The Witzard

Los Angeles sister act HAIM have indeed dabbled with Hip-Hop in the past, whether it be nearly getting recruited as A$AP Rocky 's backing band or appearing on genre-blending Kid Cudi and Childish Gambino tracks... But now they've enlisted rising A$AP Mob emcee, A$AP Ferg to append a ferocious add-on verse to their Days Are Gone album stand-out, "My Song 5." It's not entirely unlike a visual Where's Waldo? of seemingly everyone Danielle, Este & Alana Haim have encountered or befriended while on the road over the last couple years; featured emcee A$AP Ferg , Ke$ha, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig , Grimes, Big Sean , SNL comedian Vanessa Bayer, Mama & Papa Haim , producer Ariel Rechtshaid, and even "Artemis" from It's Always Sunny . Leading up to it's Tuesday afternoon release, @HAIMtheband's long-rumored "My Song 5" video was subtly teased with cleverly edited 90's screen-grabs from Sally Jessy Ra...

Mr. Sexyback himself, Justin Timberlake , unleashed a surprisingly Boom-Bap -ified remix to his latest 20/20 Experience 2 single, "TKO" late Black Friday evening, which is slowly becoming a FREE music-giving holiday. Timberlake somehow managed to recruit J. Cole, A$AP Rocky , and his former "Like I Love You" collaborator, Pusha T (Clipse). While it might kinda seem like part of a larger label-contrived chart-topping master-palm, Justin Timberlake is actually an avid late 1980-90's Hip-Hop aficionado; case in point, The History of Rap (Parts 1-4) with Late Nite host-buddy Jimmy Fallon . Roots band leader/drummer Questlove [Jenkins] simply Tweeted, " #TKOremix so official! @JTimberlake, @PUSHA_T, @ASAPRockyTRILL & @JColeNC (w/ that post- "Control" flow) = COTDAMNY," which almost instantly piqued my interests enough to go check it out! It's very well-produced, which is rare for an after-the-fact remix of this calibe...

It seems like Miley Cyrus has somehow become some sort of weird Ellen DeGeneres or Justin Bieber -like punchline-inducing phenomenon for 4 out of 5 of your favourite rappers; Recently referenced by everyone from Jay Z to Rick Ross , who eloquently rapped, "I got a bad bitch in my Chevy / Selling Miley Cyrus in my brand new Monte Carlo ..." on Meek Mill 's recent Dreams & Nightmares track, "Believe It." All of this likely originated from Cyrus' own generally off-the-wall BONKERS Hip-Hop -infused "We Can't Stop" video-single. G.O.O.D. Music emcee Big Sean kinda took it to a whole 'nother level Friday upon unleashing his latest Hall of Fame single, "Fire." Leading up to the album's August 27th release date, Sean has leaked 3 additional teaser singles: "Guap," "Switch Up" [-feat. Common ], and "Beware" with Lil' Wayne & Jhené Aiko . DONDA director Matthew Williams mor...

Newly buzzed-n-bleached British songstress Jessie J has recruited 2 sharp-tongued rappers from both sides of the pond, Dizzee Rascal & Big Sean , for her latest genre-blending single, "WILD." It's the world's first taste from her forthcoming currently untitled sophomore album, which has already been described as quite the sonic departure from Who You Are (2011); But on the other hand, Jessie J herself dually described "WILD" as "a very small reflection of what the album sounds like" and noted that she's still as nervous as she was when releasing her debut full-length. In addition to shaving her head on live TV back in March, Jessie J 's become something of a British mega-star, gaining additional notoriety as a judge on The Voice UK . "WILD" comfortably sits @ #42 on iTunes' Pop Charts after being released about a month ago and has raked up nearly 1,500,000 YouTube views in just a matter of days. Needless to say,...

