Chris Brown (Singer)

Kanye West Says He's Like Picasso. Here Are 5 Equally Egomaniacal Musicians

Well, it's been a few months, so we shouldn't be all that surprised but Kanye West's ego has been running amok again. This time the behemoth emerged while West was onstage in Paris last Saturday, and said: "No matter how they try to control you, or the motherfucker next to you tries to peer pressure ... More >>

Here Are the Songs They Play at a Middle School Dance

[Editor's note: The following post by Houston writer and ESL teacher Shea Serrano was named the best blog post of the year in the first-ever Voice Media Group music writing awards. Originally published by our sister blog at LA Weekly, It's a sidesplitting minute-by-minute account of an afternoon he ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

An Open Letter to Chris Brown and His Abhorrent Neck Tattoo

Dear Chris Brown,About that new neck tattoo of yours that's causing such universal disdain: who the hell do you think you're fooling exactly? When the world notices that your new ink is clearly based on images of Rihanna's face after you beat the crap out of her three years ago, and you deny it, it ... More >>

Kaskade on the Rise of EDM, What He Really Does Onstage, and Missing San Francisco

After growing up in Chicago and passing through New York and Salt Lake City, Ryan Raddon -- better known to his thousands of fans as Kaskade -- came to San Francisco. It was here, among the city's flourishing early-2000s house scene, that Raddon came into his own as a DJ/producer of electronic dance ... More >>

"Season of the Witch": The Turbulent Growth of S.F. Values

Fucked Up vs. Katy Perry: The Top Five Most Offensive Videos That Glamorize War

Fucked Up's gloriously unhinged frontman Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham got all righteous on Katy Perry's ass this week after apparently viewing the video for her "Part of Me" single. First he Tweeted: "Seeing Katy Perry as a soldier in the video for 'Part of Me' really makes me think that we need to st ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Live Review, 2/19/12: Warren Hellman Public Celebration Brings Emmylou Harris, Old Crow Medicine Show and More to Ocean Beach

Old Crow Medicine Show at the Warren Hellman public celebration.​ Warren Hellman Public Celebration February 19, 2012 Ocean Beach Better than: Watching the live stream at home on your laptop. Some of the nation's top roots musicians gathered together yesterday with Bay Area music fans to cel ... More >>

The Grammys: A Timeline of Madness and Misery

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards happened yesterday. Which we're sure you know already. If you missed it, however, you may have missed some of the weirdest details. So here, for your convenience, is a timeline of events. Get comfortable, 'cause this thing was a three-and-a-half-hour carnival of absurdi ... More >>

Awkward! The Top Five Most Uncomfortable Grammy Moments

​This Sunday, Rihanna and Chris Brown are both going to be present at the always-prestigious Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. It's been just three years since they both were forced to drop out of the show last minute, due to Brown having beaten the crap out of Ri-Ri on their way over. We kno ... More >>

Watch: S.F.'s LoveRance and 50 Cent Smack Invisible Booties in 'Up!'

The most played local song on KMEL in the past year is "Up," an ode to licking and sticking girls by San Francisco's LoveRance that is consistent with a growing national trend of rappers declaring that they actually engage in oral sex as givers. Chris Brown did a remix for the song earlier this yea ... More >>

"Joyful Noise": Nothing Is Sacred in This Gaudy Mess

Berner Is San Francisco's Stoner Rapper Answer to Girls Gone Wild Creator Joe Francis

Berner.​There aren't too many local songs in seemingly heavy rotation on KMEL, but this annoying (and, to these ears, racially insensitive) one called "Yoko" is always on in the car. Turns out it's by San Francisco's Berner, with heavyweight national guest stars Wiz Khalifa, Chris Brown, and ... More >>

Friday: Lil Wayne Apologizes for the Swearing at Shoreline

Lil Wayne's family-friendly fun.​Lil Wayne Friday, September 2, 2011 @Shoreline Amphitheatre Better than: Rap shows without fireworks and fake gunshots "I apologize to the parents who brought their kids because of the cussing," said Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. at the end of a nearly two-hour ... More >>

The Game's The R.E.D. Album: A First Listen

​ The Game needs no introduction. The man who was kicked out of G-Unit and made a whole album about whinily stalking ex-benefactor Dr. Dre has most recently performed two actions: 1) Releasing a diss track called "Uncle Otis," whose targets include Tyler, the Creator; and 2) releasing a collab ... More >>

Anderson Cooper Calls Out Chris Brown; Ladies Everywhere Swoon

​So, remember that thing that happened at the 2009 Grammys? That thing where Chris Brown  and Rihanna both no-showed on account of the fact that he'd beaten the crap out of her? Then shortly afterwards, photos emerged online of a decidedly broken-looking Rihanna, sporting a swollen eye, a spl ... More >>

