Eminem

SF Weekly Letters

Facebook vs. Eminem: Pissed-Off Rapper Says Mark Zuckerberg Ripped Off His Beats

Eminem, the prolific and profane rapper, is suing fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO whose idea of irreverence is adding tickers to your Facebook wall. According to the Detroit Free Press, Eminem claims Facebook stole the beats, melody, etc. from his 2000 hit "Under the Influence." ... More >>

Move Tube

Downtown Building Owner Tired of Graffiti Fires Back With This Excellent Poem

We always appreciate a healthy release of anger, especially when it takes the form of rhythmic verse. Thanks to SF Citizen, which snapped this before-and-after photo of an empty downtown building that's currently the site of prolific graffiti, not prolific jobs. The building:

Prolific Singers Make for Bad Drivers, Study Says

A study released this week proves, once again, that there's nothing you can safely do while driving except for driving. According to the Accident Analysis and Prevention science journal, singing along with the radio while operating your motor vehicle is an accident waiting to happen. A group of Aust ... More >>

Roach Gigz's Five Essential San Francisco Spots: Music, Crab, and Baseball

Roach Gigz releases his debut studio album today. Titled Bugged Out, the rapper is banking on the project to build on the buzz his mixtapes have cultivated and jolt his career up another notch. So with Gigz being at the forefront of San Francisco's fresh new generation of rap talent, we got him to r ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Friday 3/16/2012

If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music editors have selected t ... More >>

The 13 Worst Songs to Listen to While High

In the world of random audio hallucination, there's the shit and then there's, well, shit. While I own some terrible stoner tunes, mere good taste, as everyone knows, goes for little in a world of thin walls, car audio, American Idol, and an ongoing '90s revival. Drunk or sober, bent or straight, l ... More >>

Consciousness vs. Sex: Jean Grae and the Plight of the Underground Female Rapper

Jean Grae​ Jean Grae, who performs tonight at the New Parish, is a very talented rapper. That's not just a very talented female rapper, but a very talented hip-hop artist who deserves to be considered on nothing more than her own lyrical merits, and shouldn't be given some sort of a rap pass d ... More >>

Rethinking Tyler, the Creator's Goblin: Why It May Be One of the Year's Best

​I know. You're sick of reading about the little shit. So am I. What I couldn't have known during my miserable first run through Goblin is that I wouldn't be sick of listening to it as July approaches. Not by a long shot, not nearly as much as I thought I'd be when I slogged and blogged my way thr ... More >>

Before Kreayshawn: 10 Underrated and/or Forgotten Female MCs

Kreashawn: Oakland's latest female rap sensation.​Last week, around the fifth time someone sent me a link to Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci," I started having a feeling toward the diminutive rapper that was not entirely positive. This discomfort grew a few days later, when she reportedly signed a $ ... More >>

Rick James' Estate Follows Eminem's Lead, Sues UMG Records for "Cheating Artists"

Worth every penny ​Universal Music Group is back in court after a new class-action lawsuit states that the record-label company is ignoring a court order and refusing to pay its artists royalties as owed.The estate of R&B artist Rick James is suing UMG, claiming that the music-recording compan ... More >>

Rick James' Estate Suing Universal Music Group for "Cheating Artists" out of Royalties

Pay up.​Rick James' estate is suing his former record label for allegedly paying far fewer royalties than it says it's owed.In a class-action suit filed in San Francisco, the "Super Freak"'s estate claims Universal Music Group is cheating artists out of "tens of million dollars" every year by givi ... More >>

Lady Gaga as a Mom, Graham Nash Loves Eminem, Tune-Yards' Cool New Video, and More

Graham Nash doesn't like much new music, but guess who he does like? Eminem. [SF Gate]The new video for Tune-Yards' "Bizness" is amazing. [The Bay Bridged]

Hudson Mohawke: Show Preview

The 2011 Grammys, A Timeline: Lady Gaga's Boob Armor, Who Is Lady Antebellum, and What the Hell is Cee-Lo Wearing?

