Southern Rap

TNGHT: Show Preview

High Five: A Handful of New Songs You Need to Hear, From Mwahaha, Lil Wayne, Marnie Stern, and More

Welcome, time-crunched and over-stimulated music fan, to All Shook Down's High Five -- a place where Byard Duncan wades through the shit to find you the hits. Well, five of them, anyway. If there's anything uniting the tracks in this week's inaugural installment, it's a sense of urgency. From Dutch ... More >>

French Montana: Show Preview

2 Chainz's 10 Best Song-Stealing Guest Verses

Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz (aka Tauheed Epps, 35) is no one's sidekick. He sold out his first night as a solo artist at The Warfield on Dec. 15 (tickets are still available for the Dec. 16 show) and has a Gold-certified single ("No Lie" featuring Drake) and a Grammy nomination (Best Rap Album for Based ... More >>

Big Boi's Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors: A First Listen

Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors is the title. Why? Does Big Boi even have any enemies? Has anyone ever beefed with him...ever? Who is he referring to, disgruntled Idlewild ticket-buyers? Or is he increasingly in denial that Outkast -- his meal ticket artistically and commercially -- is over? It's ... More >>

T.I. Previews His New Album Trouble Man in San Francisco

When T.I. took a seat on a couch at S.F.'s Studio Trilogy last night to show guests the short film that accompanies his forthcoming album Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head (due Dec. 18), he had no idea that he was sitting underneath a photograph of Marvin Gaye, whose own album of the same name was part ... More >>

Big Boi's Day in the Bay: Apple, Twitter, and Popeye's Chicken

Daddy Fat Sacks, aka Big Boi, aka one-half of OutKast, was in the Bay Area yesterday -- and because the Bay Area is what it is, we can pretty much follow his day on Twitter. In fact it looks like the occasion for Mr. Patton's visit was a pair of visits to two Bay Area tech giants: Apple first, for w ... More >>

Main Attrakionz Move Beyond Cloud Rap

Here Is Lil Wayne Singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at the Giants-Cardinals Game Last Night

Well, this didn't make it to our Fox-fueled TV screens yesterday: Rap star/walking tattoo warning Lil Wayne was on hand at AT&T Park to sing -- we use that term loosely -- "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Yes, and with enthusiasm! Which raises several questions: 1. Lil Wayne is a Giants fan? (He's ... More >>

New Orleans Rapper Dee-1 on Meeting Lil Wayne and Playing Basketball with Master P

Back when he was in high school, New Orleans rapper Dee-1 was working at a local Circuit City store when Lil Wayne came in and ordered a TV. Dee ended up installing the goggle-box into Weezy's car. These days, Dee himself works closely with Mannie Fresh, the architect of the classic Cash Money sound ... More >>

2012 MTV Video Music Awards: The 10 Lost Categories

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual occasion for thrill and intrigue. An arena for a slutty young Madonna to writhe around the ground in a wedding dress, or even for a slutty old Madonna to French kiss a couple of aging pop tartlets. A place for pyro and pasties and grand interruptions -- I'mma ... More >>

Top 5 Awesomely Silly Dancing GIFs From the Outside Lands Festival

One thing crowds at San Francisco's Outside Lands festival do pretty well is get down. Despite the relentless wind, heavy fog, and numbing temperatures, we saw plenty of good moves last weekend -- and some ridiculously silly enthusiasm from certain crowd members. (It helped that Big Boi stuck to p ... More >>

The Best of Outside Lands: Saturday, Aug. 11

Norah Jones They may not all admit it, but everyone likes Norah Jones. And more universally than that, everyone gets down to Norah Jones. As we walk through Lindley Meadow on our way closer to the stage, we see couples of all kinds dancing, pecking, staring dreamily, or full-on making-out to the smo ... More >>

What to See at Outside Lands: Nine Artists

Outside Lands 2012 Set Times Are Out: Here's a Look at the Conflicts

Scheduling a festival like Outside Lands is never easy -- there's always going to be some fans who want to see two acts that happen to be playing at the same time. But judging by the set times released today, festival organizers have done a pretty decent job of minimizing the conflicts. As we wrote ... More >>

Pump It Like the Future: El-P and Killer Mike Bust Hip-Hop's Boundaries

How To Not Piss Off Tyga at His S.F. Show

Los Angeles rapper Tyga's March 19 concert in Omaha, Nebraska didn't end well -- after the show, there was a shootout. The rapper told XXL that a local act was mad because Tyga wouldn't let the group open up for him on the spur of the moment, and that the locals started throwing debris on the stage ... More >>

Trombone Shorty on New Orleans Attitude, Growing Up With Hip-Hop, and Covering Lil Wayne

