Southern Rap

New Phoenix Mixtape Pairs T.I., Lil Wayne, and E40 with Phoenix Rappers

Rapper T.I. must have seen something he liked when he stopped by Phoenix this past weekend. His Atlanta-based record label Grand Hustle is showing Arizona some love with a new mixtape, The Phoenix Edition Mixtape. The 17-track release showcases some of the Valley's up and coming hip-hop acts inclu ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows This Week

Yeah, yeah, yeah...we get it. Mondays suck (we've read Garfield). But it means the start of a new week, which means a bunch of killer shows in and around Phoenix. And here are a few of the coolest -- our top five must-see shows this week.

Yang Tough

Phoenix's Jae E Teams with E40 to "Go Get It"

Southern rap is a ubiquitous force in hip-hop, a dominating sound that influences the rest of the nation. Phoenix-based rapper hails from New Orleans, where the sounds he heard profoundly influenced the sound displayed on "Go Get It," his collaboration with revenue retrievin' star E40 and Thaddeou ... More >>

Jackie Morales, What Are You Listening To?

Jackie Morales Morales is the mid-day DJ for 101.5-FM Jamz. When you put your key in the ignition and turn on the radio, what station would play right now? Of course, 101.5! What's the first album you bought? I honestly don't go out and buy very many albums, but when I heard Mariah Carey's Em ... More >>

Club Candids: Lil Flip at Big Fish Pub

If you've ever wanted to witness the diversity of the Valley's hip-hop crowd, check out a rap gig at the Big Fish Pub on any given weekend. You're likely to see a varied assortment of both dudes and dames checking out cyphers spitting fresh rhymes on the microphone, whether its tattooed metalheads ... More >>

Waka Flocka Flame @ Ashley Furniture HomeStore Pavilion

What's Selling: Zia Record Exchange (Thunderbird) Top 10 Selling Albums of the Week

Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We've got you covered with another installment of What's Selling. North Phoenix music shoppers are satisfying their diverse palette by picking up a range of music genres last week at Zia Records on ... More >>

What's Selling: Zia Record Exchange Top 10 Selling Albums of the Week

Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We've got you covered with another installment of What's Selling. Feliz año nuevo, friends. The first What's Selling list of 2012 is full of familiar faces, with Drake's Take Care owning the numbe ... More >>

Phantogram's Josh Carter on Sticky Fingers, Coachella, and the "Mouthful of Diamonds" Cocktail

​Phantogram is hitting the road in support of the follow up EP, or "mini-EP" as guitarist Josh Carter likes to call it, to the group's dynamic debut LP, Eyelid Movies. Last year, this trip-hop group played a packed show at Rip's Ales and Cocktails for Sticky Fingers. This time around, the ban ... More >>

The Knux Kick Off US Tour at Scottsdale's Rogue Bar

​It's a pretty common complaint around town that awesome acts often skip Phoenix on tour. Well, here's a story that argues the opposite. New Orleans-based rap duo The Knux are kicking of their tour here in the Phoenix Metro, at Scottsdale's Rogue Bar on Tuesday, November 8. The band often gets c ... More >>

Yelawolf

What's Selling: Zia Record Exchange Top 10 Selling Albums of the Week

​Want to know what new release discs and platters are moving across the Valley at local record stores? We've got you covered with another installment of What's Selling. It's not very surprising that Lil Wayne and the Red Hot Chili Peppers topped the sales charts at Zia Record Exchange last we ... More >>

Gucci Mane @ Celebrity Theatre

Big Freedia Is Shaking Booties and Taking Names

Lil Wayne

Yo Gotti @ Celebrity Theatre

Phoenix Hip-Hop Duo The New F.O.'s Nab Licensing Deal with MTV Networks' Hype Music

The New F.O.'s EP Real.Life.Feel.Good.​According to its own polished hype, the aptly named Hype Music is "a remarkable talent-incubating, hybrid, music licensing company fueled by some of the world's hottest, emerging, independent artists." But Hype may just live up to its name. The comp ... More >>

Lil Wayne Considering Retirement After Releasing 'Tha Carter IV'

​Lil Wayne is considering retiring after he releases his upcoming album Tha Carter IV, according to One Thirty BPM.Just when I was nearly convinced that Lil Wayne would release more Roman numeral-labeled Tha Carter albums until I die, Weezy decided he will possibly call it quits.Part of the reason ... More >>

The Top Ten Lamest, Most Overplayed Hip Hop Songs from the Late 90's

Can't stop, won't stop​​Inspiration comes from many different places, the radio being one of them. While carousing around town in my hooptie the other day, the Notorious B.I.G./Puff Daddy/Mase 1997 classic "Mo Money, Mo Problems" came on over my speakers, much to my odd delight. After I was done ... More >>

