Ol' Dirty Bastard

Rock the Bells - San Manuel Amphitheater - Sept 7 & 8, 2013

Rock the Bells Hip-Hop Festival San Manuel Amphitheater 9/7/13 - 9/8/13 This weekend was the 10th anniversary of hip-hop festival Rock the Bells. Anticipated for its reunions, game changing new artists, and ODB and Eazy-E holograms, it was two days for hip-hop fans and artists to connect. Still, we ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Weekend

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Friday, September 6 Anticon 15th-Anniversary Party featuring Baths, Daedelus, Doseone, et al. ECHOPLEX Tip your hat to 15 years of Anticon greatness: The label/collective founded by Oakland's Adam "Doseone" Drucker has champ ... More >>

Music Picks: Anticon Anniversary, Rock the Bells, Murder By Death

Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge - The Mayan - 3/28/13

Ghostface Killah with Adrian Younge The Mayan 3/28/13 Somewhere between a classic film score and an adventurous concept album is where Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge meet on their upcoming album "Twelve Reasons to Die. Inspired by Tarantino and the RZA, the album is heavy in genre specific homa ... More >>

Ten Rap Songs More Republican Than Nicki Minaj

Earlier this week Nicki Minaj stepped in a fresh pile of political shit when she, in an attempt to stir the pot on a "Mercy" freestyle remix, rapped that she is voting for Mitt Romney. People stupid enough to think anything Minaj does or says matters were outraged, and some even sent her death threa ... More >>

The Five Most Overlooked Albums of 2012 So Far

This year deserved praise has been heaped upon Frank Ocean's debut Channel Orange, the Flaming Lips' blood vinyl project and Beach House's Bloom. Meanwhile, overrated works like The Shins' Port of Morrow and Passion Pit's Gossamer have been overhyped Lost in the shuffle have been five superb-but-u ... 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 >>

Funky Homosapiens: The Best Rapper Names Of All Time

Busta Rhymes​See Also: The Worst Rapper Names Of All Time, Besides Shorty Shitstain Last week we ran down the world's corniest MC names, and on Haterade Monday this week we complained about the worst albums by the best L.A. rappers, as well as the most ridiculous Beach Boys songs (including o ... More >>

The Worst Rapper Names Of All Time, Besides Shorty Shitstain

Why not Royce Da 5'9" 170 pounds, 10 shoe size?​See also: *Top Five Worst Ironic Indie Rock Band Names, Besides Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. *There's Three Of Us, But We're Not The Beatles: The Ten Most Illogical Rap Lyrics In History In the tarnished annals of rubbish musician names, rappers have ... More >>

UPDATE: More Artists Added to Rock the Bells 2011 Lineup

​ Originally published May 24, 2011, 8:18 p.m. New artists were just announced on the Rock the Bells 2011 lineup:

911 Is a Joke, and So Is Flavor Flav

Music Picks: Sweaters, Jonathan Richman, Hanni El Khatib, Henry Rollins

Also, Aloe Blacc, Maren Parusel, the Greenhornes and others

Nicki Minaj vs. Lil Kim (And Five More Potential Combatants) (NSFW for Beef)

Nicki Minaj recently set the record for female rapper with the most singles on the Billboard Charts at once; her single "Your Love" hit number one this summer, making her the first female rapper with a number one single since Lil Kim's "Jump Off" in 2003. The Queen Bee was not amused, accusing M ... More >>

Haiku News: Manson Goes Indie, Guns 'n' Roses Talk 'Chinese Democracy' Followup, New Sleigh Bells Video, & New Dirty Bastard?

Haiku News: Manson Goes Indie, Guns 'n' Roses Talk 'Chinese Democracy' Followup, New Sleigh Bells Video, & New Dirty Bastard?

