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Houston rapper, producer Beatking dies at 39

Houston rapper and producer Beatking, known for working with artists including Ludacris, 2 Chainz, T-Pain, Three 6 Mafia, Bun B, Slim Thug and other Southern rappers, has died.

Houston rapper and producer Beatking, known for working with artists including Ludacris, 2 Chainz, T-Pain, Three 6 Mafia, Bun B, Slim Thug and other Southern rappers, has died.

Beatking's death was first reported by his longtime manager, Tasha Felder, on Instagram on Aug. 15. The artist, born Justin Riley, was 39. Accor...
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Metal band that wowed at Olympics heads to Houston this fall

Gojira, the French heavy metal band that wowed audiences worldwide with their performance during the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, will hit Houston later this year.

Gojira, the French heavy metal band that wowed audiences worldwide with their performance during the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, will hit Houston later this year.

The band will play the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Oct. 20. They'll be opening for nu metal legends Korn, alongside Canadian m...
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Did Drake really get 'Not Like Us' banned from Houston clubs?

According to social media, Drake, who has long touted his ties to Houston and recently bought a ranch in Chappell Hill, has managed to get Lamar's scathing diss track, "Not Like Us," banned from Houston DJ booths. But is the rumor true?

According to social media, Drake, who has long touted his ties to Houston and recently bought a ranch in Chappell Hill, has managed to get Lamar's scathing diss track, "Not Like Us," banned from Houston DJ booths. But is the rumor true?

When people in her comme...
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RodeoHouston 2025 season tickets go on sale next week

Heads up, rodeo fans. The first round of tickets for the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are set to go on sale next week.

Heads up, rodeo fans. The first round of tickets for the 2025 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are set to go on sale next week.

RodeoHouston announced Thursday that season tickets for the 2025 event will be available starting Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. The ticket packages, which start at $500 plus service fees, will include access to rodeo grounds, all rodeo events and all 20...
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Houston is getting a vibe-y new EDM festival

A new electronic dance music festival is set to bring 12 hours worth of light, pyrotechnics and music to Constellation Field in Sugar Land later this year.

A new electronic dance music festival is set to bring 12 hours worth of light, pyrotechnics and music to Constellation Field in Sugar Land later this year.

Called LoneStar Electric Vibes, the festival will debut Saturday, Oct. 26, at the home of the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. The musical lineup for the event will be revealed on Aug. 8, and o...
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Don't worry everyone, Willie Nelson is okay after weeks of illness

Willie Nelson is back on the road again, two weeks after an undisclosed illness caused the 91-year-old country legend to cancel his appearance for a handful of dates at the start of his Outlaw Music Festival Tour.

Willie Nelson is back on the road again, two weeks after an undisclosed illness caused the 91-year-old country legend to cancel his appearance for a handful of dates at the start of his Outlaw Music Festival Tour.

The Red Headed Stranger fittingly returned to the stage during his Fou...
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At least 1 injured in crowd surge at UT's SEC celebration

A concert in Austin celebrating the University of Texas' return to the Southeastern Athletic Conference ended in a crowd surge that sent one person to the hospital and had others comparing the event to the deadly Astroworld tragedy.

The incident happened after 9 p.m. June 30, as the day-long festival was wrapping up, according to KVUE in Austin. The crowd surge apparently began as rapper and singer Pitbull took the stage for a free public concert.

Posts on the UT Austin subreddit describe a ha
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Astros' DJ Screw merch sold out almost immediately

Turns out the Astros' limited-edition merch drop paying homage to legendary Houston rapper DJ Screw was super popular. So popular that the Team Store sold out of everything in a single day, according to employees at Minute Maid Park.

By Friday afternoon, the store was back to normal, selling an array of standard orange and navy blue Astros gear, nary a DJ Screw hat in sight. On June 27, also known as DJ Screw Day, the shop was overrun with collectors vying for a chance to buy a limited-edition
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George Strait's one Texas concert this year could set huge record

Strait announced the show, set for June 15 at Kyle Field, in late March. The country music superstar will be joined by fellow Texans Parker McCollum and Catie Offerman on his only stop in Texas in 2024. Since tickets for the show went live on March 28, they've already surpassed 100,000 sales, according to American Songwriter Magazine. The publication also noted that several seats, including those at the platinum level, are still available.

That puts Strait on pace to outsell his previously best
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Legendary Austin punk rocker Gary Floyd has died

Gary Floyd, the openly gay singer of early 1980s Texas punk band The Dicks, has died. He was 71. His death, from congestive heart failure, was first reported by the Austin Chronicle on May 3.

Floyd was born in Palestine, Texas, and spent a few years in Houston before moving to Austin in 1974. It was there that the Dicks would form in 1980, with bassist Buxf Parrott, drummer Pat Deason, guitarist Glen Taylor, and Floyd, often clad in drag or makeup, on vocals. Along with the Butthole Surfers and
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Houstonians will finally hear testimony on Astroworld tragedy

The first civil lawsuit in the 2021 Astroworld Festival disaster, in which 10 people were killed during a crowd crush, is set to begin as soon as May 6. The suit marks the first time a public jury will hear testimony in the case, brought to the court by the family of 23-year-old victim Madison Dubiski. Hundreds of suits have been brought against dozens of plaintiffs involved in planning the festival, including rapper Travis Scott, entertainment company Live Nation, tech giant Apple, and numerous
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Mick Jagger sure does love Houston

The Stones performed in Houston for the first date of their 2024 Hackney Diamonds tour before the British rockers head to New Orleans to headline at Jazz Fest. But first, Jagger made several stops in the Bayou City, as evidenced by photos posted to his social media.