Eight Rock 'n' Roll Poop Bombs: Exploring Pop Music and Shit

Dookie​Three of my sons have reached the age where they've begun exhibiting the symptoms of chronic privy mouth. Shakespeare relished a good poop quip every now and then (see Henry V). Ditto for Marquis de Sade and Geoffrey Chaucer. Graffiti from the buried Roman city of Pompeii featured humor ... More >>

Wiz Khalifa Sends Smoke Signals Through Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Wiz Khalifa at Bill Graham Civic last night. All photos by Calibree Photography.​ Wiz Khalifa Big Sean June 22, 2011 @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Better than: The other kind of secondhand smoke Pittsburgh MC Wiz Khalifa (government name Cameron Thomaz) takes his moniker from an abbreviatio ... More >>

Friday Night: Diddy Dirty Money Holds Court for Three Hours, Brings Out Lil B at the Warfield

Richard HaickP. Diddy at the Warfield Friday night.​ Diddy Dirty Money Tour May 6, 2011 The Warfield Better than: Not getting to study the science of weave-ology on a Friday night. "I thought I told you that we won't stop!" Friday night at the Warfield, Sean "Diddy" Combs, the artist former ... More >>

Saturday Night: De La Soul Celebrates Saturdays, Old Age at Yoshi's

Tamara PalmerDe La Soul at Yoshi's.​De La Soul April 2, 2011 @ Yoshi's SF Better than: Spending Saturday with people who do not have an awesome song called "(A Roller Skating Jam Named) Saturdays." De La Soul posted up at Yoshi's this past Friday and Saturday, performing two short sets eac ... More >>

Sunday: Britney Spears Plays God (For Some, Anyway) at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium

Britney at Bill Graham Civic yesterday. Photos by Joseph Schell.​Britney Spears March 27, 2011 @Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Better than: Dashing to Vegas for a 55-hour marriage. Sunday at around 10 a.m., a man carrying a tray of giant "Britney Spears Is God" buttons shuffled past another man ho ... More >>

The Bangerz, Workhorse Bay Area Rap Producers, Discuss Their Vegas Show, Chris Brown, and Carlos Mencia

If you've been at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas recently -- and no, I wasn't expecting to start a sentence that way either -- perhaps you took in MüS.I.C., the critically acclaimed live show from masked B-boy crew JabbaWockeeZ. Or perhaps you saw it at the 2009 NBA All Star Game? Or maybe you're jus ... More >>

Film Showtimes for the week of November 3-9, 2010

We Chat with Actor Idris Elba of 'The Wire' and 'Takers', Who DJs at Vessel Tonight

Tamara PalmerIdris Elba at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco.​It's not that Idris Elba doesn't appreciate the adulation of hardcore fans of Stringer Bell, the pivotal character he played on the HBO series The Wire. It's just that he's sick of still talking about it, six years after Bell's untime ... More >>

Arty Party This Weekend: Mexican Institute of Sound @ YBC

Napoleon Habeica​Yerba Buena snagged a great musical act for this Friday's opening of its new Wallworks exhibit: Mexican Institute of Sound. The band is the brainchild of DJ /producer/president of EMI Mexico Camilo Lara, who uses the moniker as an excuse to mix together traditional Latin music wit ... More >>

10 Music Stars Who'd Make Great Soap Stars

Paula AbdulAs people turn away from soap operas in droves, daytime television continues to pull out the dramatic stops in order to keep afloat in the recession. But if Days of Our Lives or All My Children wants a bit of a buzzy boost that a fictional transsexual rock star just cannot provide, the pr ... More >>

Worst PR Flack Opening Line Award Goes to: XO Publicity

Usually I keep email correspondences private, but the following message I just received from one publicist at XO Publicity was so crass I had to share it."I know your [sic] still upset Jennifer about Chris Brown hitting Rihanna however I was hoping you might attack my red shiny package with [band na ... More >>

The Year in Music: 2008's Top Ten Pop Songs

By Annie ZaleskiPop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The foll ... More >>

Last Night: KMEL Block Party at Oracle Arena

On His New Record, Ne-Yo Saves Some R&B Hits for Himself

Some of My Best Friends Are Records

SF Weekly writers pick their favorite Bay Area records of all time

Spotlight Reviews

Local albums you may have missed. This week: computer-music master Chris Brown's Talking Drum.

Repertory Theaters

Hear This

You may have graduated, but Ida's still playing its pristine college rock. Plus, Coltrane gets taken "out" by an "Orkestrova."

They're Krafty

Lovely Germans perform for you

Ace of Bass

For over two decades, Lisle Ellis has been expanding the vocabulary of the jazz bassist by adding blues and classical features

The Sounds of Silence

Why the Bay Area has stopped producing big-time rock bands

Hear This

Glenn Spearman Music Festival

Riff Raff

Night + Day

Night+Day

Out There

A guide to the explosive new avant-jazz scene

Sax Maniacs

The Rova Saxophone Quartet blows hard and dense

Recordings

Machine Dreams

The Hub, the world's first computer network band, trailblazes the field of making music on -- and with -- computers