" slideshows. Erin BroadleyStreet Drum Corps' Adam Alt, Bobby Alt and Frank Zummo on the VIP patio at the Greek​It's late. It's cold. Our ears are ringing and everyone is tired, ... More >>

Music Picks: Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, VoicesVoices, Peter Gabriel, Jakob Dylan

Also, Ane Brun, the Melodians, Kate Miller-Heidke, Ian Whitcomb and others

MP3 Exclusive: Nocando's 'Old Friend,' in Honor of Friday's Show with the Knux

Nocando raps better than you.​On Friday frequent LA Weekly contributor Jeff Weiss throws the first in a series of "Passion of the Weiss presents..." shows at Spaceland. The inaugural fete is headlined by L.A. via Nawlins garage-rap duo the Knux, with support from Philly noir-hoppers 5 O'Cloc ... More >>

We’re Jerkin’ (Starring the New Boyz, J-Hawk and Pink Dollaz)

Gangsta rap is over. Clownin’ and Krumpin’ too

A Quickie with Buddyhead: Travis Keller on (Not) Selling Out, Growing Up and Buddyhead 2.0

Buddyhead: For the Children Since 1997The rules of rock can be quite complicated: never wear the T-shirt of the band you're going to see at the show, never play air guitar during a concert, and never -- ever -- crap on the tour bus. But what happens if you're actually in the band, what can and can' ... More >>

Shirley Manson Interviews U2 in Front of Small Audience at Capitol Studios in Hollywood

Shirley Manson, sitting on a stool in a sound room at Capitol Studios, confessed something in front of the 200 or so people cross-legged on the floor and in rows of chairs behind them as she awaited for the four members of U2 to arrive. Four bar stools, each with a microphone placed on the seat, sat ... More >>

From Buckets to Blade Runner: Misfit Drummers Street Drum Corps Bang Out New Album, Open for Motley Crue

(L-R) Adam Alt, Bobby Alt and Frank Zummo of Street Drum Corps. “Fly me to your house, give me a few hundred bucks and I'll play some buckets for you,” laughs Bobby Alt over the phone. We're discussing whether Street Drum Corps has suffered any fan backlash since he stepped up as lead vocalist ... More >>

Gavin Rossdale Talks Wanderlust, Jesus Lizard and Dark, Dingy Dive Bars

Photo by Kevin Westenberg Though it pains me to admit this, I honestly can't remember the first thing Gavin Rossdale said to me. It's not that I wasn't listening, but that I couldn't hear a damn thing. It was one of those days in Los Angeles where you miss every green light, you lose your cell pho ... More >>

Confessions of a Promo-CD Junkie: Who Will Stop the Music Industry Gravy Train?

With so much music available at the click of a mouse, do tastemakers really need hard copies anymore? Is it worth the waste?

Nico the Beast's "No Beast So Fierce" And The Power of the Plain White Tee

Odds are on any given day you can catch Nico the Beast rocking plain white tees. They're his uniform of choice. Not because he's trying to sell some D-boy image to get that Plies money.* but rather because they symbolize what Nico reps: a sort of basic no-frills, rock-ribbed fundamental rap. Or ... More >>

Wale Realizes the Full Potential of the Mixtape

Last November, Zeus wrote a post dissecting the differences between albums and mixtapes for the benefit of crits and fans who had been mistakenly conflating Pusha-T rhyming over old G-Unit beats for high art. It happens. The post may have been a tad heavy-handed, but its point was salient. More of ... More >>

Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Free Music and Creative Competition

Trade your heroes for ghosts

A Guide To the LA Bands At SXSW

So I'll be covering SXSW next week for the LA Weekly. I have never been nor do I have any idea of what to expect. I'm pretty excited to go though. I've been asking around and have generally been met with the boiler-plate response that "SXSW is awesome." However, one friend did tell me to expe ... More >>

Wanna Make a Mark in L.A.?

Residential dwellings: Start playing on Monday nights.

Nothing's Shocking

Timbaland�s solo LP has high highs (cowbell disco!) � and low lows (She Wants Revenge!)

City of Gods

L.A.’s Omar Cruz: Could he become the first Mexican-American rap star?

Kim.She.Is.

With her own studio, label and a new home in South-Central, ex—Black Eyed Pea Kim Hill is a woman reborn

Babyshambles, Dueling Indie Babes, and 50 Cent Does Bat Mitzvah (No Shit)

One Night, Two Bands, Two Fans freak out!

Putting Faith in Dog

Hard ROQ

Pick Up the Torch

The Hives in the land of true rock & roll

The Curse of Buddyhead

The Year In Music

And Now for a Little Melodic Chaos

Like a Rhinestone Preacher

Nick Cave survives and surpasses

The Year in Music

Welcome to the Castle

New Music

Marilyn:
A Re-Examination

Fog Heart

New discs

Hardball

The really bad news Griffith Park Pirates

Mastodons of the Universe

Crushing rock with queens of the stone age

Bob Forrest Tells All

"Johnny Depp made me do it!"

The Six-Strings Mystique

Better living through metal