On Friday, the singer visited Space Center Houston, where he toured Mission Control and got to sit in a variety of simulators, plus got to hang with astronauts Josh Cassada, Bob Hines and Jessica Meir.

On Sunday, he shared more pho
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Slow, low and bangin': Houston car culture, explained

Texas culture can get boiled down to barbecue and country music, but some things are unique to a city like Houston. One of them? Swangas, which confused some drivers in Austin recently.

This week, a user posted to the Austin subreddit a photo of an otherwise staid-looking Kia sedan sporting major rims. The post now has more than 900 comments, asking everything from, "What is the point of these?" to, "How is this legal?" A good number of the comments reference classic Houston rap, including Lil'
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Megan Thee Stallion sued for harassment, hostile work environment

The suit was filed in California by Emilio Garcia, who claims that he worked as a personal cameraman for the "Savage" rapper from July 2018 until June 2023, when he was let go. The suit alleges multiple violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, including harassment so severe that it created a “hostile, abusive work environment” that made Garcia’s “working conditions intolerable."

The lawsuit alleges that Garcia quit his full-time job in 2019 to work and travel with Megan Thee Stallion,
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Texas A&M student radio station is gearing up to hit FM airwaves

The radio station announced the move in a Monday press release. Securing the permit is notable for a small station; there are only so many radio frequencies available in a given location, and it's rare for an unclaimed frequency to become available. Plus, with many broadcast radio stations transitioning to online-only streaming, it's unusual to see an indie radio station take the opposite track.

KANM officials say the approval of the permit is the first step towards operating the station on an
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How Willie Nelson got himself banned from this Texas university

The ban has been in effect ever since. As recently as 2019, a petition was circulated asking Baylor President Linda Livingstone to lift the ban, but it appears that Willie is still persona non grata on campus. (Calls to Baylor's media relations department to inquire about the ban went to voicemail.)

But why? It makes sense that the Christian university might look down upon the behavior of one of the world's most famous cannabis connoisseurs. But in a deliciously awkward interview from 1988 with
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Houston's upcoming gospel music museum has its official home

Houston's Third Ward neighborhood could soon be home to a museum dedicated to gospel music, its history and its legacy.

While the Gospel Music Haus & Museum has been in the works since 2021, organizers recently made a significant announcement in the museum's progress. The former Wesley Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, at 2209 Emancipation Ave., has been secured as the official location for the museum. The historical church-turned-museum will be the centerpiece of a major redevelopment
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Texas Eclipse Fest was canceled for weather—it was worse inside

The festival hosted at the sprawling Reveille Peak Ranch began on Friday, April 6, and was supposed to close on Tuesday, April 9. Instead, organizers announced around 10 a.m. on April 8 that the festival was shutting down early due to severe weather. At the time, many festival attendees were eagerly awaiting the start of the eclipse, set to begin around noon that same day, with totality occurring around 1:30 p.m.

"We regret to inform you of the severe weather forecast, including risks of high w
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Drake dropped from huge Astroworld lawsuit

Drake has been dropped from at least one class action lawsuit filed in the wake of the 2021 Astroworld Festival crowd crush incident that left 10 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Thousands of lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the concert. The Toronto-born rapper, whose real name is Aubrey Graham, was listed as one of dozens of defendants in a class-action lawsuit filed in Harris County alleging negligence in the planning and execution of the event. Other defendants include Travis Sc
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Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' references the Chitlin' Circuit. What is it?

Beyoncé's visuals for Cowboy Carter, her country album released Friday, are rife with references to Southern culture, from the border blaster radio stations that gave voice to regional artists in the postwar era, to the trail riders and rodeo queens that help preserve Black cowboy history. With the release of the Cowboy Carter track list earlier this week, some fans might be wondering about another reference: the Chitlin Circuit, mentioned prominently at the top of the track listing.

The Chitli
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Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic is leaving the South for 2024

The concert announcement was made on Nelson's Instagram account on Tuesday morning. A poster for the festival advertises headliners Bob Dylan, frequent collaborators Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Maren Morris, Mavis Staples, and Celissa, along with Nelson and his family band.

Below an image of Willie modeled after Uncle Sam, the poster lists the venue—the Freedom Mortgage Pavillion in Camden, New Jersey. The caption refers to the city, directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, as
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Megan Thee Stallion announces Hot Girl Summer Tour with dates

H-Town hottie Megan Thee Stallion will hit up three Texas cities this summer in the "Hot Girl Summer Tour," supporting her third studio album.

Meg announced the tour on X and Instagram on March 13 with a list of 27 cities, set to start in mid-May. The list includes Dallas, Austin, and naturally, Megan's hometown of Houston. In addition to several other U.S. cities, Megan will also perform in London, Amsterdam, Paris, Glasgow and more European cities. Dates for each city, along with venues, will
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Greg Abbott tells bands protesting SXSW to leave Texas

The governor posted his message to social media platform X on Tuesday after dozens of bands dropped out of the music festival's official showcases over connections the festival has to the U.S. Army and defense contractor RTX, formerly known as Raytheon.

"Austin remains the HQ for the Army Futures Command. San Antonio is Military City USA. We are proud of the U.S. military in Texas," Abbott wrote. "If you don’t like it, don’t come here."

Bands and artists began announcing boycotts of the event
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Can beer get people excited about opera? This Houston group thinks so.

Called Hopera, the group has been bringing vocal recitals to local breweries for the past year. Now they're set to debut their first semi-staged opera, a rendition of Carmen modified for modern audiences. Their first performances will be March 19 at 8th Wonder Distillery, and March 25 at Eureka Heights Brewery.

Hopera founder Megan Berti studied opera throughout undergrad, graduate and post-graduate school and now performs with Houston Grand Opera. However, she explained that opera singers work
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