LL Cool J performs at Chase Center in San Francisco on Sept. 1, 2023. Matt Pang/STAFF. SAN FRANCISCO — LL Cool J brought out some of the best of old school hip-hop for his F.O.R.C.E. tour stop at Chase Center on Friday. The headliner topped a bill that included…

The best albums of 2020 include (clockwise from top left): Sufjan Stevens, Jehnny Beth, John Frusciante, METZ, Pearl Jam, clipping., Hailey Whitters, Black Thought, Throwing Muses and Phoebe Bridgers. We’re starting to get into the nitty gritty of our list of the best albums of the year. These next…

If you woke up in the Bay Area at some point last week you were probably greeted with dark red and orange skies as a result of the ongoing fires that are devastating the West Coast right now. People flocked to social media to share pictures of the hellscape,…

The Roots, Courtesy: Press Here. It’s still Black History Month. Week six, if you’re keeping score. I got a ton of response to my column about Black punk and metal bands, which I’m taking as an excuse to do another column about Black rockers. Just picking five was hard…

Lil Wayne, learning about writing in triplets at a young age. Good news, everyone! Metallica is back on the list. I know, I know. You were worried they’d be stuck at a mere seven appearances in the top five. But fortunately after the regrettable detour that was St. Anger, they turned it…

Eminem (or MC Chris in disguise) Well, it finally happened. After doing 35 of these columns I got to a year where I couldn’t find five songs for the list. There were three locks, and a couple under-appreciated deep cuts in “Smoke & Mirrors” and “Days Go By” (or its…