The Witzard

Donovan Days (ialive) & Cody Cody Jones, otherwise known as Cool Code & Don Cool Code & Don are a rapper/producer-rapper consisting of Cody Cody Jones (Cool Code) hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and ialive AKA Donovan Days (Don) from Philly. These two sharp-tongued fellas both run in the same East Coast Indie Rap with shared connections to Darko The Super, Height Keech, andrew., Jumbled, C $ Burns, The Hell Hole Store, Cold Rhymes Records, and U DONT DESERVE THIS BEAUTIFUL ART. ialive & Cody Cody Jones have collaborated on a number of occasions on loose singles, one-offs, and things of that nature; however, their big coming out as duo was 2017's Four to The Floor . It was essentially a split EP boasting four Cody Cody Jones tracks (one, featuring ialive) and four ialive-led tracks (one, featuring Cody Cody Jones) on the flip side. Featuring The Muppet Men by ialive & Cody Cody Jones Cool Code & Don did it again a few months later in 2017 with...

Earlier this week, Philly-based rapper, producer, and resident weirdo Darko The Super announced the sheer existence of his new album available for pre-order. Cruising with Darko & The Jets will be released this upcoming Friday, September 3rd (the next Bandcamp Friday ) through his friends at Cold Rhymes Records. Along with the album announcement and pre-order, Darko shared the first single from Cruising with Darko & The Jets, "Loner." It's been described as Darko The Super's Ghostface Killah-inspired homage over a Philadelphia Soul classic by The Nu-Ron's. Darko was seemingly exposed to said sample by Peter Maxwell "Max" Ochester at Brewerytown Beats/Records. Max's imprint, Brewerytown Records, recently released a digital collection titled All My Life (The Songs of Manny Campbell) featuring, amongst other dusty stand-outs, The Nu-Rons' "I'm A Loner," as sampled by Darko The Super throughout "Loner." Cruising...

Biz Markie Ink Illustration (CREDIT: Dan Lish @danlish1) Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with everyone from the Beastie Boys to...

CREDIT: Hand-cut "EAST." Art By: John Bachman (@NapalmDef) Happy New Year to all of our trusty readers out there! Let's hope this year will be better than the last! Today, for our first post of 2021, we're back with new music from Vans_Westly & Jumbled. We've previously featured Vans' 2017 QUILLS EP produced by NelWayne & Drew Scott, which was followed up by Bubble Boy (2018) with beats from Scott & Height Keech and released on Cold Rhymes Records. Vans_Westly's latest release, an EP entitled Rapscallion, fully produced by friend of The Witzard, John Bachman AKA Jumbled. Rapscallion was, actually, released on November's bandcamp Friday last year with 50% of the profits raised going towards Bail Fund and 50% towards BARCS or as Vans himself put it, "100 percent goes to good sh*t!" Rapscallion by Vans_Westly Now, as 2021 has kick-started itself into gear, Vans_Westly has returned once more with a proper music video for Rapsc...

"PGH to PHL. Cody & Don have been yucking it up as pals and collaborators for years, but up until now, they have never done a full album together," reads a description on Bandcamp. ialive & Cody Cody Jones (then, known as Stillborn Identity) have been working together sporadically ever since 2015-16. ialive appeared alongside Cody on Jumbled-produced "Groundhog Day" from STLBRNcollabamonth2015. "Often succumbing to areas of internal turmoil, we see the boys letting go of inhibitions, flipping the script, and cutting loose on tracks like a dirtbike through dry leaves," said description continues. Through 2017, Cody Cody Jones & ialive released two collaborative digital splits together entitled FOUR TO THE FLOOR 1-2. ialive appeared alongside Blastmaster Baker on "Call of The Void" from Cody's monthly/year-long 2018 project, Year of The Dog. Rap of The Month. ialive & Cody Cody Jones have since worked together on a number of...

Since re-launching Cold Rhymes Records a few years back around the time of the release of Mind Moves The Mountain (2017) Dan "Height" Keech has stayed extremely busy. Cold Rhymes' roster now includes 83cutlass, Ardamus, Darko The Super, Emceein' Eye Height Keech, ialive/Donovan Days, Jack Toft, Kate Ferencz, MISTER, Off The Meat Rack, P.T. Burnem, Param Anand Singh, (rapper) andrew. Shark Tank, Speak N' Eye, Trauma Lavern, Vans_Westly, and Wounds. The bulk of said recent releases having been produced by Height Keech himself, along with ialive (together, as Necessary People,) art direction provided by Height's sideman MISTER AKA CoolGuyBry, and mastered by C$ BURNS. Earlier this year, Height produced the entirety Ardamus' Astro Blocks with the exception of one beat, "Tunnel Light," produced by Necessary People. Plus, Necessary People made their proper production debut across andrew.'s second Cold Rhymes offering, W.O.T.W. Additionally, I BET...

