Jay-Z

Alicia Keys - Staples Center - 3/12/13

Alicia Keys Staples Center 3/12/13 Not many New Yorkers who could march onto the Staples Center stage to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," ahead of a quick snippet of "Empire State of Mind" without getting the crowd fired up. (Even Jay-Z gave a semi-apologetic intro before performing the latter ... More >>

Somehow, "Gangnam Style (Diplo Remix)" With 2 Chainz And Tyga Ain't So Great

If, for the next few moments, we may be entirely liberal with the application of the term, I've remixed a fair amount of things in my short, trivial life. When I was a pup, several friends and I remixed the skateboard. We made something called a MEGA SKATEBOARD, wherein we took two four-foot-by-fo ... More >>

The Five Best Los Angeles Rap Albums of 2012

As Max Bell noted in his round-up of L.A. rap earlier this month, it was a very good year for hip-hop in our city, with all corners of the varied scene -- from Open Mike Eagle's smart 4NML HSPTL to Odd Future's rambunctious The OF Tape Vol. 2 to Ty$ and Joe Moses' raunchy Whoop! -- well represented ... More >>

Aziz Ansari

Five Quite Good K-hop Albums

See also: *K-pop Till You Drop: The Skinny on Korean Boy and Girl Groups" *Reviewed: Drunken Tiger at the Jungle Concert In L.A., 12-02-11 This just in: the best South Korean music to get international play is not K-pop. Sorry. Much like J-pop, and their American cousins, y'know, girl bands and bo ... More >>

Hit Boy: Whatever Kanye Wants ...

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. "Ni**as in Paris," last year's most popular song, exploded in roughly the same amount of time that its producer spent creating it. "It took me probably 15 minutes to make tha ... More >>

Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: The Gay Rights Fight

We never thought we'd see the day when an A-list rapper like Jay-Z would defend gay rights, let alone a champion fighter. But following our reports on L.A.-based Manny Pacquiao's anti-gay statements, future Hall of Fame boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. begged to differ. He took to Twitter today and sai ... More >>

Five Must-See L.A. Bands at SXSW

Initially a place where music executives could check out a bunch of emerging bands in the span of a few days, SXSW has become the spring break of the music biz. Bands from all over the globe descend on Austin hoping to convince the masses they're the next big thing. While megastars like Bruce Spring ... More >>

Groupon Cat: Who Is This Furball and What Is He Talking About?

During the obligatory morning check of my inbox to see which spa was offering a Groupon for a colon cleanse and infrared therapy (what?), I noticed a smug cat atop a stratocumulus cloud giving me the evil eye from underneath the participating spa's details. I scrolled down to see that he was spoutin ... More >>

Which Is Better, Drake's New Video, or Jay-Z and Kanye's?

By Ross Scarano The last two weeks have seen two significant video drops from the biggest artists in contemporary rap. With little hype, Drake released a very smart video for "Practice," one of the lesser songs from his masterful sophomore LP, Take Care; soon afterward, the partnership of Jay-Z an ... More >>

Is Syl Johnson Rich Off of Rap Samples? He Says So

The Grammy-nominated soul singer Syl Johnson is currently suing Jay-Z and Kanye West for an alleged illegal sample of his song "Different Strokes" on the Watch The Throne album track "The Joy." (No, not the theme song from the television show starring Gary Coleman.) If successful, it won't be the f ... More >>

Kobe Bryant's Wife Files For Divorce; Claims Too Much Infidelity

bossip.comThe once happy couple​Update: Statement issued by Bryant's publicist after the jump According to TMZ, Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant's wife of 10 1/2 years, is filing for divorce from the NBA superstar. The couple had survived Kobe's cheating ways in 2003, when he was charged with sex ... More >>

Ayomari and TiRon Get The Girl

TiRon and Ayomari​Under-the-radar rapper TiRon Jeffries was nervous about approaching dream hampton, first female editor of The Source and co-author of Jay-Z's Decoded. But like a freshman boy in high school who somehow had a shot with the most untouchable senior goddess, he wavered while his ... More >>

