By Tamara Palmer It's now been more than 20 years since Earl Stevens (aka E-40) put his first independent record out on the streets of the Bay Area and set out on a mission to put his hometown of Vallejo on the international rap map and his colorful phraseology into the mouths of society at large ... More >>
(Photo from E-40's MySpace page)E-40 is no stranger to clever puns, and the title of the Vallejo heavy's latest release, The Ball Street Journal, shows the rapper isn't slowing down the slang any time soon. The album, featuring 40's signature rubber tongue alongside guests like Snoop Dogg, Bu ... More >>
Keys to the City The Independent Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2009 Notes by Jackie Lopez The Independent was chilly on the inside Tuesday night. The venue had left the doors wide open and it just wasn't packed enough for the crowd to steal some body heat from others in attendance. Still, a good number showed u ... More >>
By Ben Westhoff Hip-hop A-listers including Rick Ross, Akon and Plies were caught grossly exaggerating their gangster credentials this year. (Turns out they were painfully law-abiding. The horror!) But even if your favorite rapper wasn't caught in a lie, you can bet he or she put out a hilariously ... More >>
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 >>
By Randall RobertsAny knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive hous ... More >>
By Dan Leroy A couple of weeks ago, an expert on the Harry Potter series told an audience of high school kids how lucky they were to have this Big Shared Experience--these seven books and 41,000 words in common. What does Harry Potter have to do with hip-hop in 2008? In an age when many year-end ... More >>
By Randall Roberts You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barrier ... More >>
EKAphotographyTown Bizness Too $hort's highly-anticipated supergroup Town Bizness has canceled their scheduled March 27 show at the Grand Ballroom. No official reason was given for the cancellation, and the show has yet to be rescheduled. A representative for $hort's label Up All Nite, reach ... More >>
EKAphotographyTown Bizness Too $hort's highly-anticipated supergroup Town Bizness has canceled their scheduled March 27 show at the Grand Ballroom. No official reason was given for the cancellation, and the show has yet to be rescheduled. A representative for $hort's label Up All Nite, reach ... More >>
EKAphotographyTown Bizness Too $hort's highly-anticipated supergroup Town Bizness has canceled their scheduled March 27 show at the Grand Ballroom. No official reason was given for the cancellation, and the show has yet to be rescheduled. A representative for $hort's label Up All Nite, reach ... More >>
Crayons (Burgundy S)
Crayons (Burgundy S)
Crayons (Burgundy S)
Crayons (Burgundy S)
Graduation (Island Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella)
E-40 blows up, and takes the rest of the Bay Area with him
Wherein we review Yay Area mixtapes of the day
Wherein we review Yay Area mixtapes of the day
Before... When last we saw Oakland singer Goapele--back in 2005--she was a socially-conscious neo-soul hippie, surrounded by fairytale-esque flowers and rainbows on the cover of her second album Change It All. Her music ranged from Lynda Perry-penned romantic ballads ("Dark Side of the Moon") to ... More >>
Before... When last we saw Oakland singer Goapele--back in 2005--she was a socially-conscious neo-soul hippie, surrounded by fairytale-esque flowers and rainbows on the cover of her second album Change It All. Her music ranged from Lynda Perry-penned romantic ballads ("Dark Side of the Moon") to ... More >>
There's an app for that...Calling all computer-whiz nerds: not one, but two Bay Area-based Web application contests were announced this week. First, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been helping to promote the DataSF App contest, which challenges entrants to create civic-minded applications b ... More >>
There's an app for that...Calling all computer-whiz nerds: not one, but two Bay Area-based Web application contests were announced this week. First, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been helping to promote the DataSF App contest, which challenges entrants to create civic-minded applications b ... More >>
There's an app for that...Calling all computer-whiz nerds: not one, but two Bay Area-based Web application contests were announced this week. First, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has been helping to promote the DataSF App contest, which challenges entrants to create civic-minded applications b ... More >>