Anyone remember around like 200-05 when Paris Hilton somehow managed to coin the phrase, "That's HOT!" (loosely meaning crazy, sexy, cool)? Well, I feel like that's kinda how MTV ranks their equally ridiculous annual Hottest MC's list, cause Hip-Hop 's such a hard thing to quantize/generalize; It's more about sheer passion, love/loss, money, girls, heartbreak, shared experience(s), etc. While MTV has yet to reveal a finalized list, here's their partial rankings: Meek Mill , Future, A$AP Rocky , Kanye, Big Sean , Drake, Nas , and Rick Ross (#10-3). Kanye soon called into Hot 97 , basically lampooning MTV VJ Sway and the network's rapper-ranking process, "I mean, I gave Sway his first TV, man... I was living in Newark [NJ] doing beats for Jay-Z and Beans and all them, and I was getting a new TV and I gave Sway his first TV. I didn't really wanna like even call to talk about the [Hottest MC's] list. I just wanna tell every...

Sugar Tongue Slim (STS) is a criminally under-rated "Atlantadelphia" -bred rapper and honorary Roots Crew member. From what I can tell, his first recorded appearance was on The Roots' Indie Rock -tinged dark/light "concept album," How I Got Over (2010). STS additionally represents 1/5 of Money Making Jam Boys and his solo output [thusfar] includes: Demand More I-II , Sole Music EP , The Illustrious , and a gaggle of assorted Remixes & Indie Rock flips. After slowly leaking out short, weekly music videos over the course of the past few months, Sugar Tongue Slim finally unveiled his latest Starting Line-Up -produced mixtape effort earlier this morning: GOLD RUSH . It's basically a collection of 15 Top 40 flips (2009-11), which are often slightly re-appropriated with STS' unique storytelling and acute Boom-Bap flourishes. STS and his team of certified in-house gold diggers [producers] hand-selected singles from contemporary artists such as B...

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's July 2018 and to be honest, I'm really not even sure what exactly this is/was supposed to be... but from what I can put together, it's some type of "Top 40 "Hitlist"' AKA a breakdown(?) I asked Diarrhea Planet guitarist Evan C. Bird to put together about 6-7 years ago. If you're reaing this now, in 2018, it saddens me to inform you that Diarrhea Planet have, unfortunately, decided it's time for them to disband; however, DP have also, decided to "SHRED THEE WELL" with 2 final shows to be held September 7-8, 2018 at EXIT/IN in Nashville, Tennessee. It seems like Diarrhea Planet has simply, run it's course, but let me just say this: it was extremely fun while it lasted, fellas! Blue Scholars - Cinematropolis: Seattle Hip-Hop ! These guys have been on the top of my list since The Long March (2005). These guys are from Seattle and they're not exactly new, but Cinematropolis is definitely a departure f...

The Artist Formerly Known as "Mos Def," Yasiin Bey has finally taken a long-overdue break from his day job (film actor) to make an undoubtedly triumphant return to his first true love: Hip-Hop . In what appears to be The Soulquarian 's premier offering under his newly-adopted guise, Bey proceeds to remix a familiar Top 40 hit. "Niggas In Poorest" is the first in a series of socially-conscious Top 40 Underdog freestyles... and Yasiin Bey drastically flips Kanye & Jay-Z 's uncanny "radio single" (2011) on it's head. The weekly series will seemingly re-appropriate some of the year's finest Hip-Hop/Mainstream hits, albeit in thought-provoking, new light. The formerly lavish tale of over-indulgence has now been morphed into a painfully accurate lament of modern-day society. Of course though, @ it's stereophonic heart, "Niggas In Poorest" is in fact a politically-driven, racially-charged social commentary released just...

Self-proclaimed "Ringtone Rapper," Soulja Boy is that young, instantly successful artist that everyone loves to hate. Soulja's detractors proclaimed that he's one of the highly "disposable" rappers that have allegedly "killed" [ruined] Hip-Hop in recent years. His die-hard fans will obviously fire back with examples supporting the exact opposite. I must admit that I am in fact one of those fans; Albeit a close observer who's followed Soulja Boy 's career path over the years, but a fan nonetheless. A creative 21-year-old young man hailing from Chicago , Soulja Boy 's overall message is surprisingly positive and violence free - In an era of "Hard as Nails" gun-slinging rappers, DeAndre Way is a rarity: Guy simply traveling down the straight-and-narrow who claims absolutely no gang affiliation whatsoever nor a violent, blood-drenched past. Soulja Boy initially burst onto the music scene with debut single/turned viral meme, ...