Monday morning, self-described "Rap singer, song-writer, beat-maker, and pal" Donovan "ialive" Phillips quietly announced he'll be releasing his fourth (fifth?) solo studio album, I'LL WAIT FOREVER , later this month. It will be his fourth consecutive release with Baltimore-based Cold Rhymes Records run and operated by Dan "Height" Keech & MISTER AKA Cool Guy Bry . We first heard about ialive through an interview posted by John "Jumbled" Bachman on his blog a few years back with both Donnie & Darko The Super , together, billed as The Hellhole Store . ialive 's Height Keech -produced TIMEWAVE ZERO (2017) and self-produced follow-up, DON'T DO NOTHING (2019) were, easily, two of our favorite Hip-Hop albums of the last few years. I'LL WAIT FOREVER is the direct follow-up to ialive 's Odds & Ends-style 2019 EP, ODD ORTS , which boasts remixes from both Juan Cosby & Unsung. Now, it appears as though this...

"We got something special for you today. ialive & The Custodian of Records teamed up to bring you this one-off gentle heat. Make it rain on the boys with half dollars," Cold Rhymes Records ecstatically posted on their Facebook page early Tuesday morning. ialive & The Custodian of Records' (TCOR) debut collaborative stand-alone single together, "INTERVALS," was quietly released late Monday night into Tuesday morning. It appears as though "INTERVALS" came to fruition rather organically, as ialive & The Custodian of Records are, simply, fans and mutual admirers of each other's work; "I believe, I reached out to ialive after peeping "THE OUGHTS" video and then, purchasing TIME WAVE ZERO and enjoying the album. He may have expressed interest in a possible collaboration, so I sent him a couple tracks and this is the one he chose," TCOR recently explained to The Witzard, via email. Intervals (prod. The Custod...

Last we heard from Dan "Height" Keech , he was prepping his 2018 E-40 & B-Legit-style double-mic sonic assault, Computer Rocker , on his very own imprint, Cold Rhymes Records , with partner-in-rhyme, MISTER as a "Featured Emcee" throughout." Prior to Computer Rocker , Height and his crew unleashed THERE ISN'T VERY MICH TIME: 14 ICE-COLD DEVASTATORS FROM COLD RHYMES RECORDS , which boasted choice cuts from their 2018 release schedule: Height -produced Stories of A Made Up Year from Darko The Super , Speak N' Eye's Cypher At The Gates of Dawn, and Kate Ferencz 's What Was The World , as well as Param Anand Singh's Psychic Arpeggiator, 808's & Milkshakes from Desperate Band Appreciation Society (Darko & Harvey Cliff MC,) Vans_Westly 's Bubble Boy , HEIGHT KEECH 1000: The Tightest Songs 2000-2018, ialive 's Don't Do Nothing —one of our personal Favorite Albums of 2018—Year of The Darko Hosted By: Height Keech, ...

"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...

Donovan "ialive" Phillips is a self-described "Rap-singer-songwriter/beat aficionado/musical collector" hailing from The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . ialive has released numerous collaborative and solo projects over the years, but hasn't released a tried and true "solo" album since 2015's Awake In The Snake Hole . However, in recent years, he's released collaborative projects with both Darko The Super as The Hell Hole Store and TIMEWAVE ZERO with Height Keech , as well as Four to The Floor 1-2 EP's with Cody Cody Jones ... just this past week, ialive announced his long-awaited third solo album, DON'T DO NOTHING , which will be dropping on Height 's Cold Rhymes Records Friday, January 11, 2019. DON'T DO NOTHING was fully produced, recorded, and mixed by ialive himself at The Green Gem in Philly with mastering done by Vinyl Cape 's own C$ BURNS . On the most recent episode of THIS COLD RHYM...

Height Keech is arguably, as successful as one one could ever imagine to get as an Underground/Indie Hip-Hop emcee. A figurehead within the Baltimore/East Coast Alt. Hip-Hop scenes since 1999 with now-defunct crew Wounds , Height recently started producing his own and others' music and released four of his own albums last year, as well as a career-spanning "Guest Spots" compilation. In recent years, Height turned his long-standing, loosely-formatted imprint, Cold Rhymes Records into a full-fledged functioning label powerhouse. Just this year alone, Cold Rhymes has issued albums from MISTER , Off The Meat Rack, Height , and the "Ariel Pink of Hip-Hop," Darko The Super, as well as a label-encompassing compilation, three of which were produced by Height Keech himself. Height 's most recent album, COMPUTER ROCKER , showcases close friend and touring/label mate MISTER as a "Featured MC" throughout in an almost B-Legit right-hand man-esque ca...

"Cold Rhymes [Records] has long been my own label for my own solo albums. I started releasing other people's music under the Cold Rhymes banner last Spring. Recently, my pals Mister & ialive have joined me in working behind-the-scenes to make this label a reality. This is a compilation of songs from all our recent/forthcoming releases. The title comes from Kate Ferencz's opening track. In engaging with all these hard-working people over the last year, I'm constantly reminded how we're all engaged in a race against time. We all have to draw up our own battle plans and wage our own wars against the clock to bring this music and art into existence. I think, it's true that there isn't very much time and I'm amazed at the resolve my compatriots have to fight this fight." - Height Keech (Cold Rhymes Records) There Isn't Very Much Time: 14 Ice-Cold Devastators From Cold Rhymes Records by Kate Ferencz 1. Kate Ferencz - "Who Do You Real...