Trombone Shorty plays Friday and Saturday at the Fillmore.​ "I've been hearing hip-hop music since I was born." So says Trombone Shorty, the brass-playing band leader who grew up in the Tremé district of New Orleans' 6th Ward and has already amassed a Grammy nomination for his debut jazz albu ... More >>

Drake's Take Care: A First Listen

​ Funny thing about Drake: I'm forced to care. This goes beyond my duties as a music writer; rap now is in a state where someone like Drake or Rick Ross becomes the sun and everyone surrounding becomes an orbiting satellite. I'm a huge fan of co-Money Youngins Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, and I ... 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 >>

Big Boi's Outside Lands Set: Killed By DJ's Computer Malfunction

No show for Sir Lucious Left Foot​ It didn't seem to bode well for Big Boi's scheduled Outside Lands performance that the Atlanta rapper (and OutKast member) was arrested only days before on drug charges in Miami. In the end, Big Boi didn't end up playing in S.F. on Friday as scheduled -- but ... More >>

Six Child Musicians It's Okay To Like. No, Really.

​Remember that guy in OutKast that isn't Andre 3000? Big Boi is his name. Well, he's just announced some musical news that will probably make you frown, curl up your top lip and ask a bemused: "But why?" That's right! Try not to recoil at the fact that Big Boi has started a record la ... More >>

Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Rick Ross in Oakland: Photos from Last Night's Show

Richard HaickLil Wayne in Oakland!​ Lil Wayne Nicki Minaj Rick Ross April 24, 2011 Oracle Arena, Oakland Lil Wayne! Lil Wayne! Lil Wayne! Weezy himself appeared in Oakland last night for a blowout show with friends Nicki Minaj, Travis Barker, and Rick Ross. Judging by these photos from Richard Ha ... More >>

Point/Counterpoint: Is a Sober Lil Wayne a Good Thing?

But are you any good sober?​ Lil Wayne emerged from Rikers Island late last year. Now, owing to the terms of his probation, he must lay off drugs and liquor for three years or return to prison. And, by all accounts, he's kept kosher. And yet something doesn't quite sit right. For the man wh ... More >>

Killer Mike's Fury Blends Southern and Conscious Rap

In Print: Papercuts' Stunning Sub Pop Debut, Killer Mike's Righteous Fury, and More

Papercuts' Jason QueverFrom ​SF Weekly's latest print music section:S.F.'s Papercuts Make a Stunning, Dreamy Sub Pop Debut: On Papercuts' Sub Pop debut, Fading Parade, Quever's vision of atmospheric, world-weary indie-pop is expanded to a stunning degree. Not only is it by far the best thing Paper ... More >>

Hudson Mohawke: Show Preview

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and lows from the last week in S.F. music

The Top 5 Most Regrettable Rapper Tattoos

Rappers lead the world when it comes to ridiculous tattoos. But while it's easy to mock Lil Wayne getting the EPSN logo on his arm or Eve's decision to stamp cat paws on her breasts, sometimes rappers themselves have second thoughts about their ink art. So with Gucci Mane recently revealing a freshl ... More >>

Download a Free 8-Song Mashup of Big Boi and The Black Keys

​If you like a little juxtaposition with your year-in-review jawns, we've got just the thing for you: The Brothers of Chico Dusty, an unbidden and inspired pileup of two very well-liked 2010 albums by The Black Keys and Big Boi, respectively. Why? Ah, but why not?

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 >>

Who Needs Andre? Big Boi's Tour of Hits Gets Regency Bouncing

​Big Boi The Knux Camp-Lo September 23, 2010 @ The Regency Ballroom Better than: Having no members of OutKast show up.The question is: Big Boi or Andre 3000? It's a fun question, at least -- and perhaps an impossible one, because even though both members of the h ... More >>

Pick a Rhyme and Win Free Tickets to See Big Boi Thursday at Regency Ballroom

So what'll it be?​What's the best Big Boi rhyme of all time? Pick an answer we like, and you could win tickets to see one half of OutKast Thursday (that's tomorrow, people) at Regency Ballroom. Your favorite line could be from an OutKast song, or from Big Boi's recent, exhaustively titled solo alb ... More >>

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Trey Songz: Show Preview

Stream This Now: Big Boi's New Album Puts Him Ahead of Andre 3000

​ If you're as old as I am, which isn't very old at all, you remember 2003 quite well. If you have a decent memory, you'll also remember that "Hey Ya!" by OutKast's Andre 3000 dominated the airwaves for that year and then some. Andre's album The Love Below was  released at the same time as hi ... 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 >>

Concert preview: Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek

B.o.B is about to get ridiculously popular

Bouncer: Falling for Fog City

Acrobatic Funk

The nimble artistry of Janelle Monáe.

The nimble funkistry of Janelle Monáe

Tiny Monsters