In which we sit through three and a half hours of Grammys twaddle, so you don't have to: 8:01 p.m.: Show opens with an Aretha Franklin montage. Okay... 8:03 p.m.: Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Yolanda Adams, and Martina McBride perform "Natural Woman" together, then take i ... More >>

Roach Gigz: Show Preview

Opinions About Opinions: Parsing the Year in Pitchfork Ratings

"Proclivity," eh?​They say any publicity is good publicity. It just might work for Ghostland Observatory, whose album Codename: Rondo got the lowest Pitchfork rating of 2010, clocking in at 1.5 out of 10. What, you may wonder if, like me, you never listened to it, was so irksome to the tastemaking ... More >>

Welcome to the Music Industry, 2011: Records Don't Sell, Touring Can Make Bank, and Major Labels Are (Mostly) Useless

​For whatever reason, today seems to be the day that the music industry reminds us that it's still in total upheaval. Soundscan tells us that relatively few people actually bought music in 2010, unless they were fans of Eminem and Katy Perry. Dave Matthews spent the last 10 years collecting $500 ... More >>

But You Can't Stay Here: Seven Songs for S.F's New Sit/Lie Law

Move it or lose it, sister​ In the aftermath of last week's elections, Measure L, the controversial initiative that would -- nay, will -- make it against the law to clutter San Francisco's public thoroughfares with shiftless human litter between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., has finally squeaked into the l ... More >>

Stopping piracy: How ultracheap downloads could save the music industry

How To Understand Rap (the Book!)

Rapping paper -- by rappingpaper.co.uk​Just what does 50 Cent mean when he raps "I done come up and I ain't changed" in "In Da Club"? What is Eminem talking about when he says he's "on a search to crush up a milkbone?" And to what is 2Pac referring with the term "paper"? We can help.

'The Flower,' the Cutest Pro-Marijuana Video You'll See Today

Politics -- cute, and with a kickin' beat...​Perhaps you never thought a disarmingly cute video of anthropomorphic blobs getting stoned and drunk could be a political statement. Yet, you also probably never thought you'd get to vote on marijuana legalization, either. Click on the link to watch the ... More >>

Why The Critics Are Wrong: Rap Albums You Probably Don't Know But Should, Part II

​Since many recent Next Big Things in rap have proven disappointing -- see Wale, Asher Roth and B.o.B. -- it might be time to consider the possibility that hip-hop tastemakers don't know what to look for in the first place. Here's an alternative to the critical consensus on rap. Yesterday, we ... More >>

Rap Albums You Probably Don't Know But Should, Part I

Illmatic isn't Nas' only good album, despite what you may have heard​Since many recent Next Big Things in rap have proven disappointing -- see Wale, Asher Roth and B.o.B. -- it might be time to consider the possibility that hip-hop tastemakers don't know what to look for in the first place. T ... More >>

50 Cent is the last of the millionaire rappers

Bobby Ray’s alter egos duke it out

Eminem

Relapse (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)

Asher Roth

Asleep in the Bread Aisle (SchoolBoy/SRC/Universal Motown)

MP3 of the Day: Girl Talk

Make. It. Stop. (Bangles)

Boss S-O-V

Lady Sovereign conquers America, yeah?

Baby Steps

Dancing teens trade moves, find love in a sweet backstage drama

Hip Hop's International Overflow

The world according to Tigarah

Mates of State

Bring It Back

Bum Rap

50 Cent wants to be an actor ... but he's not

Nobody Listens to Techno

Why San Franciscans are suffering from a case of technophobia

Bang Thy Head Carefully

A survival guide for the summer's more vigorous music festivals

Messy Marv

Bandannas, Tattoos & Tongue Rings

Atmosphere

Headshots: Se7en

D12

D12 World (Shady/Interscope)

Chingy

Jackpot

Roots Radical

Rocker-T wants to unite roots reggae's spirituality with dancehall's hedonistic swagger

Shop Till You Drop

Forget Kurt Cobain's Journals, and try Eminem's To-Do Lists instead

The New Britpop

The Streets' vision of working-class England is full of beats, birds, and brandy

Wobbly

Wild Why (Tigerbeat6)

Cold Chillin'

Hip hop's Atmosphere hails from an unlikely place -- Minnesota

The FCC wants to shut down "Your Revolution"

The revolution will not be televised, or broadcast, or even relayed via smoke signals.

Peace Out

The members of gay act Rainbow Flava don't want to change hip hop -- they just want some respect

Pop Philosophy

Great pop songs; pop dance clubs; song of the week