Notorious B.I.G.

San Jose Rapper Antwon Breaks Through a Hellish Set at SXSW

Antwon Holy Mountain // SXSW Wednesday, March 13, 2013 At midnight in Austin, Antwon is onstage performing his third show of the day -- and it is not going well. The microphone in the hands of one of the Bay Area's most promising new rappers is crackling and cutting out intermittently. The sound g ... More >>

Five Musicians' Kids Who Have Better Jobs Than You

Guess what, everybody? Despite the invention of child labor laws, there are whole gangs of marauding teens with careers more dazzling and exciting than any of ours. How does this depressing turn of events transpire? Well, usually it happens because someone famous made those children with their priva ... More >>

The 10 Best Bay Area Hip-Hop Records of 2012

It's been another big year in Bay Area hip-hop, with one huge collaboration album from two local greats and lots of strong releases from young local upstarts. So before the world ends, let's round up the 10 best Bay Area hip-hop/rap records (including albums, mixtapes, etc.) of 2012. Main Attrakion ... More >>

Beer of the Week: New Belgium/Alpine Super India Pale Ale

Over the last decade, a sharp divide has emerged between regional IPA brewing practices. The result has been a gangsta rap-style feud pitting California against the Eastern seaboard. Generally speaking, we can envision West Coast IPAs as the embodiment of Tupac Shakur. These lean, mean, torso-bearin ... More >>

Hood Internet: Show Preview

Before Hip-Hop Squares: Eight Links Between Rap Music and TV Game Shows

A game show that people have ever cared about -- even a little bit -- can go down, but it will never truly be out. Know the Dick Clark version of Pyramid that started in the 1970s and continued throughout the decade? No? Well, you've probably encountered the Bill Cullen version (also from the '70s), ... More >>

Fifteen Years Later, Hanson's "MMMBop" Is Still the Greatest Single Ever

Music critics are misleading you. Their lists are cataloged lies. The greatest single of all time is not "Fight the Power," or "Love Will Tear Us Apart," or "Johnny B. Goode," or "Anarchy in the U.K.," or "Billie Jean." The deception is strategic; uncovering the truth would only upset their caref ... More >>

Top 10 Songs No One Cares That You Know the Lyrics To

​You know who you are. You're that guy who starts bellowing in the middle of the bar while your friends pretend not to be with you. You're that girl who gets over-excited in the middle of Urban Outfitters and starts singing along to the song playing just loudly enough that everyone has to hear you ... More >>

Celebrate Four Years of Debaser With This Exclusive Boyz n the Hood-Themed Mix

Editor's note: Ahead of the four-year anniversary of beloved '90s party Debaser, we invited party DJs Jamie Jams and Stab Master Arson to make a mix of some of the songs we can expect to hear at Saturday's party. What follows is their mix and commentary. By JAMIE GUZZI Hip-hop historians note that ... More >>

MTV Gains Weight -- and Some Insight

​As a child of the 1980s and '90s, I routinely saw a handful of plus-sized bodies on my MTV  interspersed between taut video vixens and studs. The Fat Boys. Heavy D (rest in peace). Missy Elliott. Biggie Smalls, Fat Joe, and Big Pun. Since then, MTV has ceased playing videos and has corn ... 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 >>

The Cool Kids: Cool with Recording for Mountain Dew

Cochon 555 Brings Porcine Pleasures to San Francisco

Jason HenryRavi Kapur's Game Plan includes chocolate blood cake.​On Sunday, June 5, a sold out crowd of pig enthusiasts descended upon Cochon 555 to enjoy upwards of 50 different dead pig preparations and crown S.F.'s Prince of Pork. Pig-shaped balloons led the way into the Julia Morgan Ballro ... More >>

"Everything Must Go": Will Ferrell Stops Mugging for Down-and-Out Drama

'Rapture Party' Planned for May 21

Time to party with the Whore of Bablyon​On May 21, fans of American hip hop music will have a chance to celebrate the birthday of the late Christopher George Latore Wallace, popularly known as Biggie Smalls. But those who don't like rap need not feel left out, because we all have a reason almost a ... More >>