Spider-Man Star James Franco to Release an EP

​James Franco, actor and star of films like 127 Hours, the Spider-Man series, and Pineapple Express, has decided to try his hand in the music business, according to Consequence of Sound.James Franco and Kalup Linzy have become the new musical duo that they've appropriately named Kalup and Franco. ... More >>

Amy Winehouse Hits the Bottle Right Before Rehab

​Surprise, surprise, Amy Winehouse is still hitting the bottle, according to the Fab Life.Winehouse is still up to her old tricks. After her father confronted her about drinking too much, she agreed to check herself back into rehab Wednesday night to get clean before her upcoming European tour, wh ... More >>

Lil Wayne's "John" Video Premieres Today, Showcasing Spare Tires, Knife-Wielding Strippers, and Rick Ross in a Wheelchair

Wikimedia Commons/RJ ShaughnessyLil Wayne​Lil Wayne's new video, "John," premieres today. Weezy's latest visual opus finds the rapper in an abandoned warehouse, outside on a dock, on top of a mountain of car tires, and surrounded by bats, while guest rapper Rick Ross rolls around in a wheelchair ... More >>

Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis Still Hate Each Other. Surprise.

​Take the L out of "lover" because it's over. Liam and Noel Gallagher of British rock group Oasis, are essentially calling it quits as brothers, according to Spinner.Is this the fiftieth or the fifty-first time they've declared this? I've lost count. We get it, they hate each other and they'r ... More >>

Lil Wayne at U.S. Airways Center Last Night

Maria VassettLil Wayne performing at U.S. Airways Center last night.​Lil Wayne US Airways Center, Phoenix Tuesday, April 19, 2011 Lil Wayne has entertained the idea of morphing from a rapper into a full-fledged rock star for a few years now. Why would one of the world's most successful rappers wa ... More >>

Lil Wayne, "6 Foot 7 Foot"

​Song: Lil Wayne, "6 Foot 7 Foot"Context: I'm seeing Weezy tonight. Can someone tell me what the fuck bananas have to do with the verses on this song? I've consulted Urban Dictionary on the matter and the only connection to slang I see is that the song is about a banana boat, which is apparently a ... More >>

Travis Barker Calls His Critics Nazis

​Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is not responding well to those who have critiqued his new solo album, Give the Drummer Some, according to Spinner.Many fans of his work with Blink-182 have recently expressed that they don't particularly care for his solo work. Barker responded by calling his crit ... More >>

DJ Drama @ Club Trinity

Ciara Would Be Happy to Break from Her Record Label

​Ciara is down for getting dropped by her record label, according to Billboard. The hip-hop star has shot down rumors that Jive Records has dropped her. However, she said that she wouldn't be opposed to the company doing so. Over the last two years she has experienced substantial artistic limita ... More >>

The Strokes Album Was Delayed Due To Casablancas' Differences

​The Strokes' experiences while recording their upcoming album Angles wasn't so happy-go-lucky throughout the entire process, according to NME.There was plenty of resentment amongst the band members. Things got better after they moved to a new location to complete the recording process, but until ... More >>

Beyonce and Sleigh Bells Collaborate in the Studio

​Diplo says noise pop duo Sleigh Bells have been hitting the studio with Beyonce, according to NME.The producer recently blogged about being in the studio together with the three musicians. Sleigh Bells' album Treats was played for the good people who work for Beyonce, and now they're working on s ... More >>

Travis Barker's Upcoming Album Has More Guest Artists Than Kanye's Did

​Blink-182 drummer/plane crash survivor Travis Barker is set to release a solo album on March 15, according to Consequence of Sound.Turns out he won't exactly be doing the project by himself, though. After Travis made some announcements about the album via Twitter without the knowledge of Intersco ... More >>

Courtney Love FTW; Suing Never Stops

​Courtney Love has gotten herself caught up in a Twitter defamation lawsuit, according to Rolling Stone.The trouble just never seems to end for America's biggest hot mes...I mean Courtney. She's being sued for attacking a fashion designer by the name of Dawn Simorangkir in multiple harsh tweets ba ... More >>

Top 25 Lists of 13 New Times Contributors

50 Cent's Mansion Burgled by Stoners

​Two men broke into 50 Cent's Farmington, Connecticut mansion, according to MTV News.Clearly 50 Cent hasn't had the best of luck lately. Last week he was sued for copyright infringement, and now this happens. Shit, man.Considering how stupid this story is, it might be one of my favorite stories of ... More >>