Top Five Moments from The Game's Hoodmorning (No Typo)

​On his new mixtape, Hoodmorning (No Typo), Game insults his haters' geographical acumen. "I'm in Cannes, France," he barks. "You don't know where that shit is." This might not be the strongest diss ever, but there's much to like on the tape; his voice is plaintively expressive, and he has an ... More >>

Food Party Hostess Thu Tran at Everything Is Festival Tomorrow

Food Party​Tomorrow kicks off five days of found footage feting known as the Everything is Festival at Cinefamily. It's a celebration of diggers, curators, and collectors as much as the weird, funny, campy, boogerfaced footage they unearth. Along with Joe Dante's four-hour legend The Movie Org ... More >>

Top 10 Reasons Music Fans Should Go to L.A. Museums This Weekend (#1: They're FREE!)

​LA Weekly's contributing writer (and dapper man-about-town) Drew Tewksbury has tipped us to the fact that this weekend many of the major museums in L.A. are FREE to the public! Details are on the L.A. museums' website, and we think everyone should take advantage of this deal, particularly mu ... More >>

FREE Snoop Dogg Anthem for L.A.: "El Lay" (Download, NSFW)

​LA Times blogger Jeff Weiss reports that Snoop Dogg has just released an anthem for L.A. called "El Lay." If Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" is as Broadway-ready and coked-up as a Manhattan evening, Snoop's paean to our fair city is, of course, much more blunted. "Unsurprisingly," writes Weis ... More >>

Top 10 Hollywood Couples You'd Like To See Do Sex Tapes

Mr. & Mrs. Smith​Now that the holidays are over and your warm-and-fuzzy feelings for family and friends have given way to a massive, week-long hangover, we've got just the tidbit to brighten your day. That's right, we've got porn news to kick off 2011 right. Steven Hirsch, honcho at the world ... More >>

Top 10 Country Radio Songs to Open Your Mind (Even if You Think You Hate Country Music)

Eazylanish/Flickr​We've seen it over and over on Facebook profiles. Music: "I like just about anything...except COUNTRY, of course!" As if admitting to liking mainstream country music (because, sure, everyone likes Johnny Cash) is like admitting to having a Beanie Babies collection. It's sham ... More >>

Top 10 Popstar Clothing Lines that Put Madonna and Lourdes' New "Material Girl" to Shame!

In this week's Nightranger column, we cover last week's Macy's Passport "Glamorama" event at the Orpheum Theatre downtown. The event was scaled back from years past live music-wise (Macy Gray and Eric Hutchinson performed short sets in between the runway looks) but the production was still top-notch ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl

Timothy NorrisWine, cheese and blockrockin' beats: The Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl​ LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Klaxons and all other dance-rockers currently carving a profitable niche owe a debt of gratitude to electronica's "Born Slippy"-era--namely the holy trinity of stadium DJs ... More >>

Lohan Disses L.A. Again, Reportedly Says Angelenos Are Disgusting

​For the second time this spring Lindsay Lohan as reportedly dissed Los Angeles. This time she told a source of E! Online that the people in L.A. are "disgusting." The latest distaste for our fair city comes after the actress was ordered to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet as part of her te ... More >>

Five Ways Organizers Can Make Coachella A Better Experience

Dennis Romero​Following reports of three-hour waits to get in, a bizarre appearance by Sly Stone and a dirt-lot parking situation that had festival-goers walking for up to an hour in desert dust to get to their cars, the Los Angeles Times declared the 11th annual Coachella festival a rousing s ... More >>

Tweeter Madness: #Coachella experience in under 140 characters

Veni, Vidi, Tweetie. Coachella experience in under 140 characters

Day 1: Volcano, Disorganization Can't Stop the Music

We're tempted to tell you about Jim Morrison and the really interesting remixes of their old catalog featured on the soundtrack to the new documentary People Are Strange. This is because we spent a few hours listening to it trapped in traffic trying to get to the parking lot so we could get to spend ... More >>

