Kanye West

Kanye West Thinks He's God -- Here Are Four Other Musicians Who They Are, Too

We all know that story about how mad people got when John Lennon said the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." There was uproar! There were banners! There were protests! But these days, musicians have the audacity to compare themselves to actual Gods and no one bats an eyelid. Let's take a look a ... More >>

Five Straight Rappers Who Support LGBT Rights

As we're sure you're aware, the U.S. Supreme Court is again hearing arguments today about what to do with the issue of same-sex marriage. If the inundation of red profile pics on Twitter and Facebook is any indication, the growing social tide is on the side of the gay folk. Yet another sign that the ... More >>

Cam'ron: Show Preview

Sean Hayes Follows the Groove on His First Post-Fatherhood Album

Taylor Swift's Red: A First Listen

Imma let you finish Kanye, but Taylor Swift made one of the best albums of 2010. While indeed beautiful, dark, and twisted, Kanye's forbidding masterpiece didn't get stick it to abusers like "Mean" or "Dear John," get laid like "Sparks Fly," bare its teeth like "Better Than Revenge," marry in style ... More >>

The Top 5 Worst Birthday Songs Ever

So, 2 Chainz and Kanye West just saw fit to join forces to write a birthday song. Called "Birthday Song". What the ball-sack were they even thinking? It's a well known fact that there are only three birthday-related songs in the history of music that are actually good. One is Loretta Lynn's "Happy B ... More >>

Justin Bieber's Believe: A First Listen

Like my colleague Andrew Stout, I have mostly managed to avoid Justin Bieber for what I'm pretty sure are good reasons. He's a typical "innocent" white male singer trying to represent universality to nonwhites and nonmales. Then there's his musical blandness: bits that crept through my defenses of " ... More >>

A First Listen to The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, Feat. Ke$ha, Erykah Badu, Bon Iver and More

I loved, loved the Flaming Lips' Embryonic, and find The Soft Bulletin to be a pretty magical cornucopia. Pretty big fan of 1995's Clouds Taste Metallic as well. Yet I've never considered for even a second if the Lips could be one of my Favorite Bands. They might've struck gold three-ish times, but ... More >>

Album of the Year: Handicapping the Race for the Best Record of 2011

It's almost November -- the month when music scribes pull their ears out of whatever Sonic Youth/Public Enemy/Kate Bush playlist they normally exist to and begin cramming for that all-important professional exercise: The annual Best Of list. Picking the 10 or so best new albums of the year and placi ... More >>

Nicki Minaj's Chicken Wing Necklace, and 10 Other Crazy Musical Accessories

Oh, look at that. Nicki Minaj just emerged with a chicken wing around her neck that had been painted hot pink and dressed up like a necklace, and called it fashion. Hot! ... Or not, depending on your perspective. Regardless, in Minaj's avian-slaughtering honour, we'd like to take a look back at 10 o ... More >>

The Antidote to Watch The Throne: Why We Need Chuck D's "Notice -- Know This"

Public Enemy's Chuck D​ The luxurious sheen of Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch The Throne has beamed brilliant over the last couple of weeks of the hip-hop hype cycle. But amongst the chatter marveling at the upscale audacity of it all, there came a sobering and grounded moment just before the al ... More >>

The Voice's Season One Finale: Dia Frampton Was Robbed

Dia Frampton​ So last night was the grand finale of NBC's The Voice -- the first vaguely credible vocal talent show to find itself on American television. The night before, on Tuesday, the last four contestants each performed a duet with their coaches, as well as a song that had been written s ... More >>

Can Rising Rapper J Cole Overcome Jay-Z's A&R Curse?