Girl Talk's Greg Gillis Says Irony Is a Waste

In Print: Girl Talk vs. Irony and the Eagles, Warpaint's Fleet-Footed Psychodrama, and More

Girl Talk​Girl Talk: At the center of the stage is a sweaty dude leaning intently over a laptop. Surrounding him is a forest of half-naked young people writhing to a mix of Notorious B.I.G. rapping over Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." This is the spectacle at a Girl Talk show, where Pittsburgh native ... More >>

Rocky's Swag: Roach Gigz Rides His Cocky Charm Toward Rap's Big Ring

Remembering Biggie, Who Died 14 Years Ago Today

Happier times for the whole country​Christopher Wallace, better known to posterity as the Notorious B.I.G., died fourteen years ago today in Los Angeles. (Obligatory S.F. cameo: a few days before, he did a radio interview here on WiLD 107 where he said he'd hired a security detail because he feare ... More >>

The Tupac Shakur Biopic: Why You Should Be Skeptical

Not ready for the big screen yet?​After having a spat over legal rights with Afeni Shakur, Tupac Shakur's mom, Morgan Creek Productions has received her blessing to make a biopic about the slain N.Y./D.C./Bay Area rapper. And considering the exciting/troubled/contradictory life story of Tupac, the ... More >>

Turns Out Michael Chabon Is a Huge Hip-Hop Nerd

MIchael Chabon, wishing he was bangin' some Wu-Tang​If you haven't been obsessively up to date with the world of Internet news, Bay Area author Michael Chabon has been guest editing the culture section of The Atlantic's culture blog this week. The nifty gig also revealed perhaps one of the lesser ... More >>

Nas and Damian Marley show the wrong way to Africa

Exclusive: '90s R&B Mini-Mix by Debaser's Jamie Jams

Chris BrennanJamie Jams​One thing I've always greatly respected about Jamie Jams and the other fellas that run the 'SF Weekly Best of 2010' Debaser club is their unending wealth of knowledge about the music they love. Obviously, they know their way around '90s alt-rock hits, but it's a pleasant su ... More >>

Lil Kim to Perform at SF's Hotel Nikko July 12

​Prepare to hear lots of naughty words if you show up to this. The famously explicit, once-Notorious B.I.G.-endorsed Lil Kim will perform at the Rrazz Room at San Francisco's Hotel Nikko on July 12. The Brooklyn-born Lil' Kim (born Kimberly Jones) hasn't had a true hit in a while -- in fact she ha ... More >>

Green Eyed Monster, a Tippler from Lafitte

Tamara Palmer​Lafitte is the new restaurant from "Dissident Chef" Russell Jackson, who most recently hosted underground meals under the Sub-Culture Dining banner. More than two years in the making, the waterfront, pirate-named spot opened its doors for dinner on April 6, and expects to begin l ... More >>

Erykah Badu

Stretch Armstrong

Fair Use

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 >>

Biggie, Small

Notorious B.I.G., made B.L.A.N.D.

Hey DJ! Friday Q&A: Rebel Girl's DJ China G

Rapper Buckshot thinks, talks, and records for success

Club Night Review: Sucker-Punch @ The Transfer

Noise Pop Preview: Mountain Goats Delve into Divine Dread

Hyper! Norwegian! Electro! Dipteryx! Yay!

Boss S-O-V

Lady Sovereign conquers America, yeah?

Mixtape Shmixtape

Wherein we review Yay Area mixtapes of the day

Panthers

Things Are Strange

The Notorious B.I.G.

Ready to Die: The Remaster

House of Tudor

A rap-war documentary, the old new wave, and Gypsy-fied French noir

Speak To Me

Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam brings hip hop home

Stakes Is High

Bay Area hip-hop artists and the art of the hustle

Night+Day

Recordings

Samples

Mix Masters

Inside the underground DJ mix-tape phenomenon

Jazzoetry

The return of the legendary Last Poets

Samples

What's Killing Hip Hop?

From the Western Addition to the East Bay, police and wary club owners have all but banished hip hop. Have the cops overreacted? Are the clubs at fault? Or have a few well-armed fans hijacked the positive vibe of the hip-hop nation?

Samples