Jay-Z

Five Musical Couples That Should Collaborate

Yesterday, we sighed and felt warm and fuzzy inside when angel-faced pixie Brit Ellie Goulding revealed that she'd love to make an album with her boyfriend, Skrillex, with whom she shares a hairstyle. Adorable! We'd like to take a moment to actively encourage both parties to make this happen, not on ... More >>

Video: This Obama "99 Problems (But Mitt's Not One)" Mashup Is Required Watching

Jay-Z's "99 Problems" has always been fertile territory for creative mashup artists, but a new Obama-Romney video is the best twist on it we've seen in a long time. Using Obama and Romney's actual words, the video sees POTUS slamming his opponent in true gangsta style. But while Obama seems to have ... More >>

Noel Gallagher Claims Rock Stardom Will Go Extinct, Apparently Hasn't Heard of Other Forms of Stardom

Aw, look: Another one of Oasis' Gallagher brothers uttered a statement that managed to be arrogant, ignorant, and fuddy-duddy all at the same time! This time it was the elder (and usually saner) one, Noel, speaking to the U.K.'s Sunday Express about the impending die-off of that rare and vital spec ... More >>

Jay-Z Inspires San Francisco Tourists

San Francisco has way more than 99 problems: Ross Mirkarimi, rogue Muni buses, and Ross Mirkarimi driving rogue Muni buses, for starters. But for all our problems, tourists aren't one of them. Try as we might, we just can't keep them away. Canned soup served in our bread bowls is superior to the sor ... More >>

Reminder: Free Party Tonight With the Jealous Guys, DJ Dials, and Yr Skull

My, my, it's been a big week, what with M.I.A.'s middle finger, that new Jay-Z and Kanye video, the quickly sold-out Hot Snakes show, and what else? We forgot already. Point is, you should come by our party at the Noise Pop-Up Shop tonight. For one thing it's free, and there will be performances by ... More >>

President Barack Obama Likes Arcade Fire and the Black Eyed Peas. Yes, Really.

​Yesterday, we found out from a British music news website that, like Santa Claus, Barack Obama keeps a "Nice" list -- or rather a list of people he wants to have supporting him in his re-election campaign. We've seen the list, and alongside all of the alphabetized politicians, business and sports ... More >>

Hear Ashkon's Awesome 49ers Anthem, "Niners in Paris"

​You almost certainly remember "Don't Stop Believing," Ashkon Davaran's Journey-flipping SF Giants anthem from 2010. Well, the master of SF sports remixes is at it again: He just dropped "That Smith Cray," a 49ers jam based on Jay-Z and Kanye West's ubiquitous "Ni**as in Paris." The man behi ... More >>

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

In Defense of the Game -- Our Last Honest Gangsta Rapper

The Game performs at Regency Ballroom this week.​ Lately, The Game, who performs at the Regency Ballroom on Thursday (Oct. 27), has been psychoanalyzed as some sort of rapping mentalist. Armchair critics are quick to characterize him as an artist constantly putting out desperate cries for atte ... More >>

Saturday: Non-Stop Bhangra Celebrates Its Seven-Year Anniversary at Rickshaw Stop

Kahley EmersonNon-Stop Bhangra at Rickshaw Stop​ Non-Stop Bhangra Seven Year Anniversary Rickshaw Stop Oct. 15, 2011 Better than: Sweating it out at a Bikram yoga studio It all started in the 14th Century. Bored wheat farmers in Punjab (a region in Northern India and Pakistan) created a danc ... More >>

Jay-Z and Kanye West Reschedule Watch the Throne Tour

You'll have to wait two more months to Watch the Throne.​Last week, Jay-Z and Kanye West announced their Watch the Throne Tour. It was scheduled to stop at San Jose's HP Pavilion on October 16, but apparently all royal marriages take time, and now there will be a two-month delay.

Jay-Z and Kanye West Are Bringing the Throne to the Bay Area This Fall

The Kings will cometh.​Now that the hype from the Royal Wedding has finally died down, it's time for the Kings to arrive. The self-proclaimed kings, that is -- Jay-Z and Kanye West, now collectively known as the Throne, will bring their upcoming joint tour through the Bay Area this fall. Will ... More >>

Public Enemy: Show Preview

Rapper DMX Tries to Overcome His Demons and Stage a Comeback

The Sounds of 2010

What we'll remember from the year in S.F. music.

