Del flipped the script on mainstream rap in the 90's, and has since moved onto bigger and better things with each project, including working with Dan the Automator on Deltron 3030, and Damon Albarn on the Gorillaz. Del has a new CD out and is playing a free show this Saturday @ USC, and let LAist call and bug him with an interview....

Inside a Fatburger location in Van Nuys Lovie Yancey, who launched what eventually became the popular Fatburger chain of burger-and-fries joints, died January 26th of pneumonia here in Los Angeles. Initially called Mr. Fatburger, the fast-food restaurant first opened in 1947. Hoping to capitalize on the burger trend that was becoming increasingly popular, Yancey dropped the "Mr." in 1952 and by 1981 was offering franchises of what was now known as "The Last Great......

In its first weekend of wide release, The Bucket List charged to the top of the box office. Its tally of $19.54 million ($20.9M) just edged Ice Cube's First Sunday which debuted with an even $19M. There was some talk that upstart Juno might win the weekend crown, but it had to settle for a still healthy $14M ($71.2M). It now seems certain to reach $100M while holiday stalwarts National Treasure: Book of Secrets......

After a busy holiday season, there's a pronounced lull in the film distribution business this weekend. The lazy plan is just to go wide with a few films that have already been playing in Los Angeles for a few weeks (The Bucket List, The Kite Runner, The Orphanage). As such, we Angelenos are left with only a few scraps (and bad scraps at that) to consider. Take heart, though--the mysterious and intriguing Cloverfield is......

I dated a guy back in my days in Santa Barbara. Let’s call him Paul. We met at a party my friend hosted for an occasion that currently slips my mind. Actually I can’t even remember the exact location of the house. We were playing this drinking game called Moose. It involved a quarter, an ice cube tray and a pitcher filled with a bit of everything we were drinking and a quarter. He kept......

Ice Cube @ House of Blues Art Brut (above) @ The Troubadour Smoosh @ Knitting Factory Rita Coolidge @ Torrance Cultural Arts Center Pitbull, Tego Calderon, Ying Yang Twins, Ilegales @ Honda Center Eek-A-Mouse @ Vault 350 The Barbarellatones @ Boardners The Makers @ Spaceland Colin Hay @ Largo Joshua Radin @ El Rey Lady Sinatra, Warner Drive, Itis @ Viper Room Atomic Punks, SWAA, Myridian @ Paladino's Tennis Club, The Front, Killsonic, The......

Ice Cube @ Ventura Theatre Kottonmouth Kings @ Queen Mary Jamie Foxx @ Gibson Ricky Martin @ Staples Jon Mayer @ SMC Type O Negative, Celtic Frost, Brand New Sin @ Avalon Trans Am, Zombi, Black Taj @ The Troubadour Miss Derringer, Mad Juana, The Cheat, Olin and the Moon @ The Roxy Xololanxinxo, Fat Hed & Selecta Fada, Human Beings, Dopestyle @ On the Rox Eleven Hundred Springs, I See Hawks in L.A.,......

Grindhouse - I've already reviewed this movie, so I won't bother rehashing it, but trust me, Grindhouse totally freakin' rocks! Three full hours of beautiful cinematic mayhem. Are We Done Yet? - Ice Cube stars as a beleaguered urban dad who moves with his new wife (Nia Long) and her two kids to their dream house in the 'burbs and is terrorized by a contractor (John C. McGinley from Scrubs). Black Book - Dutch-born......

A Word or 46: Boy what a hubbub over this American Idol dreck - didn't the show producers see what a joke Howard Stern made of People magazine's "Most Beautiful People" contest back in '98? That's what you get for inexperience and idiocy, watch the guy with bad hair win. Tonight - Thursday - April 5th, 2007 The Office (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Supersized 40+ minute version Survivor: Fiji/CSI: Crime Scene Investigation/Shark (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.)......

A Word or 52: Some people hated last week's "useless" Lost because it didn't further the storyline but I thought it was a humorously macabre and welcome break that reminded me of some of the better tangential X-Files episodes from 10+ years ago. If looks like we're going back to that story line tonight, oh well. Jericho (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Roger goes off the deep end, and who can blame him Friday Night Lights/Crossing......

