The Roots (Band)

Rap Genius Wants to Expand Our Understanding of Southern Rap

A History of Violence

Django Unchained upends the western -- and America's original sin.

The Nine Best and Funniest Moments from Saturday at ACL 2012

The return of terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad rain made Saturday a muddy but fun mess. Thankfully, the downpours didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd on day two of ACL, but it did seem to thin out the herds. Aside from remembering how to walk in inches-deep goop like we did back at the Dillo ... More >>

Ten of This Week's Top Show Announcements: Wanda Jackson, Helio Sequence, John Legend and More

Check out our amazingly comprehensive concert calendar for more Wanda JacksonThursday, September 27, at Granada Theater, $24-$49The last time the incomparable Wanda Jackson came to town, she was backed by the King Bucks at the Kessler Theater. On air on 1310-AM The Ticket a few days later, King Buck ... More >>

Bonnaroo 2012, The Wrap-Up: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice Cooper, Skrillex and Bouts of Vomiting

See also: Bonnaroo Thursday See also: Bonnaroo Friday Do not, under any circumstances, forget to bring earplugs to a Mogwai concert. Thank the concert gods I didn't learn this lesson the hard way during their Saturday evening set at Bonnaroo, having just bought a pair from some high-schoolers rais ... More >>

When Hipsters Procreate: Children's Music That Won't Make You Wish You Were Deaf

I don't know how my kid does it. He's heard "ABCs" a thousand times and it's still his number one request. If you have a little one, you know you're going to hear the same song hundreds - no, thousands - of times. If you're particular about the music you listen to, choosing good music to play for yo ... More >>

Big K.R.I.T. Reps the New Southern Hip-Hop Underground

Are people still using PlayStations? If the brand is looking for a charming accomplishment via their product, they need look no further than Big K.R.I.T. As a resourceful teenager, Justin Scott used PlayStation's MTV Music Generator to form his first beats, and that entrepreneurial spirit guided hi ... More >>

Sore Losers Collectively Reinvent Themselves

Collaboration-Crazy Erykah Badu To Perform With Yo Gabba Gabba! Cast Tonight on Fallon

​Erykah Badu seems like a pretty awesome mom. I got a solid glimpse of as much first-hand about a week back when interviewing the famed Queen of Neo-Soul and proud Dallasite as part of a Dallas Observer Music Awards preview story that's going to run as the cover in this week's paper. About halfway ... More >>

Astronautalis Finds Different Chart Success

Ten Things You Can Expect to See At Austin City Limits 2011

O'Death's David Rogers-Berry Drove Hours To See The Violent Femmes For His First Concert

O'Death​Back in March, our own Kelly Dearmore was among the many who caught New York band O'Death's stunning set at the 35 Conferette (now 35 Denton). He loved it, as you can see form what he wrote:As Josh T. Pearson and his beard watched on, New York's O' Death began their set and immediately im ... More >>

Beats, Rhymes, & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

A fanboy's phenomenal love letter to a hip hop phenom.

The Strangest Stage Names In Music History

Metta World Peace​When Lakers forward Ron Artest announced last week that he is legally changing his name to Metta World Peace, the Internet exploded with bafflement and criticism. Obviously, this is coming from sports fans. We in the music world are accustomed to odd stage names. Dallas' own Eryk ... More >>

Soulqarians Reunion? Erykah Badu and Questlove Set to DJ Rio Room on Saturday

​A Soulquarians reunion? Almost! Tomorrow night, after an affair last night that saw NBA champion/Mavericks guard JJ Barea and even Miss Universe stopping on by Rio Room for DJ Klever's set (Mavs Championship Party Tour 2011 is the best!), the posh Uptown spot will host another pretty massive deal ... More >>

Watch: Bleeckie The Puppet Takes On Rebecca Black's "Friday," Turns It Into Ode About Fries

Rebecca Black​ Colin Quinn made a great point on Conan last week. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this: For all this talk of stopping bullying and cyber-bullying, America sure is willfully beating up a lot on Rebecca Black.The counter-argument, of course? That poor little Black is th ... More >>

When Erykah Badu Met The Roots... (Or: How ?uestlove and Every Other Member of The Roots Fell For Dallas' Queen of Neo-Soul)

The strong bond between Dallas' Own Erykah Badu and Philadelphia's The Roots has been cemented for years -- since back in 1996, actually, when Badu enlisted the would-be Best Band in Late Night for work on her debut release from 1997, Baduizm.Why Badu wanted to work with The Roots? Well, that much i ... More >>

Watch: St. Vincent Joins Kid Cudi, Cage and The Roots On Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

​A few weeks back, we passed along word of a new St. Vincent-sampling track from Kid Cudi. The song, called "Maniac," which also features rapper Cage, samples Dallas native Annie Clark's "The Strangers" (off her 2009 release, Actor) and is set to be included on Cudi's new album, Man On The Moon 2: ... More >>

Norah Jones Performs "Chasing Pirates" With The Roots on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Preps Compilation Disc of Past Collaborations.