T.I. - How Life Changed

​Song: T.I., "How Life Changed" Context: Everyone's apparently too busy wetting themselves over the new Kanye West record that they're not thinking much about the fact that T.I. just dropped a new album, No Mercy, yesterday. It's excellent. This track, "How Life Changed," stands up to anything ... More >>

Now on iTunes: The Beatles Catalog

​Stop the world. Apple has announced that the Beatles catalog is finally available on iTunes, according to Billboard. I love when Christmas comes early.After plenty of rumors went around yesterday about what Apple's big announcement regarding iTunes was going to be, practically everything under th ... More >>

Gucci Mane Collared For Traffic Violations... Lots of Traffic Violations

​Gucci Mane had a good time on the road in the ATL yesterday, according to All Hip Hop. Taking after T.I., are we, Gucci? Both were arrested for traffic violations just months after doing time for a year. Who's next, 50 Cent?Gucci, whose real name is Radric Davis, had a field day in his whip. He w ... More >>

Rap Songs Fit for a Tea Party: Hip-Hop Songs with a Right Wing Bent

​Maybe you've heard: Today is election day.This year's election is a little different than the 2008 one, though. It seems not everyone is happy with the progress the Kenyan/Indonesian/Martian guy who usurped the presidency has been making toward converting our economy to socialism. Crazy, right? S ... More >>

What's Selling: Zia Records Chandler

​Tennessee pop rockers Kings of Leon were what people wanted most this week at Zia Records Chandler.Indie hipsters Steel Train's self-titled album from earlier this year was a hot item. The album Lil Wayne wrote from prison was in pretty high demand as well. The latest release from the hardcore sc ... More >>

Gorillaz Leader Damon Albarn on Pacific Ocean Garbage, Pop Music and (Not Knowing Who) T.I. (is)

​There really is a plastic beach. Not with Lou Reed and a bunch of cartoons making hip-hop music -- that's just a fictional backdrop for the third Gorillaz record -- but in the Pacific Ocean, where a soupy mixture of oceanic garbage has massed together to form something scientists have named the ... More >>

Nas & Damian Marley - "My Generation" (feat. Joss Stone & Lil Wayne)

​Song: Nas & Damian Marley, "My Generation" (feat. Joss Stone & Lil Wayne) Context: With Nas and Damian Marley bringing their "Distant Relatives" project to Tempe next week I thought I'd check it out. This is exactly what I expected: Nas throws everything and anything at the wall and nothi ... More >>

T.I. - "Outro"

​Song: T.I., "Outro"Context: Really loving Fuck A Mixtape. As always plenty of real talk from T.I.P. -- love the barcode bit. T.I. - "Outro" by cizmar

T.I. Sticking to His Motto, "Live Your Life:" Arrested for Alleged Drug Possession

Tiny and T.I.​T.I. has been arrested! Already? What took so long? Cue the sad trombone noise. TMZ broke the news early this morning that the Atlanta-born rapper and his wife Tameka "Tiny" Harris were pulled over late last night on Sunset Boulevard by an L.A. County Sheriff for making an illegal ... More >>

Gucci Mane ft. Swizz Beatz, "Gucci Time"

​Song: Gucci Mane ft. Swizz Beatz, "Gucci Time"Context: Just got an advance copy of the new Guc record, The Appeal: Georgia's Most Wanted. This is the first single. Hands up: It's Gucci time. Gucci Mane ft. Swizz Beatz "Gucci Time" by Warner Bros. Urban

What's Selling: Zia Records Phoenix

​The music lovers who frequent Zia Records in Phoenix tend to favor heavier fare -- typically metal and hip hop. But they always pepper in a few surprises. While the latest from Bun B comes out on top this week, The Black Keys slide right in the middle. The newest Arcade Fire record that indie-hip ... More >>

Lil Wayne's First Interview from the Big House

Lil Wayne doesn't really care for music that he didn't make.​Rolling Stone gives a nice little recap of the first interview Lil Wayne's done since he's been in prison.Weezy called in to Funkmaster Flex's radio show from the New York penitentiary, and is apparently already planning post-release col ... More >>

B.o.B: The Adventures of Bobby Ray

​By now you've most likely heard the song "Nothin' On You" by Atlanta-based MC B.o.B.If you haven't, then get out from under the rock you've been calling home the past two months. The track has been all over the airwaves and on Youtube, actually prompting B.o.B's label to bump up the release date ... More >>

Chamillionaire with Paul Wall

Stripper Songs: Sapphire of Diamond Jack's Gentlemans Club

Click "More" for an undistorted peek.​There's no shortage of strip club action in the Valley of the Sun. From high-end gentleman's clubs like Christie's Cabaret and Le Girls Cabaret to the low-rent flesh parlors of the West Valley's skeezier industrial neighborhoods, Phoenix is definitely skin cit ... More >>