Young Jeezy

The Worst Traffic Jam In The History Of The Man And Maybe Even The Universe

Here's what this is: It takes EXACTLY 17 minutes for me to get from the entrance ramp of the freeway near my house to the machine at my work where employees swipe in. I know this because I have made the drive roughly 1,400 times during my seven years of employment. I also know this because I have, o ... More >>

Openly Gay Rapper Rob B Draws From Influences Far and Wide

On a recent cool Friday afternoon, 25-year-old Mexican-American, openly gay rapper Rob B sits in one of the many cafés peppering Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. He's tan and toned, a 6-foot-1 part-time model who has done everything from runway to hand modeling, and today he's fitted in al ... 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 >>

What the Hell Is Trap Music (and Why Is Dubstep Involved)?

You may have heard the term "trap music." You may even realize that what people are calling "trap music" today (which sounds a whole lot like dubstep) is not necessarily what people were calling "trap music" a few years ago. See also: Flying Lotus' Nocturnal Visions: Once believing himself destined ... More >>

What the Dodgers' Musical Taste Says About Them

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Forget phrenology, both the overrated Roots album and the 19th-century pseudo-science. Ignore palmistry, psychotherapy and Rick Warren. The best way to b ... More >>

Rick James' "Super Freak": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: Rick James' "Super Freak" History: This was the song that Bobby Flynn performed on Australian Idol 4! Also, Rick James sang it in 1981. p.s. HOLY FUCK, ... More >>

Top 10 Sexiest Hip-Hop Video Vixens

LMFAO 'Bikini Girl' Says She Was Fired For Being 'Big Boned' Top Ten Sexiest Album Covers We've Ever Seen Top 60 Worst Lil Wayne Lines on Tha Carter IV Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop Top 20 Greatest L.A. Rap Albums Of All Time: The Complete List Thoughts From A Rando ... More >>

Arguing About Rick Ross With A Man Who Might Want To Burn My House Down

See also: Cassette Tapes Are Awesome Until You Actually Have To Listen To Them The guy who sells CDs and DVDs in the corner store parking lot near my house? That guy is the tits. I mean, our relationship can only ever be that one way. I don't want to know him in any other context than The Guy Who ... More >>

Sun Araw, Eagles of Death Metal, Lil' Kim

Also, Harry Partch's Bitter Music, Jonneine Zapata, Alan Pasqua Trio and others

Yes, Young Hines Is His Real Name

By William Lamb Unlike Young Jeezy or even Young M.C., Young Hines is the Georgia-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter's real name. A harried nurse scribbled "Young Mr. Hines" on a patient info sheet after Hines, the youngest of seven children, was born. The name stuck. The other things folks t ... More >>

Drawings Of Rappers, Made By My Sons

That's a picture of Tyler, the Creator that my one of my twin sons drew. Why did he draw a picture of Tyler, the Creator, you ask? Well, see, when you're a parent (if you're a good one, at least), you spend no small amount of time worrying. When the kid is a baby, a lot of it involves putting bumpe ... More >>

Mickey Avalon, Everyone's Favorite Former Heroin Addict and Male Prostitute, Rides Again

See also: Mickey Avalon's True Hollywood stories Mickey Avalon, party rapper extraordinaire, is set to drop his new solo album Loaded today. We last checked in with him for a 2006 cover story depicting his utterly-wild ways; plenty has happened for him in the ensuing years, including many shows and ... More >>

Killer Mike - Echoplex - February 21, 2012

Ben Westhoff​Killer Mike w/ Busdriver, Nocando, and Open Mike Eagle Echoplex February 21, 2012 Better than: John Rocker Killer Mike is conscious without being boring, a street preacher rapper who knows that no one will listen to your message if your beats aren't dope. He's an obvious heir to ... More >>

Top Five Rappers In Absolutely Ridiculous Sweaters

Drake and his sweater on Saturday Night Live​The young rap billionaire Drake has a new album out this week. It's probably fantastic! But more important than any critical assessment of his music, it's another opportunity for Drake to assert his commitment to the bemusing art of wearing really a ... More >>

Pusha T on Vegas Nights, Partying with Rick Ross, and Driving Lamborghinis in the Club

Pusha T​See Also: Pusha T and Tyler the Creator's "Trouble On My Mind" Video Shoot "I've had a good fucking year and it's pretty amazing!" Pusha T, one half of the Neptunes-endorsed rap group The Clipse, sounds relaxed and happy as he prepares to release his new solo project, Fear Of God II: ... More >>

Music Picks: Janet Jackson, John Escreet Quartet, DJ Quik, Charles Bradley

Also, Charlie Haden Quartet West, John Williams, Philip Glass and others

Page Two: Knock, Knock! MellowHype, the Odd Future Gateway Drug

MellowHype, the Odd Future Gateway Drug: Why You Should Let Hodgy Beats and Left Brain Take You In

Brick Stowell MellowHype​If Tyler, the Creator is the Father of decidedly unholy L.A. rap collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, then consider Hodgy Beats the Son and Left Brain the Holy Ghost. With the former on the mic and the latter on the beats, they preach the sinister gospel of M ... More >>

Exclusive: Pusha T and Tyler the Creator's "Trouble On My Mind" Video Shoot

Andrea DomanickThe father becomes the son...​Reported by Andrea Domanick and Rebecca Haithcoat. This is for the critics who doubted the chemistry Two different worlds, same symmetry. -"Trouble on My Mind," Pusha T Leaning on a sticky table in a hotel room stained the color of urine, direct ... More >>