Booker T. Washington High School's own Norah Jones stopped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night to perform "Chasing Pirates" from last year's The Fall with The Roots and to promote her upcoming release, ...Featuring, which serves as a collection of collaborations she's offered up over the cour ... More >>

DC9er Mixtape, Vol. 27: DJ Love

​DJ Love isn't a Dallas native, but the seasoned DJ has made quite the name for himself around these parts thanks to several weekly gigs, a monthly gig, his own record label and an album that's about to drop. A few other things distinguish him from the rest of the local cop: For one, he exclusivel ... More >>

The 15 Worst ...and Friends! Albums Of All-Time

​It's hard not to remember Santana's 1999 album Supernatural. Besides just the Rob Thomas collab "Smooth," which we've spent the past decade trying to erase from our memories, the album received a lot of attention at the time for being one of those records that featured a different collaboration w ... More >>

Growing Up With Elvis Costello.

Erykah Badu Announces Summer Tour Plans, Schedules North Texas Performance For June 14

​ We'd been wondering when Erykah Badu would schedule a hometown performance in support of her new album, New Amerykah, Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh. Earlier this week, when Badu announced her tour schedule, we got our answer: She'll be playing the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie on June 14. After the ... More >>

The Roots Tease New Badu Track On Late Night. Oh, And Her New Disc Is Set For A February 23rd Release... Officially.

Best friends forever.​Last week, just after a potential upcoming single from Erykah Badu leaked to the Internet, the Dallas-based neo-soul queen formally announced the release date for her upcoming album, New Amerykah Pt. 2: Return of the Ankh. The disc, reported Billboard late on Friday afternoon ... More >>

Incubus,The Duke Spirit

Saturday, August 22,at Superpages.com Center

Amadou and Mariam Break Out Of World Music

World Music Must Die

AMADOU AND MARIAM BREAK OUT OF A FLABBY, GENERIC GENRE

MySpace To Host Free All-American Rejects Performance At The House of Blues on Monday, July 13

Myspace has been running a free concert series called The List--a pretty interesting deal in that, if you befriend The List's Myspace page on the networking site, you can get into certain free performances when the company decides to put them on in your city. And it's not just slouches offering up t ... More >>

He'll Be There: Every Time You Hear That Song, Remember, Willie Hutch Wrote It

Willie HutchIn the paper version of Unfair Park this week, I make mention of my interview with Willie Hutch, the Carrollton-born great who, during our 1998 chat at his Cedar Hill recording studio, recounted how he came to write the Jackson 5's immortal "I'll Be There." The story about The Mack, who ... More >>

Download: Erykah Badu and The Roots -- "I Wanna Be Where You Are (Michael Jackson Cover)"

There's no video to be found at the moment of Erykah Badu's performance alongside The Roots on Friday night's episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon anywhere we know of on the Internet, which sucks. (What gives NBC?) But there's this: Over the weekend, Questlove, The Roots' drummer, post ... More >>

Erykah Badu To Appear On Jimmy Kimmel Live Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Tonight

Fresh off her amazing solo performance and crowd-thrilling guest appearance with Snoop Dogg at Bonnaroo, Erykah Badu will make a "surprise" appearance tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She'll be playing in and with Kimmel's Fallon's house band, The Roots, ... More >>

Good Friday: The Felons, Joe Ely, Peacemaker, Telegraph Canyon, Sleep Whale, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Daniel Francis Doyle, Little Black Dress, Record Hop

Weekend's here and I'm sure we're all eager to get it launched. So, without further ado, let's get right into it. First, the shows we've already talked up...Tonight, Ben Kweller stops in for a homecoming gig of sorts at the Granada Theater, Cryptacize stops by Rubber Gloves for a set with Fishboy an ... More >>

311 Isn't Lame. No, Really. They Aren't. Seriously.

Erykah Badu

October 11

Common and Talib Kweli

March 25

The Roots, Cody Chesnutt

The Roots and Cody Chesnutt perform March 7 at Gypsy Tea Room.

Sean Paul

Dutty Rock (VP/Atlantic)

Straight Outta Left Field

The Dallas Morning News says N.W.A. was "militant." The real answer? N.O.

Jaguar Wright

Denials, Delusions and Decisions (MCA)

Letters

Bigotry by Any Name, Kind of Wack, Straight Shot

Polka + Grammy = Brave Combo

Grammy + Country Sellout = Dixie Chicks

Live in Chicago, 1999

The show-me slate

DeRogatis' Top 10 Reasons for Living in 1999

Marley maul

Yet another "new" disc from everybody's favorite pot smoker

Lush life

Pianist Cedar Walton has played with and known -- and been -- the best

The music man

Lenny Waronker is a rock-biz legend, but is that enough to make DreamWorks Records a success?

The Truth is out there

Erykah Badu profits from her role as soul music's last, best prophet

Real McCoy or decoy?

Dallas hip-hop 1997

Events for the week

Jingle bells, Jingle sells

The industry aims for the heart of Christmas-- with a shotgun