The Witzard

Trenton, New Jersey -based emcee/frontman Raymond "Ray" Strife released so many projects last year, we couldn't even keep up—well, my wedding was this past October, as well!—but seriously, Ray put out a BUNCH of music throughout 2018. He released his Ill-Omega -produced full-length follow-up to 2017's critically-acclaimed Preface: I Will Never Be Beautiful EP , Go for The Gusto , #BFF EP with his real-life BFF's Roebus One & Ill-Omega originally recorded back in 2013, and HARD FEELINGS EP from his "Negative" Hardcore band, OVER EVERYTHING . Now, at the top of 2019, Ray Strife has already returned from a holiday vacation to France with a previously unreleased track entitled "Think of how a Castrated Horse Feels," which takes its name from a lyric within Nirvana 's "I Hate Myself & Want to Die" from 1993's The Beavis & Butt-Head Experience compilation. It appears as though Doc Heller 's "Think o...

Antwon is a rare breed of genre-blending rapper, even in this diverse Internet Age ; The San Jose -based emcee "cut his teeth" playing bass in a number of East/West Coast Hardcore bands throughout the early 2000's. Antwon 's currently gearing up to release his fourth independent project since 2011, In Dark Denim - which is the proper follow-up to last year's critically-acclaimed END OF EARTH and his first mixtape assembled along with Greedhead (Heems') creative backing. Track #11 of 11, "Still Guarded" was unleashed post- Hump Day , just in time for your rowdy weekend festivities and roughly 2 weeks a head of In Dark Denim 's slated Valentine's Day [Feb. 14th] release. Antwon properly laces up a hazy Chillwave/Cloud Rap -tinged Cities Aviv -produced beat, which ends up sounding like a glitched out Biggie impersonation. While it doesn't even last 2 minutes, director Romoface (Uncle Dee) somehow manages to make "Still ...

Gotta admit, I'm pretty STOKED on the [possible] idea of hearing more music from these 2 newly-formed Hip-Hop groups: Miguel Street and Ron Artiste . Almost simultaneously announced on this fairly quiet Monday afternoon, Miguel Street consists of Heems and Big Baby Gandhi , who's debut track features them rapping over a re-tweaked version of "Call Me Maybe." Ron Artiste on the other hand, is the latest nom de plume of former Jurassic 5 leader, Chali 2na and veteran emcee Roc "C" ... either paying homage/goofing on the infamous basketball player who now goes by Metta World Peace . I'm not really sure which one it is just yet, but I think they're LEGIT tried and true ballers! Much like Heems & Mike Finito 's "Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry) remix from last year, "Call Me Maybe" has that same sort of "so, are they like kidding or are they serious" type of vibe going on. Hot 97 , the also SUPER-FRESH dual pro...

1996 was quite the memorable for fans of both Hip-Hop and Pop Culture . Just ask the members of TOOTHPASTE , Kassa Overall & TECLA . The pair are currently readying a mixtape, aptly titled 1996 ; It's poised to be "AN ODE TO THE PAST AND AN ODE TO THE FUTURE" (Kassa Overall ) and will feature raps/hoops over beats culled from various 1996-bred hits... featuring New York 's finest up-and-comers: Big Baby Gandhi , DVS, Chaz Van Queen, Tavi , and K-Bob . TOOTHPASTE 's upcoming mixtape will most likely be composed of beats culled from landmark Hip-Hop albums that were originally released back in 1996: OutKast, Aaliyah, 2pac, Jay-Z, The Roots, Tribe , Busta Rhymes , De La Soul, Nas , and Lil Kim . I really enjoyed Kassa Overall 's latest commercial effort, Stargate . Skillfully apping over top of a size-able amount of current Pop Radio staples... a vein in which I figure 1996 will essentially mirror. From what I hear, TECLA is making some pretty note-wort...

Ever since it's 1975-80's inception, "the struggle" has been a consistent, underlying genesis of Hip-Hop . But anymore, the originality's long gone in mainstream Hip-Hop ; These days, everyone's so manufactured and "cookie-cutter." The genre's final hope just might rest within Das Racist's collective of Brooklyn -based artists, producers, labelmen, etc. My attention was first drawn to [rapping college student] kechPhrase last Summer when he made a few original beats for Kool A.D. Since then, I've paid close attention to his career's gradual progression and I'm happy to say that we've stayed in touch throughout his blooming wave of early success. Chalking his past releases up as a test run, kechPhrase is prepping the release of 2 BIG companion projects: Slight Progress EP and Slight Progress (3rd World Dreaming) . "Can I Flow?" is the latest track from Slight Progress EP and shouts to Ikechi Nnamani for let...

Hyperbolic Chamber Music is essentially one long, free-form 22-minute-long posse cut commissioned by Mishka NYC and [entirely] produced by Ryan Hemsworth . Amongst it's included 27 up-and-comers are: MondreM.A.N. Squadda B, Kool A.D. Big Baby Gandhi , Fat Tony , and Shady Blaze . Average Russian-American John Q. Public and Das Racist -affiliated rapper, Aleksey "Lakutis" Weintraub appears @ some point during "Hyperbolic Chamber Music" 's latter 1/2. Lakutis' 2-3 bars have since been segmented into "Pool Party," which now has it's own companion music video... directed by Das Racist and Battles members, Dapwell and [drummer] John Strainer . Roughly a 2-minute affair, "Pool Party" comes off as weirdly low budget D.I.Y. yet surprisingly endearing and heart-felt. Dapwell manages to employ a gaggle of go-to camera tricks: swanky furniture, flashing lights, an e-cigarette, geometric shapes, and "explosive" stock ...