Most Angelenos know that when it comes to Lakers supporters, a certain fan is As Good As It Gets. He's not only one out of A Few Good Men, he's The Shining example of a superfan. Now the NBA -- yes, the league itself -- has Departed from convention and ranked the Top 10 Celebrity Lakers Fans. They'd have been Cuckoo to place any other Joker at the top of this list. 1. Jack Nicholson......

LA's favorite gangsta rap group gets the British PG-13 treatment in this very funny reworking of the N.W.A. classic. (h/t bloopy) First they gave us Led Zeppelin, then Benny Hill, then The Office. Maybe the Brits ain't so bad after all. After the jump, see Ice Cube knock it out during the Family Values Tour in New Orleans.......

Way back in the day LAist got crappy grades in high school so we had to do a few years over at Santa Monica College. One of our favorite classes was Cinema because due to the proximity of Hollywood, pretty much all of our Cinema teachers were former industry insiders or historians who knew about everything. We ate up those classes with a spoon and couldn't believe we were getting college credit for learning......

LAist keeps it real, others don't. We won't judge them for doing what they're doing but semantics doesn't solve the problems of gangs and crime and education and housing and disrespect. About three years ago the City of LA decided to officially change the name of the area known for 50 years as South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles. The reasoning is "South Central" had such a negative connotation that it was......

Sean Bonner is the co-founder of Metroblogging, which is the largest network of city-based blogs on the entire Interwebs -- with 50 cities under their masthead. When he's not launching new web ventures or contributing to blogging.la, he's running the Culver City art gallery sixspace with his wife Caryn, being Vegan, or riding his mountain bike while humming Ice Cube tunes. 1. name: Sean Bonner 2. birthplace: Washington DC 3. LA neighborhood you live......

Al Gore will be presenting his film An Inconvenient Truth at Cal Plaza about a half mile from the big ass sex festival at the Convention Center. If neither of those choices floats your collective boats, may we show you some other offerings tonight: Ice Cube, Kanye West, LL Cool J, Chamillionaire, E-40 @ The Pond Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men @ Safari Sam's Peter Case @ McCabes The Blasters @ Malibu Inn......

Who would have thought back in 1985, when the Red Hot Chili Peppers were working with George Clinton, that 21 years later their brand of whiteboy funk would be some of the most reliably popular middle-of-the-road music for the masses? Not only do you hear "Californication" in the dentist's office, bank, and elevator, but it actually sounds good in those places. George Carlin jokes that humans' sole purpose on Earth was probably to do......

Be Your Own Pet Be Your Own Pet (Ecstatic Peace) – Thurston Moore signed this teenage band from Nashville. Critics like to compare the lead singer to Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Most critics think it’s a fun, infectious record but detractors criticize the lack of sophistication. The whole thing only lasts 33 minutes. Tickets are still available for their show at the Troubadour on June 27th. Carla Bozulich Evangelista (Constellation) –......

All Tookie Edition: - Another Governor went the clemency route. - They are chanting outside of City Hall. - Marylee Shrider in Bakersfield wants Mr. Williams dead. Oh and some bonus links: - Even though he got suspended, sometimes cheaters win. - Perhaps someone should break out the old Ice Cube records and remind people what it's like trying to survive in South Central.......

We sensed we were in for it right away. We'd heard about Los Feliz's Figaro in that "Oh, you haven't been there?" way, and goodness knows we'd been by it a hundred times, taking note of the tres Parisienne sidewalk cafe look. But when we walked in, and were facing a man in waiter's clothing who, instead of greeting, smiling at, or, heck, even talking to us, just sort of stared at us until......

While we're heading over to Granada Hills Charter School to see a teenager that we love perform as the lead in a high school production of Up the Down Staircase tonight, you can go dancing. If you're an Aries, maybe you want to go to Zodiac, a monthly birthday dance party at The Larchmont. Azul (who is an Aquarius) and the gang spin some funky rhythms for you inside while the real party might......