The Witzard

CREDIT: Shades of Blue Prints (@fcarteron) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "MADVILLAINY is one of our favorite albums and we've been fans of Madlib & MF DOOM for ages. We, normally, don't see musicians covering Madlib & DOOM stuff as much as the [J] Dilla catalogue, so we thought we would try it out [...] His rhythm was super-inspiring and not a lot of other rappers i...

CREDIT: CALMATIC (@CALMATIC) Trolls World Tour is the long-awaited sequel to wildly-successful 2016 film Trolls. Based on the popular line of Troll Dolls, Trolls 2: World Tour stars Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, James Corden, Kunal Nayyar, Ozzy Osbourne, and Rachel Bloom. It also features the voices of Anderson .Paak, George Clinton, Mary J. Blige, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Rockwell, Icona Pop, Ron Funches, J. Balvin, and Kenan Thompson. According to a Universal Pictures synopsis, Trolls World Tour is centered around Queen Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) discovering that there are different kinds of Trolls scattered across six different lands, each devoted to a different genres of music: Pop, Funk, Classical, Techno, Country, and Rock. Amidst The Coronavirus/COVID-19 global pandemic, Trolls World Tour will be released on home video/streaming platforms this Friday, April 10, 2020. Trolls World Tour's accompanying soundtrack, executive produced by Justin Timberlake & Lu...

First Book of Timothy by Low Blow Since its 2017 inception, LA -based imprint Common Good Records has released a string of continually phenomenal records and tapes, including: Te'Amir Sweeney 's Tiger Breaks 45 + drum kit, Drtysoap's Merry Chrithmith, Unown & DJ Ragz 's Pasta & Wings cassette, and Jake Najor's D$RTY M$NEY BREAKS 45 + drum kit. Plus, label co-founder J.D. (@OlogistBBB) has been extremely hospitable and supportive of both myself and The Witzard ; even mixing and sequencing Mitchell Kezin's festive Mitchell's 'SOUL SISTA' Holiday Mix for The Witzard extremely last-minute! Now, J.D. & Common Good Records have announced their next proper release: Low Blow 's full-length debut, First Book of Timothy . "Soulful, West Coast Hip-Hop . A sound unique unto itself. A sound that recalls a classic era nostalgia. A sound steeped in the deep roots of Gospel , Funk, and Soul . Low Blow [@thereallowblow] builds on that t...

While my recent Best Albums, EP's & Mixtapes of 2016 List didn't include any type of "Honorable Mentions" section, if it had, it would have likely included the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Blink-182, Nxworries, and J-Zone (for Fish-n-Grits). Aftermath crooner Anderson.Paak and beat-maker Knxwledge's full-length debut as Nxworreis, YES LAWD! It's equal parts The Roots, D'Angelo, J Dilla, and Drake; a perfect mix of Hip-Hop and modern day R&B, easily one of Stones Throw's absolute strongest, most cohesive releases in years. I really haven't given Nxworries' YES LAWD! a whole lot of coverage here at The Witzard (aside from the early singles) and have really just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to write about Anderson.Paak & Knxwledge again... until this past Thursday afternoon, when I heard about Nxworries' "SIDEPIECE" music video filmed at Stones Throw "in the dungeon" by director Ross ...

"I'm really just trying to write as much as possible. I've been recording and writing all of the material myself over the past two years using just GarageBand and a couple ribbon mics. It's very liberating to be able to begin a new idea or vision on a new instrument, whether it be guitar, bass, piano, or drums. 'The 303 Construct' is definitely a conglomeration of what I've been listening to the past two years being in Denver . I've seen a lot of great musicians—drummers, in particular," Peanut Butter Lovesicle frontman-drummer and New Jersey by way of Pennsylvania native Timmy Miller wrote within a recent email, concerning his forthcoming solo project tentatively titled The 303 Construct . "Affiliating myself as mainly a drummer, I've been enjoying the less-is-more pocket style with some R&B off-beat hi-hat accents. Anderson .Paak 's album, Malibu has some great examples of that and I've really been enjoying watchin...

"White means purity, purity means GOD and GOD means the ruler of the land," @ShafiqHusayn profoundly replied, when asked what the name "WHITE BOIZ" actually meant, along with their stark white-stylized aesthetic; "'white" means different things to different people — from their record label to the Los Angeles Police Department to The Nation of Islam . In the 1700's, "white" did not represent race, but a state of freedom versus servitude. Today, however, white can be powder in the trap or a party in The Hamptons , which are seemingly worlds apart. Or are they," Husayn and primary WHITE BOIZ emcee Krondon continued in a Stones Throw-penned press release. Peanut Butter Wolf 's latest rapper-producer pairing formed organically out of mutual admiration when the Strong Arm Steady emcee would randomly show up to performances from Shafiq Husayn 's then G.O.O.D. Music -affiliated Alt. Hip-Hop collective, Sa-Ra (Creative Partn...

" DOOM 's verse was [an] interesting one. DOOM 's concept was that it's a text message. He text messages me while I'm not home, so he comes to my house anyway and starts borrowing all kinds of sh*t, you know, villain-style," veteran Oxnard -bred emcee MED (aka Medaphoar) revealed about his recent sample-heavy collaboration with fellow West Coast emcee Blu , prolific Stones Throw producer Madlib , and masked rhyming supper-villain MF DOOM , "Knock Knock." "I was like, 'what the f*ck is that?' So, there's this whole verse about him going to my house, drinking my beers, [and] going through my DVD's. It's so hilarious and genius," MED ecstatically continued. MED Blu Madlib , as they've been collectively referred to as of late, first linked up on MED -curated Bang Ya Head 3 label comp. cut, "Your Life" produced by Blu 's Below The Heavens collaborator, Exile . Madlib was almost accidentally broug...

"It's been four months since Jonwayne graced our pages with "Good Samaritans." And if you ask me, it's been four months too long. Seemingly disappearing off the face of the Earth (see: he deleted his Twitter posts), fans were left in the dark when it came to the talented emcee's next move – if there was one to begin with," 2dopeboyz post-master Shake lamented in a recent piece published early Wednesday morning. Jonwayne has essentially emitted nothing but radio silence from his assorted social media feeds since around January 2014, following the abrupt end of his 8-part Wayniac Mondays freestyle series and his apparent separation from estranged long-time label, Stones Throw Records . However, @jonwayne abruptly re-surfaced from his self-imposed exile late Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning to compose and share the following, rather cryptic, ALL CAPS Tweet: " YOUTUBE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c47SAMqCalQ SOUNDCLOUD : ...