The Witzard

I'm quite pleasantly surprised to admit that in today's world of over-saturated online [Hipster] "Journalism," no one else has snatched up the term, "Renaissance Man" to aptly describe Chicago -bred singer-songwriter/artist, Willis Earl Beal . He gained an initial burst of notoriety and a pseudo-cult following after hanging a number of hand-drawn flyers, complete with his digits, up around town. Beal managed to slip away @ some point in between 2007-09, moving down to Albuquerque, New Mexico , assembled a pick-up band of local musicians, and record a demo CD-R chock-full of simple Blues ditties. After a whirl-wind of media coverage, Willis Earl Beal soon inked a deal with XL Recordings off-shoot label, Hot Charity in 2011-12... a hodgepodge of un-sequenced CD-R's and hissing cassette tapes would eventually wind up being Beal's debut "album:" Acousmatic Sorcery , which the label plans to release on April 3rd. Willis Earl Beal pain...

While on a recent holiday [trip] to "The Windy City," Action Bronson managed to link up with a number of Chicago 's finest up-and-coming musicians: Dangerously accurate rapper Rockie Fresh , sultry songstress Macie Stewart (Kids These Days) , and talented beatsmith Thelonious Martin . Bronsellini proceeds to lace up a descriptive tale of passion, lust, and debauchery over Martin's sparse Jazzy , brass-tinged beat... which is effectively bookended by a modest helping of Rockie Fresh's SWAGGER-filled flow and a dash of Macie Stewart 's Soulfully smooth croon. Quite aptly titled "Dear Heather," the sum of it's various parts essentially equate the story of a joyous fan encounter a la Eminem 's nearly 12-year-old hit, "Stan," but this time complete with a foxy little lady! Action Bronson & Friends' collaborative track is slated to appear on Ruby Hornet 's upcoming compilation, "Closed Sessions" (Vol. 2) . F...

Quite arguably the second most recognizable [note-worthy] member of Harlem 's very own 7 man-deep A$AP Mob Crew , A$AP Twelvy liberated 2 previously unreleased tracks to Twitter late last night. While the young gifted producer(s) behind "A.S.A.P. Bullshit" and "12 Unleashed" is currently unknown, the pair of slightly dated tracks indefinitely reveal key aspects of Twelvy 's vivid, colorful personality. "A.S.A.P. Bullshit" showcases a slick beat pain-stakingly melded down from Chicago Bulls' Theme (Alan Parsons Project) . Another contempo, albeit "high-profile" A$AP Twelvy verse of particular note recently appeared within Asher Roth & Blended Babies' excellent mixtape, Pabst & Jazz . "12 Unleashed" on the other hand, features A$AP Twelvy rapping over what seems to be an instrumental pulled from Young Buck 's "Get Buck" (2007). It's unclear as to weather or not these 2 tracks will app...