The Witzard

John Morrison Diggin' for Records (CREDIT: D1L0) John "Liberator" Morrison is a self-proclaimed "Writer/DJ/Sample-flipper" hailing from Philly. Morrison is the host of Serious Rap Sh!t & Culture Cypher Radio and lists NPR Music , okayplayer, The Wire Magazine , and Bandcamp amongst his writing credits. John Morrison , additionally, functions as a Hip-Hop emcee and producer with remix credits on Lushlife 's MY IDOLS ARE DEAD + MY ENEMIES ARE IN POWER and Career Crooks' Thieving As Long As I'm Breathing . Morrison's debut full-length project, Southwest Psychedelphia was released on Deadverse Recordings in 2016 and there's currently a slew of remixes, flips, and non-album tracks uploaded to his Bandcamp page. However, in recent years, John Morrison has been on a bit of a hiatus/medical leave... as Morrison himself puts it, "on March 3, 2018, I was hospitalized with Flu-like symptoms and a searing headache. After nearly two weeks...

Black Gold - Spare Nuggets by Tom Caruana Mashups Not to be confused with similarly-named Davey Havok -fronted Horror Punk band, Son of Sam is a Soul/Funk -inflected Instrumental Hip-Hop band hailing from "Cinder Hill," UK . Founded by Sam Brothers John (drums) and Joe (bass & guitar) Son of Sam unleashed their 2017 debut, CINDER HILL with assistance from fellow bandmates Dutch Halligan wielding keyboard, flute & sax) and Tom Caruana helming percussion & production. Tea Sea Records -released CINDER HILL features a slew of emcees and vocalists including John Robinson , Sadat X, The Black Opera , Guilty Simpson, Organized Konfusion 's Prince Po , Denmark Vessey, Quelle Chris , Masta Ace, and Large Pro . Tom Caruana , actually, runs Tea Sea Records , which boasts Son of Sam , The Menagerie, Professor Elemental , Dr. Syntax, Klondike Kids , longusto, Boiler Room Collective , and Grand Agent amongst their eclectic roster, as well as Caruana's own or...

"20 years to the day of the tragic murder of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. Mega Ran offers this heartfelt creative tribute to the man they called Biggie. Ran and producers Fresh Kils & DJ DN3 cleverly re-sample 10 classic B.I.G. bangers, adding new lyrics and perspective to the sounds of the legendary emcee. Narrated by Ran's childhood friend, Notorious R.A.N. revisits the feeling, the rhymes, and the charm of the fallen Hip-Hop hero, while continuing Mega Ran's track record of quality releases," reads an emailed press release sent along with Mega Ran's Biggie tribute mixtape, Notorious R.A.N: Ready to Live. As Ran (formerly Random) states, he's releasing Notorious R.A.N: Ready to Live today on March 9, 2017—the 20th anniversary of Christopher "Biggie" Wallace's tragic murder—with little to no prior press. I believe I first worked with Mega Ran—then, still Random AKA Mega Ran—around the time of his 2010 video game-sampling album, Forever Famic...

"It's very eerily current because of the horrible things that have been going on with gun violence and various shootings... We're still in process even as we speak and I don't want to really talk too much about who's in 'cause that's still kind of fluid. But it's going to happen in 2016 for sure and there's a couple of folks who have approached us, so we're going to see what the final tally's going to be. But the things I've heard so far are really, really powerful, really fiery verses, and some of the writers are responding directly [to] what happened in St. Paul, what's happening in Baton Rouge . There's a bit of that in the mix, as well as other conversations" long-time Living Colour guitarist and bandleader Vernon Reid candidly revealed to Billboard last month, in light of this year's all-too frequent police and civilian shooting epidemic. Living Colour have since recruited producer Andre Betts , Prophets of Rag...