Top Ten Things You Need To Know About Snoop Dogg's New Album "Doggumentary"

​Just a few days after being mourner-of-honor at the funeral of former associate Nate Dogg, Snoop Dogg hogged the hip-hop limelight once again by releasing all the tracks of his much-awaited album Doggumentary two days before the official release via moribund social network oddity MySpace. 10 ... More >>

2Pac and Walt Whitman

Two professors anthologize the best rap lyrics

Bun B Releases New Album 'Trill OG': Rapper Remembers Pimp C, Talks Soulja Boy Collaboration and Why Hip-Hop Can't Afford to be Lazy

Oldemar Alfaro[L-R] Talib Kweli and Bun B at the 'Trill OG' listening event​It's 9:27 AM in Houston when rapper Bun B picks up fellow emcee Dizzee Rascal from the airport. In Bun's car they cruise the streets, pull up to a house, and once inside, slide a stack of bills across a table. In excha ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Jay Z, Metric and Kraddy

Josh "CuriousJosh" Reiss​ From hip-hop to pop to some of the craziest electronic music around, L.A. Weekly's writers and photographers caught the big parties of the weekend. Down on the Sunset Strip, Metric played a secret show for Twitter fundraisers. Jay Z sold-out Staples Center. Meanwhile ... More >>

Music Picks: Soweto Gospel Choir, Paul McCartney, Melissa Auf der Maur

Also, Jay-Z, Metric, Triorganico, Air and others

Philippe Is Not Your Daddy's Chinese

It's Diddy's

Movie Reviews: Amelia, Astro Boy, Saw VI

Also Cirque du Freak, Stan Helsing and more

Last Night: Jay-Z, Eminem, and the Celebrity Cult of the DJ Hero

The economy isn't entirely moribund, it's just that the real money's in wish fulfillment. At least that's the logical conclusion gained from last night's star-scarred Jay-Z and Eminem concert promoting DJ Hero, the latest sure-to-be-blockbuster installment of the Guitar Hero Franchise -- an event th ... More >>

Rock Picks: Fol Chen, Moonrats, Brightblack Morning Light, Bachelorette

Also, the Curious Mystery, Graham Parker, Miss Derringer, Marduk and others

Theater Reviews: Before I Forget, Lie With Me, Six Years

Also, Stitching, The Loft Variety Hour, and more

Stage Raw: Before Kirk Douglas Forgets

PURCHASE TICKETS TO THE 30TH ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS ON MARCH 30TH AT THE EL REY; HERE ARE THE NOMINEES. BEFORE I FORGETKirk Douglas in Before I Forget. Photo by Craig Schwartz The gift in Kirk Douglas' one-man show, Before I Forget,  that opened over the weekend in the theater name ... More >>

Inauguration Day Extravaganza: The First Hip-Hop President?

Image via Hip Hop is Read Unless you've been living in the Madagascan Rain Forest or are a cave-dwelling ignicolist in Outer Mongolia, you're well aware that today marks the inauguration of Barack Obama. To the delight of the rap world and the chagrin of the social security set, Obama has been bi ... More >>

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 ... More >>

Weiss' 25 Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2008

25. Prafit-"Nice Weather" The nice weather is long gone--the ostensibly immutable Los Angeles sun blotted by kidney colored clouds and cold rain. So Prafit's ode to the sizzle of July feels like an antique postcard documenting endless light, chicken breasts smothered in BBQ sauce, and basement ... More >>

Kanye West's Melancholy Hasn't Fully Dimmed His Megalomania

808 state

The Many Moods of Rock the Bells

Hip-hop's been in a lull. Meet the new torchbearers

Record Reviews: Usher, Lurker of Chalice

Also, The Dodos, Mezzanine Owls and more

Ill-Thought Out Observations From This Year's Grammy's

Because Live Blogging is so gauche. Occasionally the Grammy Committee's old fogey sensibility yields huge dividends. See the inclusion of Morris Day and the motherfucking Time. As far as I know, only two people have paid much attention to Morris Day and the Time post "Jerk Out:" the illustrious ... More >>

How Paula Abdul’s “Opposites Attract” Explains Why (Many) Women Like Assholes

One of the most common complaints I hear from my female friends is that they always seem to fall for "assholes." Quite mistakenly, they ask for advice on how to remedy this situation and the ensuing conversation inevitably leads to elliptical arguments about how maybe they should stop liking guys ... More >>

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 >>

Raiders of the Lost Art

Sometime after 50 arrived, the art of the narrative wandered into a blizzard of coke raps, artificial hood mythologizing and pandering simplicity. Complexity no longer moved units, and with sales sliding, Scarface xeroxes and ringtone rappers became the safe bets. You can't blame the suits either ... More >>

In the Kodak, in the Pink

And in the dollhouse

Hip-Hop Is Dead

...and other reports that have been greatly exaggerated

Music Picks

For the week of May 25 - 31

Killah on the Road

Ghostface returns to the streets � and his own inner weirdo � on Fish Scale

Rock & Dance Club Listings

For February 3 - 9, 2006

Blogs & iPods & Jay-Z & (non-ironic) Metal

The Hipster�s musical year-end predictions and post-game analysis