Over the Weekend: Rock the Bells Hip-Hop Festival, featuring Snoop, Wu-Tang, Lauryn Hill

Kasey StokesMethod Man of Wu-Tang Clan​As it turns out, you should not fuck tha police. Our Rock the Bells road trip began promisingly: left for San Bernardino early, avoided traffic. We'd maintained a cool objectivity all week, but now were free to exclaim over the lineup, a mix of ones-to- ... More >>

Music Picks: Sunset Junction Street Fair, Lucinda Williams, Y & T, Tanya Morgan

Also, GZA, Jimmy Webb, Fol Chen and others

Live Review: RZA at the Key Club

Rebecca HaithcoatRZA, ready to ascend​A little more than halfway through his show at the Key Club Saturday night, RZA proclaimed, "If you're not havin' a good time, you're wastin' your time." He then launched into a track from 2003's Birth of a Prince, "Drink, Smoke Fuck." Scheme, or serend ... More >>

The Continuing Adventures of Squeak E. Clean

The star-studded N.A.S.A. project by L.A.'s best-connected producer gets a remix

What's Method Man's Cheap Wine of Choice? Why Did Tom Waits Want to Hang Out with Kool Keith? Which Rapper Moonlights As Lingerie Designer?: N.A.S.A.'s DJ Squeak E. Clean Tells It All

N.A.S.A. reloaded: Squeak E. Clean (front) and collaborator DJ Zegon ​On this week's print edition of the LA Weekly, Drew Tewksbury interviews DJ Squeak E. Clean, aka Sam Spiegel, aka Spike Jonze's brother, aka the man behind the star-studded N.A.S.A. project. Spiegel's N.A.S.A. concept album ... More >>

ODB Lives!: N.A.S.A. Releases New Video for Ol' Dirty Bastard, Karen O, and Fatlip Track

N.A.S.A. Releases New Video for Ol' Dirty Bastard, Karen O, and Fatlip Track

EVERYTHING'S UP TO DATE IN CULVER CITY!

RZA Discusses Dressing Up Like George Washington: The Tights "Really Hug Your Nuts"

The first thing you need to do is examine this painting very carefully. It was based on the famous George Washington Crossing the Potomac painting, created by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze in 1851. ​ Except that that ain't George. That's the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, flanked by fellow Wu-Men GZA and Ol ... More >>

The GZA Performs Liquid Swords at the Echoplex, and the RZA and Killah Priest Make Cameos

In high school Spanish, freshman year, there was a skater named Steve who knew all of the words to Liquid Swords. I sat next to him - more like diagonally behind him - at an angle that both afforded me a prime sightline to the small BIC explosions he'd set off inside of his huge JNCO pockets (fillin ... More >>

N.A.S.A.'s DJ Squeak E. Clean: Ready for Liftoff

Teams with Tom Waits, David Byrne, MIA, Santogold, Spank Rock, RZA, Ghostface Killah, Kanye West and others to create The Spirit of Apollo

Rock Picks: Raveonettes, Amebix, Thorns of Life

Also, the Head Cat, the Spanks, Jimmy Webb and others

Rock Picks: Holly Golightly, Sergio Mendes, Wu-Tang Clan

Also, the Hanson Brothers, Oasis, Azure Ray and others

Wax On, Wax Off

Car wash, yeah; pole-dancing queen; photo Zone at Drkrm

Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams

Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams (Loud/SRC/Universal) By Ben Westhoff The long awaited fifth Wu-Tang Clan album, 8 Diagrams, just leaked, and it’s fucking solid. After just a few listens, it’s already in my 2007 top ten, and it will surely battle Graduation for supremacy on hip hop critics’ year-end l ... More >>

Record Reviews: Burial, Wu-Tang Clan and Kenna

Burial, Wu-Tang Clan and Kenna

Geek Love

Superbad director Greg Mottola puts his own spin on the Judd Apatow school of emo-raunch filmmaking

Rock Picks: Detroit Cobras, Gore Gore Girls, MF Doom, Squeeze

For the week of August 9 – 16

Film Reviews: Lucky You, Waitress, Rock the Bells

Killah's Message of Love

Ghostface Killah at the Key Club

Music Picks

For the week of August 3 - 10

Petey Wheatstraw

Where’s the Funny?

The year hip-hop forgot its dick can fly

The Dude With the Most Cake

Superhustler Damon Dash is sitting on ODB’s last album. What gives?

Pose and Mean It

Tunnel Vision

The battle over the Belmont graffiti walls

The Gospel Hours

Networks retool primetime for religious Republicanism

Straight Shooters

Guerrilla filmmakers PSTOLA declare war on jigabooism

The Neptunes Don't Front

Super Furry Sound

A year in music

Thieves Like Us

Stalking classic rock with the Charlatans UK

Homegrrrlz

Reclaiming TLC

Venice Riots II