J Cole​ "Jay-Z is the reason I signed to RocNation. It's very hard to say no to the opportunity when Jay-Z is involved." That's J Cole, talking optimistically about his status as the first signing to Jay-Z's RocNation label venture with concert giant LiveNation. But with Cole's debut album now ... More >>

Kid Cudi: Show Preview

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

A-Trak: Show Preview

Tune-Yards Featured in Rolling Stone, Because 'Bizness' Is Amazing

Anna M CampbellTune-Yards' Merrill Garbus​So we're into predictions lately. Here's one: 2011 is going to be a great year for Tune-Yards, the Oakland-based project of Merrill Garbus, whom you may as well start thinking of as the one-girl Dirty Projectors of the West. (A problematic comparison, but ... More >>

A Postcard from the Future

Or, how 2011 was the year everything changed in music.

Honor Roll Crew's Josie Stingray Explains 'Josie,' Her New Single, and Her Sneaker Obsession

​"Shoe game is crazy but still elegant/With my Jordan threes, boy, I'll stomp you like an elephant." So spits Honor Roll Crew member Josie Stingray on her new, free-to-download, Trackademicks-produced song, "Josie." One of the Bay's brightest and feistiest upcoming rappers, we got the self-co ... More >>

The Sounds of 2010

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

My Top 10 Tracks of 2010, Apparently a Good Year in S.F. Rock

All hail the Fresh & Onlys, local proprietors of one of my favorite songs of 2010.​No, this isn't some not-so-sly effort at hometown boosterism. Three of my favorite songs from this year just happen to come from artists who nominally call S.F. home. Seriously. Anyway, some of the others on her ... More >>

Please Don't Hurt 'Em: Hammer Beefs With Jay-Z

Now that we've made short work of Texas, it's apparently time to revive that age-old rap rivalry between the East and the West. So who's bringing the vitriol for the Left Coast? The Game? Ice Cube? Lil B? 2Pac's stepbrother Mopreme? Nope! It's Oakland rapper, dancer, entrepreneur, reality TV star, ... More >>

Berkeley Rapper Lil B Threatens to Rape Kanye West, Rap World Asks if B is Gay

​You never just what might spew out of the keyboard of an online hypester like Berkeley rapper Lil B, who fires off a Tweet approximately once every three seconds. But the self-proclaimed "Based God" (and member of the Pack) Tweeted something over the weekend that grabbed a lot more attention ... More >>

Stop, Drop and Roll: Justin Bieber is White?

Biebster on the mic​I think I can still legitimately claim to have never heard a real Justin Bieber song, which doesn't bother me very much. Doesn't keep me from appreciating his cherubic wholesomeness and his unauthorized novelties, such as the Sigur Rós-caliber majesty of "U Smile" slowed down ... 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 >>

50 Cent is the last of the millionaire rappers

Track(s) of the Day: Bossasaurus' Giant Tunes

In this week's paper, Phillip Mlynar profiles Oakland remix/production crew Bossasaurs. He writes of this group of hip-hop heads and dinosaur hoodie retailers:All four members of Bossasaurus are serious about their aims to be seen as creators. They openly scorn the current remix scene, dissing "lap ... More >>

Hammer, from the waist down

Kingdom

Bay Area Beats

De La Soul

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 >>

Human Giant's Aziz Ansari Brings "Glow in the Dark" Tour to SF

Skate Jonze

Nick Catchdubs

Italians Always Do It Better: Joakim and Glass Candy

Sketchfest stokes the musician-comedian love affair

My Tunes: Kelenna Azubuike

Warrior and music lover

Intro to Hip-Hop Statistics

Last Night: A-Trak and Kid Sister at the Good Magazine Block Party

Dream Girl

The making of Malika

Ghostface Killah

More Fish (Def Jam)

Get Down With Dave

Chappelle returns with a raucous Block Party

Behind the Muzak

What do you mean you didn't keep score while watching the Grammys? We did.

Jel

Soft Money

Mixtape Shmixtape

In which we review Yay Area mixtapes of the day

BeatBox

Doug E. Fresh brings the beat-boxing revival to the DNA Lounge; 26 Mix hosts the ultimate hip hop feud: "East vs. West."

God Save the Scene

Sassy Brits, hoochie mamas, and a dude named Beans attempted to invigorate a stagnant year for hip hop.

Brandy, Brandy, Brandy, I Can Let You Go

Afrodisiac