The Witzard

Collection of Work by The Station Signal Steven "Unsung" Miller is a rapper, producer, and musician hailing from Morgantown, West Virginia/Pittsburgh . Since initially bursting onto the map in 2001, Unsung has self-released 21 projects of varying lengths on his Bandcamp page, as well as Mugwampers -championed Young Man (2016) on Already Dead Tapes & Records and mini-album Mount St. Helens just this past May on BearTooth Collective . However, Miller's latest project isn't exactly credited to "Unsung" and honestly, it isn't exactly "new" either; Collection of Work is attributed to The Station Signal AKA Brandt Dykstra & Steven Miller . Nearly 10 years ago, between 2006-08, Unsung & Brandt wrote, recorded, and produced almost 60 songs together, which were very recently re-discovered and painstakingly whittled down to a concise 9-track Collection of Work . Not only did Unsung recently uncover a plethora of Station Signal ...

" Share My Bed = MJ & Dilla 1st track, "Player Has Butterflies" ...wait [for] the rest," read a vague 2009 Stones Throw post. Beat Junkies co-founder and former Black Star & Jaylib DJ J. Rocc has seemingly been working on some sort of unspecified J Dilla/Michael Jackson mash-up project for the past 5+ years. Dilla was a known Jackson (5) super-fan and even sampled "Dancing Machine" for Q-Tip 's solo track "Move" (2008), originally appearing on his Beat CD '05 #3 web-bootleg. I can vaguely remember downloading a copy of my first J Dilla album, Champion Sound with Madlib (2003). It falls right between what I would consider his two greatest works, Ruff Draft EP and his magnum opus, Donuts . Little did I know, at the time, that Dilla's health was slowly failing because of lupus complications and a rare blood disorder; he ultimately passed away on February 10th, 2006. I didn't realize til a few years later, bu...

The New Danger (2004), Mos Def 's STELLAR Hip-Hop/Blues Rock album recorded with Funky cats from Bad Brains, Living Colour , and a few other pioneering African-American Rock bands... has to be one of my favourite albums of ALL TIME! Dante Smith has always been a stylish, righteous, socially conscious rapper, ever since forming Black Star with like-minded friend-musician, Talib Kweli in the mid-90's. Mos Def recently pulled a "Cat Stevens," whole-heartedly converting to Islam , and changed his name to Yasiin Bey . "I Don't Like" is the third release that's been slow leaked from Top 40 Underdog , Bey's upcoming G.O.O.D. Music flip of Modern Radio staples. But don't get it twisted, this surely isn't Mos Def 's first rodeo; He managed to effortlessly re-work both Jay-Z/Kanye 's "The Takeover" and Grandmaster Flash 's "The Message" (1982) on The New Danger . Chief Keef, Lil' Wayne , and T...

Talib Kweli 's latest mixtape, Attack The Block is a loose [street] album that's loosely based around a British Sci-Fi Thriller of the same name (2011). Kweli does his best to bridge that gap, effectively re-appropriating film dialog for his intro track, "Attack The Block!!!" Talib Kweli has always been a fairly active, politically- conscious rapper ever since he first burst onto the scene with Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998). Surprisingly, Attack The Block was actually released a few weeks earlier than expected... on Sept. 3rd, Labor Day Weekend instead of Sept. 18th. Co-presented along with DJ Z-Trip , the mixtape really is a generous offering - 18 tracks deep, 6 solo Kweli raps. It looks like Talib Kweli has managed to rope in some serious favors and scored guest verses from Black Thought , Skyzoo, Das Racist , Lil' Wayne, Killer Mike , Posdnuos (De La Soul), Ryan Leslie , Mac Miller, and Ab-Soul ... In addition to production work fro...

Meticulously chopping and re-pasting samples pulled from Rene Costy , Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s , and Jacques Delon, "Fuck The Police" came out @ a pivotal time during J Dilla 's blossoming career... between his transition from Soulquarians producer to rapping emcee. Nearly 6 years after Dilla 's untimely passing, J.Rocc released a re-work of "F--- The Police" earlier this afternoon, which ends up cleanly editing down the track's lyrical content; Candidly stating via Soundcloud , "Here's a snippet of a little something that I was working on. Played this out a few times and it's CRACKIN' !!" While he adds that the full version of his "Police" (re-work) might never even see the light of day, J.Rocc is currently prepping the release of yet another edits collection: The Minimal Waves Tapes - Edits, Vol 1 & 2 . His semi-recent mixed genre album, Some Cold Rock Stuf and it's companion EP, Mystery Tracks ...

Mos Def is not merely a rapper, he's a fucking lyrical assassin! Born Dante Smith (1973) and formerly known as "Pretty Flaco," the man now replies to Yasiin Bey . Take it as a mid-career re-invention, of sorts for the seasoned rapper who's worked with everyone from The Black Keys - Gorillaz . In late 2010, Mos Def signed a record deal with Kanye West 's very own G.O.O.D. Music , but an album for his new label has yet to fully materialize. Yasiin Bey is currently working on a number of assorted projects: 5th solo album ( G.O.O.D. debut), Black Star Aretha with Talib Kweli , and Kanye 's label comp. - "Cruel Summer." My personal favourite Mos Def album is The New Danger , which was released in 2004... right around the time that I was first getting into Hip-Hop and forming my own unique "musical ear." It's essentially a Blues -inspired Hip-Hop album that was recorded with African American Punk musicians, Black Jack Johnson . In...

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...

So, this past weekend when Black Star officially dropped their Madlib -produced banger "Fix Up," the homie Blu realized he had already rocked over that same beat. He shot his version over this morning, "ez," to share with The Internets . The song is apparently from a secret album Blu recorded entitled, ucla , over nothing but Madlib beats... I'd pay good money to hear the rest of that jawn. But for now, let's give thanks for this one (I would love to see an Official Remix come out of this). - okayplayer (shamz)

Much to the delight of zealous fans, Black Star are back for Round 2, after a 10-year [semi-]hiatus. Since issuing Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998), the Boom Bap duo have stayed pretty silent; Excluding the occasional Mos Def feature, Talib Kweli Remix, or vice versa, of course. In honor of Black Friday #blackstarfriday 2011, Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli released their latest single, "Fix Up" to iTunes' online data-base. Some of you may recall the fact that this very song was performed LIVE @ Colbert Report Studios a few mere weeks ago [Below]. Mind you, that was just Friday morning... Rounding off the day's nation-wide festive shopping excursions, Black Star liberated yet another new track: "You Already Knew" that very evening. Granted, this track isn't from Black Star 's long-rumored triumphant return - Although it will indefinitely appear within Black Star Aretha : a mixtape tribute crafted in honor of legendary songst...

Ladies and gentlemen of This Fine Green Earth, Dizzee Rascal has in fact "made it!" While Rascal has without a doubt experienced a moderate amount of past success(es)... I think we can all agree that being sampled by Madlib and then interpolated as the sole element of a Black Star hook is a whole 'nother level of "industry success." So it seems that the one and only "Beat Konducta" (Madlib) listens to Dizzee Rascal ; For what it's worth, I'm really not all that surprised. "Fix Up, Look Sharp" originally appeared on London 's very own Grime posterchild's 2003 debut, Boy In da Corner . The self-produced beat for Rascal's break-out hit notoriously samples segmented portions of Billy Squier - "The Big Beat" (1980). Following the truly senseless 1996-97 deaths of both Biggie and 2pac , up-and-comers Mos Def and Talib Kweli courageously banded together in an effort to spread a message of "peace and love....