The Witzard

Pretending I'm A Superman Producer Ralph D'Amato (Left) & Director Ludvig Gür (Right) "Friends, I know it's been a little quiet on my side this past week, but, I assure you, everything is fine. Two weeks ago, my feature-length directorial debut, @thpsfilm, was released to a fantastic reception from critics and fans alike. It has remained in the Top 100 list of most-streamed films on @itunes for almost two weeks and still retains a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes . However, today is a very special day for another reason: 21 years ago, the game that the documentary is all about, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, was released. It took the world by storm and changed the lives of so many people throughout the years. I cannot overstate how much of an impact this low-budget video game made by a team of 12 people had on my life. It changed everything! So, here I am, holding up my first copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the PS1 (which was released as "Tony Hawk's...

"It's hard to pinpoint the moment I wanted to become a producer. I do remember contemplating at a young age the elements of Hip-Hop, wondering where I fit in. My older brother wrote [graffiti]. My other brother's friends were DJ's and emcees. To 12-year-old me, it was logical to take a craft up in one of these cornerstones. I, actually, wanted to break, but having no actual training available to me, that didn't last long. Around this time, I recognized my affinity for beats and beat-making. The part that interested me the most was seeing people come up with something from nothing. You didn't need to know how to play an instrument. The process intrigued and excited me. The rapping was cool, but what moved me the most was the music. I could get down with an average emcee, so as long as the sh*t he was rhyming on was tight; vice-versa, if a fire emcee had wack beats, it felt wasted to me." Four Albums of Note (Honorable Mentions) 1. De La Soul - 3 Feet...

INSTRUMENTALS.3 by AVER " INSTRUMENTALS.3 is a collection of ideas I was experimenting with in 2016 that don't quite fit into a bigger instrumental project I am currently working on (you could say they are the off-cuts, I guess!) I put it up as a FREE download , so people can see progress in the beats I'm working on, but really just so they aren't [sitting] around on my hard drive. My girlfriend told me I should stop being a perfectionist pr*ck and release them, so I did. It's her fault," THE NATURAL CURRICULUM (TNC) rapper-producer AVER replied within a Twitter DM, when I asked for a bit of background information concerning his latest project. "All Musical & Visual Excretions by AVER ; Except cuts on Track #3 by El Statiko ; This sh*t is not really mixed or mastered, soz," reads INSTRUMENTALS.3 's rather fitting Bandcamp description. THE NATURAL CURRICULUM consists of AVER , emcee Bill Sykes , rapper-producer Chalk , DJ-producer Oma...

For all intensive purposes, El-P and his Brooklyn -based crew, Company Flow (1992-2002) essentially spearheaded the formation of East Coast Underground ["Indie"] Hip-Hop . Company Flow has since disbanded and El-P recently dissolved his own record label, Definitive Jux . But El-Producto is still fairly active as a producer, solo artist, graphic designer, etc. Fresh on the heels of his upcoming solo album, Cancer for Cure (May 22nd), El-P has carefully re-aligned himself with the Brooklyn scene that he once helped create. Much like a returning, hard-partying frat boy, El-P now rolls with Indie Hip-Hop 's finest up-and-comers: Das Racist , Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire , Danny Brown, Killer Mike , Nocando, Aesop Rock , Despot, Cannibal Ox , and... The Mars Volta? El-P most recently lent his production talents to Das Racist and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire 's breakthrough efforts, Relax/Lost In Translation ; Even spitting a few memorable bars, for good measure...

New-comer Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire reminds me very much of Biz Markie ... wherein @ any given moment in time, you're not entirely sure if he's fucked up, prolific, "mental" [zany], or TOTALLY serious. Last week, Мишка (Mishka) liberated eXquire's debut mixtape, Lost In Translation , to the masses. It's 18 contained tracks channel that raw energy/talent that Tom Breihan & I have [very] recently championed. The mixtape features beats pain-stakingly crafted by Charli Brown Beatz, Necro, El-P (Cannibal Ox), Constrobuz, Jake-One, BoweryBeats, Esoteric , and eXquire himself. Note: The young New York rapper's vocal stylings may remind seasoned fans of Wu-Tang Soldier, Method Man 's notorious rhyming abilities. For all intensive purposes, "Huzzah" is being pushed as Lost In Translation 's lead single. Directed by TKTK Media and filmed entirely in black-and-white, the music video for "Huzzah" (Bonus Remix) features fellow...