Lupe Fiasco has just been added to the line-up of D.C.’s Hip-Hop Theater Festival, as part of the Voices Remix event on July 7.  Phife from A Tribe Called Quest will be in town, too, to participate in the J. Dilla tribute/fundraiser on July 8. Note to event organizers: keep them away from each other.

The festival runs July 6-11. Check out the complete schedule of events after the jump.

Read More “Lupe Fiasco Joins Hip-Hop Theater Festival” »

CNN, Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times have confirmed that Michael Jackson has died. He was 50 years old. Damn.

Mexican singer Ximena Sariñana has said that her debut studio album, 2008’s Mediocre, was meant to take on old-fashioned images of women as demure, repressed, one-dimensional beings. The only thing that drives home that point better than Sariñana’s album is the artist herself.

At 23, she is a film and television star, in addition to being an outspoken Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, and she’s currently headlining her first U.S. tour. Her beautiful voice and laid-back, jazzy style have drawn comparisons to Norah Jones, but Sariñana is more complex than that. Songs such as “Normal” and “No Vuelvo Mas” are mellow, for sure, but always with a bit of edge bubbling just under the surface.

As is often the case with newly crowned industry darlings, Sariñana is pretty busy these days: On Thursday she’s headed down to Miami for the Billboard Latin Music Awards, where Medicore is nominated in the Latin Rock/Alternative Album Of The Year category. But, you can see her tonight at the 9:30 club, with Matthew Santos. Take advantage of the opportunity-from the look of things, Sariñana may soon be hard to catch.

Sariñana performs at 7 p.m. at the 9:30 club, 815 V St. NW. $18. (202) 265-0930.

Everyone’s favorite hip-hop mega-fest, Rock the Bells, officially announced its ‘09 line-up at a fancy Hollywood party last night. Among the many names on the prestigious list: D.C.’s own Tabi Bonney. (He’s down there in the lower right-hand corner of the huge bill. See him?)

Read More “Tabi Makes Rock the Bells” »

Political rallies rarely feature really top-notch music. Even if a political event attracts big names, the performances can be kinda boring.

Not true of tonight’s statehood event on the Capitol steps.

Read More “Free D.C. Statehood Concert” »

City Paper’s Best of D.C. issue, which includes a healthy arts and entertainment section, hit the street today!

Since this is the paper’s second time putting together a Best of D.C. issue (since 1987), our staff chose to recognize both the best and the second-best our city has to offer. How clever are we?

Pick up a ginormous paper to read Erik Wemple on why the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra spanks the National Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Leitko on the region’s singing sadsacks, Michael J. West on the great Billy Taylor, and lots of other pieces on music, visual art, nightclubs, and more.

Also check out the readers poll: Scythian won in the Best Local Band category and Flex Mathews took the title Best Local Hip-Hop Artist. For those of you that didn’t vote and instead waited to see the results so you talk shit about ‘em, what say you of these picks? Yea? Nay? Abstain?

Flyer courtesy of TMOTTGOGO.com

It seems Rare Essence is returning to U Street.

In the ‘90s and early ’00s, RE’s weekly gig at Club U, inside the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center, was one of the hottest events on the U Street corridor. The band’s run at the club ended in 2005, following the stabbing death of 31-year-old club patron Terrence Brown.

Read More “RE Returns to U” »

A weekly roundup of unreleased songs, new singles, and assorted musical detritus trickling out to the Web.

Rick Ross (feat. The Dream): “I Really Want”

Even though one of Rick Ross’s exes sided with his rival 50 Cent in their much-publicized beef, and another, it has recently been revealed, has a budding amateur porn career, it seems the big man still believes in love. “She my dime/Not the one I wanna cuss at/Looking fine/Real diamond g’on and cut glass,” Ross says of a woman who hasn’t done him wrong—yet.

Rye Rye (feat. M.I.A.): “Bang”

It matters little that M.I.A.’s contribution here is limited to the explosive onomatopoeia of the chorus: Baltimore native Rye Rye handles the rhymes just fine by herself, thank you very much. It’s Rye’s teenaged, Balmer-accented voice squeaking out hardcore lines and demanding you “throw your fuckin’ sets up” over a densely frantic Blaqstarr club track that make this, well, a banger.

Outasight: “Exclusive”

It’s not hard to sound good over a beat from Oddisee, one of the finest producers out of D.C. But the liquid, nasal flow of Yonkers MC Outasight gets just as much credit for the bump-free ride of “Exclusive” as Oddisee’s Camp Lo-meets-Diplo track.

Jadakiss ft. Swizz Beatz & OJ Da Juiceman “Who’s Real”

“If you’re real and you know it, clap your hands,” goes the Swizz Beatz-chanted, nursery-rhyme-ripped chorus of the latest Jadakiss track. Less child-friendly are Jada’s rhymes: “Guns gon’ clap/Packs gon’ move/Blood get drawn/Skin gon’ bruise,” the rapper warns. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your…guns?

Waaaaay back in 2002, some of the city’s finest rappers assembled to recreate A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory, from the nasty opening bassline of “Excursions” all the way through the final echo of “Scenario.” It was one of the best hip-hop moments D.C has seen, and if you didn’t catch it (or didn’t at least watch one of the widely circulated recordings of the show), you really missed out.

But now hip-hop fans who missed that historic night can stop kicking themselves, as an event with the potential to be just as amazing is coming up.

Read More “Bring It On” »

I’m pretty much happy to ignore this year’s Grammys completely: Kokayi didn’t win, Stevie Wonder suffered the indignity of sharing a stage with the Jonas Brothers, and I won’t even get started on the bizarre Chris Brown/Rihanna incident that took place the night before the ceremony.

But there’s one moment of Sunday’s telecast that I just can’t get out of my head.

While accepting one of the skrillion Grammys that Coldplay nabbed, Chris Martin said, “We’re not, of course, the heaviest of rock bands, you may have noticed. We’re kind of the limestone of rock bands. Not as hard, but still charming.”

Gotta love the Brits and their self-deprecating “humour,” but c’mon-limestone isn’t exactly granite or anything, but isn’t it used in the construction of buildings? If Martin is going to try to be all cute and self-effacing, he should go all out: if he wants to compare his band to a soft rock, he should really reference the softest rock known to man.

But what rock would that be?

Because my science schoolin’ ended in the 10th grade, I turned to the Reston-based U.S. Geological Survey, our country’s foremost authority on minerals and rocks, and asked for help.

Read More “Science Supports Coldplay/Limestone Comparison” »