The Cheesiest Food Songs of 2010

These eight songs aspired to be hot enough to melt our popsicle, but all they did was make us taste cheddar. Behold, our countdown of the cheesiest food-themed songs of 2010: 8. "Ms. Chocolate" by Lil Jon featuring R. Kelly and Mario They're cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, they want a piece, etc. ― ... More >>

Wonder-Full club night: Show Preview

S.F.'s Hot Pocket Covers Jay-Z and Kool & The Gang, Doesn't Dig the Sunset

Jay-Z and Kool & the Gang get equal attention from San Francisco cover band, Hot Pocket​San Francisco quintet Hot Pocket, an offshoot of the 10-piece hip-hop and Latin funk outfit Bayonics, has built a solid following by filling bars across the city several times a week with its enormous reper ... More >>

Exclusive: DJ White Mike's 'Lights and Sounds' Mix

'Lights and Sounds Mixtape' Artwork​San Francisco's DJ White Mike is the man behind this 40-minute mixtape of club-ready sonics, which he calls Lights and Sounds. We've certainly featured Mike and his Get Loose! shindig before, but this upbeat DJ set is something a tad different from the mixm ... More >>

Five Bay Area Hip-Hop Stars Who Should Be Really Stinkin' Rich

Is this what it takes?​On Tuesday, Forbes published its list of hip-hop's 20 highest earners: Jay-Z at number one, naturally, with $63 million, and Senegalese crooner Akon edging out Lil Wayne by a milli -- Weezy's cash-accruing steez have been impressively unabated by his recent jail sentenc ... 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 >>

Patterson-Kinch Collaboration Like Some Monster Hip Hop Mashup

Manresa's David Kinch and Coi's Daniel Patterson are uniting for a splashy dinner Feb. 8 at Coi (373 Broadway at Montgomery). Guests will nibble seven courses ($195 for the spread), with proceeds to benefit the training of the next U.S. Bocuse d'Or representative hoping to slice, dice, and reduce in ... More >>

Listomania: Top Southern Rap Picks For 2009

Yeah, it stirred the Yankees to the World Series championship, but was there a more boring album this year than Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3? Perhaps it was a geographic thing; with a few exceptions like Raekwon and Kid Cudi, most of 2009's exciting, innovative rap records came from Southern artists. Sur ... More >>

Kraftwerk's Anthologie makes up for lost time

Wallpaper. and Das Racist get the dancefloor munchies

Last Night: Santigold at the Warfield

SantigoldThursday, May 21, 2009The Warfield TheaterReview by Jesse Ducker Better Than: A bloodless M.I.A. concert "It feels like the first day of school!" Santigold told a screaming, full house at the Warfield last night, on the opening date of her national tour. "We've got new outfits and every ... More >>

Saadiq Soul

10 Artists with Gimmicky Names Worth Hearing

(Nipsey Hussle is nothing funny) The cast of the musical Gypsy set a precedent in entertainment in 1962 when it declared, "You Gotta Get a Gimmick!" That song referred to strippers, of course, but the old adage still seems to holds true, particularly in the rampantly pseudonymous worlds of rap, ... More >>

Obama and Hip-hop: Better than "Beef"?

EKAphotography copyright 2007. all rights reservedOur shoulder-brushin', fist-bumpin' POTUS in Oakland, 2007 For a long time, hip hop debates have tended toward the tawdry and tabloidesque--i.e., Is Kanye Gay?; Is Alicia Keys creepin' with Swizz Beats?; Joe Budden vs. Saigon, T.I. vs. Mysonne, Cha ... More >>

Scenes We’d Like to See

The Weekend Hitlist: 4/18-4/20

We score an exclusive interview with the Olympic torch

Vanilla Ice Tells SFWeekly His Top Nine Records of '07

Kanye West

Graduation (Island Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella)

SF Weekly and Pharoahe Monch Chop It Up About Rock the Bells, White People

Slap that ass at Donkey Punch

All hail the King and the Asian brigade

If it's kinda, sorta music-related, we'll review it. This week: Rick Rubin's moxie.

Hear This

The final farewell of Destiny's Child, the return of Olivia Tremor Control, and some girl named Kelly Clarkson

BeatBox

Autechre's jagged beats, Trillville's funky crunk, and "Jigga"'s hip hop for homos

Best 18-and-Over Club Night

BeatBox

"We Funk" brings DJs Dusk and Miles up from L.A.; get down to the "Sounds of the Basement" with Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs

Love Stinks

A warm, fuzzy roundup of depressing anti-Valentine's Day anthems

Hear This

Kanye West is everywhere, including Oakland; My Chemical Romance delivers its canned goth-pop

Get a Pop Life

The Grey Album made everyone forget about Danger Mouse and Jemini's Ghetto Pop Life. It's time to remember.

Murs

Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition

Panjabi MC

Beware

Foreign Legion

Playtight

Wobbly

Wild Why (Tigerbeat6)