Mega-Telethon Broadcasting From L.A., Elsewhere

CNNAnderson Cooper.​A Friday telethon to raise money for the victims of last week's earthquake in Haiti will be broadcast from Los Angeles, New York, London and Haiti, organizers announced Thursday. It will be everywhere: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Show ... More >>

Rock Picks: Rain Machine, Pearl Jam, Wallpaper, Bon Iver, Dodos

Also, Seasons, Brodinski, Autolux and others

Music Gaming at E3 Expo: First Look at Beatles Rock Band, Last.fm's Xbox Partnership

Alexia TsotsisThose of us who remember the '80s (um, not me) might recall Sony introducing the first CD player in 1982. We've all come a long way since then, and nowhere was this more evident than at E3 Expo this week. West Coast Sound's "three is a trend" alarm went off when we realized that the pl ... More >>

A Conversation with Posdnuos of De La Soul: On Nike Run Mixes, The Current State of Hip-Hop and Oodles of O's

De La Soul, back in the day Only a handful of rap groups can be bandied about as G.O.A.T: Wu-Tang, Outkast, EPMD, Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, UGK, The Geto Boys, and De La Soul. If you need an introduction to the De La -- Posdnuos, Dave/Trugoy the Dove, and Maseo -- you obviously hav ... More >>

SXSSXSW Day 4/Days Late (Pt. 1): On Rap/Rock, The Legacy of the Beasties, and Asher Roth Vs. The Knux

Other than freshman Delta Sigma Theta rushes at Cal-State Chico, no substrata of the American population has worse taste in rock than rappers. Sure, your little brother likes Fall Out Boy, but eventually, he's going to grow up and discover The Clash, then weed, then hopefully Junior Murvin and Lee ... More >>

Grammy Week: Magical Music Moments All Over Town

Nightranger: Maggie Barry, Box 8, Shin BBQ, Brian Lichtenberg, and Fashion Accessories by Cobrasnake

ROCK ’N’ WEAR CIRCUS EIGHT’S GREATS

A Tale of Two Samples: Fela Kuti's "Mr. Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss" and The Roots' "I Will Not Apologize"

I'll leave the thorough sample de-constructions to Dan Love or O-Dub, but couldn't help but feel compelled to share a discovery I made the other day in my on-going quest to listen to every known bit of music ever recorded by Fela Kuti. Namely, the afro-beat derived sample for "I Will Not Apologiz ... More >>

Some Thoughts on the "Best. Politician. Inspired. Single. Ever." Also, Nazis. Also, Jesus. Also, NFL football.

Los Angeles's own Sa-Ra create a rallying cry for Obama. Plus, a bunch of other crap this video brought to mind. Super random, super fun.

Weiss' Top 50 Albums of 2007 (#20-16)

20. Jens Lekman-Night Falls Over Kortedala [Secretly Canadian] On first listen, Jens Lekman reminds you of Morrissey. Like the ex-Smith's frontman, the 26-year old Swede's got a rich baritone warble, a sly wit and a penchant for moony-eyed romanticism. But that's where the similarities stop. Lekma ... More >>

The 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2007 (#25-20)

25. Chamillionaire ft. Slick Rick: "Hip Hop Police" Chamillionaire's a good rapper. His flow kind of reminds me of Krayzie Bone had he grown up chugging syrup through humid Houston summers. And unlike a lot of his Southern brethren, Chamillionaire has interesting ideas, even if he doesn't always ... More >>

Decision 2007: Kanye West vs. 50 Cent

A voter’s guide to the most important rap election in a generation

Rock Picks

For the week of Jan 4 - 11

Microsoft Wants to Kill Your iPod, Summer Goes Pop!

Music Picks

For the week of June 8 - 15

Kanye 4 Prezzy

Sucker

When Legend Precedes

The erstwhile John Stephens’ uphill battle with the hype

White Man’s Burden

Eminem’s Encore falls into the gap between his obvious talent and his elevated stature

Stop Making Sense

Hey Mr. DJ

Brendan Mullen on spin city

Dopemen

Getting a fix on Scarface and Clipse

Word According to B.I.G.

Myth Master

The fabrication of Ms. Foxy Brown