"How many times, Pusha T , did producers say to you, "come to the studio right now or we're gonna give this beat to Jay Z ?" Nardwuar The Human Serviette politely asked Pusha T during a 2013 post- Canadian show interview. "Well, one time.. and that was for the "Grindin'" beat and that was Pharrell Williams ... and he's supposed to be my best friend. Right? But this guy actually threatened to give the "Grindin'" beat to Jay Z , if I did not come to the studio right then and right there. I actually came, and I'm glad he did because that record was groundbreakin' for me, Pusha T exuberantly quipped. One 1/2 of early 2000's Virginia Beach -bred Coke Rap phenoms, Clipse , Pusha T – otherwise known as the newly-elected President of Kanye 's re-launched label, G.O.O.D. Music – is gearing up to unleash his long-rumored 2-part King Push album; part one, titled Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude features productio...

"Consider it a gift from us to you, who yearn for the Dilla -fide treats wherever, however you get them. So, grab yourself one of those delicious donut holes, put your feet up and bless the air to this certified heater from the gawd, every bit as sweet as the day itself," okayplayer's own "Voodoo & Old Donuts" -inspired wordsmith Michael Eric Gonik (@zogotsoul) transcribed within a National Donut Day -centric piece published prior to the weekend. Gonik is of course, referring to Biggie Smalls & J Dilla 's posthumously-released collaborative remix, "Kick In The Door," which until now, has never seen a fully untagged, full-length release; it's something of fabled Hip-Hop Holy Grail to 99.9% of digital "crate"-diggers and Dilla completists, like yours truly. Rumor has it that Biggie & J Dilla had initially intended to collaborate in the mid-90's on a Jay Dee -produced Busta Rhymes track tentatively titled "...

Not since Interpol frontman Paul Banks unleashed his semi-awkward Everybody On My D*ck Like They Supposed to Be have I heard a more un- Hip-Hop sounding mixtape; But with that said, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. uploaded their long-rumored PRODUCE (Vol. 1) mixtape mid-Wednesday afternoon. It's an oddly endearing juxtaposition of Weezer -indebted Indie Rock and Underground Hip-Hop with a little help from their friends, Asher Roth , Murs, Chuck Inglish , 112 crooner Slim, King Chip , Quelle Chris, and more. While it's actually a pretty legit-sounding Hip-Hop affair, there are still in fact flavors of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. 's deeply-ingrained Pop tendencies subtly inter-woven through out PRODUCE : a light-hearted Beach Boys/Biggie mash-up, a cover of Nina Simone covering Randy Newman , and even decades-old interpolated P aul Simon lyrics. The 16-track mixtape is flanked by two album tracks remixed by Absofacto and Jon Zott (Goldenboyz), brother of co-frontman Daniel ...

Former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page Tweeted "on this day, Biggie Smalls " along with a web-link Friday morning; He's pieced together what kinda sounds like a semi-unfinished mash-up between "Hypnotize" and "Ramble On" that's been dubbed "Ramblize." 90's Hip-Hop heads might recall that this isn't exactly Page's first forre into Hip-Hop , as he previously re-recorded parts of "Kashmir" for Godzilla break-out hit, "Come with Me" with none other than Puff Daddy [included below]. "Ramblize" somehow teeters that fine line, where if it sucked (which it doesn't), it'd still be pretty cool simply because of the sheer fact that Jimmy Page remixed a Biggie track! From what I understand, Page recently uploaded a similar Snoop Dogg/Led Zeppelin mash-up of "Drop It Like It's Hot" (credited to Led Dogg ). Lest we forget, Led Zepplin 's now-deceased mondo-drummer Joh...

Following June's fairly long-awaited return to form and more or less, an artistic re-birth, Kismet , Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire randomly unveiled 2 new tracks late Wednesday-Thursday night; "Butt Naked Baby Cupid" and "A Sun's Calypso" are supposedly from eXquire 's forthcoming project, King Cozmic's Ethereal Playground . So far, it sounds like his mixtape'll be a stylistic hybrid of Mr. MFN eXquire 's new-found Psych-Rap sound and those 90's Hardcore reminiscent rhymes... almost effortlessly rocking over a beat swiped from Brainfeeder Jazzman Thundercat and frequent collaborator, Bowery Beats . Accented by a brief buttery-smooth Thundercat intro, eXquire ferociously raps, "I suck at love songs, but still write some / Just last night we Skyped all night long / Took a screenshot of your dummy-ass smile / Set it as my wallpaper... in love. I'm in denial. Lost in your Ora . We got it figured out. But nigga, baby cupid...

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 ...