Art takes to the streets this Mardi Gras as pop-ups replace Popeyes on New Orleans billboards from January 21 to February 18. Expose: New Orleans’ International Billboard Art Exhibit is set to showcase 13 national and international artists all on billboards above parade routes and near Super Bowl traffic areas for optimal artist exposure.  

San Francisco's mayor has ensured the lights will be on at Candlestick Park, so now all that's left in preparation for tomorrow's playoff game is for rappers to pick the score. Following in the footsteps of (Packers fan) Lil Wayne's short-lived football column, publications of purported repute are now calling on the nimble-mouthed spitters to predict NFL playoff scores. Over at Billboard, N.O. native and Cash Money records founder Birdman represents for the Saints against San Francisco rapper Asher Roth. 

by Shay Sokol

Football rules all this week, but turns out there is a limit even to our pigskin obsession. At least, if you're BCS sponsor Allstate insurance. A billboard above the I-10 that the company initially posted to tie in with the college football bowl series and their Mr. Mayhem ads quickly became cringe-worthy after last week's 40-car pileup in New Orleans East.  The billboard, which is angled towards westbound traffic between the Esplanade and Claiborne Ave. exits, reads: “PILEUPS, THAT’S MAYHEM; so get Allstate." When "pileup" went from conjuring thoughts of 4th and inches to tragic death, the choice of words suddenly seemed, well, unfortunate.

NoDef talks to Basin St. Records founder and president Mark Samuels about why the music his independent label puts out is breaking through nationally.