The Witzard

DOOM STARKS & Jay Elec-Hanukkah (CREDIT: Arturo Torres) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. Josh Leidy is a writer, producer, filmmaker, and co-host of the Serious Rap Sh*t Podcast and content creator for Culture Cypher Media. Follow Josh "Indi" Leidy (@indi_srs) on Twitter and Instagram to experience more of his work. Daniel Dumile—even in his youth as Zev Love X—showed an...

"[I] wrote this in the Fall of 2014 and recorded vocals for a demo to shop around in the bedroom June '15; tried to find another home for it, since the beat wasn't mine, but never did. Been sitting on it all this time and figure it may never see the light of day, so why not just put it out. I've never put up somebody else's beats without permission, which has always held me back. Got tons of songs written over other people's beats I don't know. Orphan rhymes. So, if [you're] mad at me FlyLo , you can find me easy," charismatic Future Islands frontman and long-time emcee Sam "Hemlock Ernst" Herring recently wrote on Soundcloud . "Bluebells Set Wet In The Moss" was released Tuesday morning without any prior murmur of release rumblings and appears to have been completed sometime between Fall 2014 and June 2015 and was in fact, skillfully freestyled over the Flying Lotus -produced beat for Captain Murphy's Earl Sweatshir...

"'[PROJECT 2] is a concept mixtape that covers the themes of fame, isolation, Armageddon, suicide, immortality, dark magick, and Christian mysticism. "Glass Half Empty" is the mid-point of this story and deals primarily with the emotion of helplessness... How do you see the glass? Can you see it any other way? Will my visions ever change? [PROJECT 2] on the horizon," self-described Occult Hip-Hop emcee Mahatma Crowley wrote within recent Facebook and Soundcloud statements... Mahatma Crowley's ghoulish delivery vaguely reminds me of his grizzled barking predecessors DMX, Ja Rule, Rick Ross, Yeezus-era Kanye, and at times, even Death Grips' frenzied frontman MC Ride. "Upon first hearing Crowley & The Beholder's Trinity's latest single, "Glass Half Empty" this past moon-lit Saturday evening, I was instantly reminded of his fellow Horrorcore peers Flatbush Zombies—who recently, for whatever reasons, played The Tonight Show Starri...

"This is a loosie joint that I put together this month (sort of celebrating my birthday) with Weirdo Rock God-head R. Stevie Moore on the hook; to that effect, I produced an Avalanches -inspired instrumental and we're spitting rhymes that lament and celebrate being grown-up Rap dudes," rapper-producer Raj Haldar , better known as Lushlife , recently told me within an email concerning his latest Soundcloud release, "Earl Sweatshirt, Give Me a Hug." "I actually knew R. Stevie Moore when I was a kid—he worked at the record store where I would go every day and spend my lunch money on records. Never really knew he was like a lo-fi God or later, would be huge inspiration to dudes like Ariel Pink . We got to talking a while back and decided to flip this joint together," Lushlife tellingly continued. Haldar then recruited fellow Philly -bred emcee, Anything I Touch, I Bruise master-remixer, recent Rap Booklets curator, and part-time Passion of The W...

Let's face it, there are a lot of great (and not-so great) Hip-Hop tracks, music videos, albums, mixtapes, EP's, etc. released on a weekly, if not even daily, basis; a person like myself, who single-handedly runs what I would deem a moderately "successful" publication, whilst working a 9-5, manipulating a relationship with my wonderful girlfriend, family, and friends, and leading a generally hectic existence, there isn't always time to cover every Hip-Hop release I would hypothetically like to within an average week's time. Hence, I've decided to enact a weekly " The Witzard's Week In Rap" (still a working title) column akin to Stereogum 's 5 Best Videos of The Week or Status Ain't Hood , which will hopefully, be published every Friday or Saturday night. It may or may not include songs/videos that I have/hadn't exactly had the chance to cover throughout the course of the week prior and will generally showcase five companion sh...

Heralded as a greenhorn rapper-producer project that's "shaping up to be easily the best thing on Stones Throw in [recent] years," despite the fact that they only have a mere two released tracks under their belt; Nxworries (pronounced: No Worries ) have managed to hone in a unique sound that could characteristically be best described as the missing link between George Clinton 's ground-breaking Parliament-Funkadelic and N.W.A. & Snoop Dogg 's G-Funk sub-genre of 1990's West Coast Hip-Hop that Clinton himself unknowingly helped inspire. Once distilled down to its R&B -leaning Hip-Hop core, Nxworries is essentially a sparse Jaylib -indebted "2 turntables and a microphone"-style project consisting of New Jersey -bred beatsmith Knxwledge and Dr. Dre's latest protégé, LA crooner Anderson .Paak . "He was a big part of me finding a sound that I was looking for and a tone that people are more familiar with now... when I started ...

It's really a wonder how Future Islands frontman Sam Herring came to be the highly-scrutinized then "unnamed emcee" behind Madlib 's latest masterpiece, Trouble Knows Me EP ; unlike his fellow Hip-Hop -loving Indie Rock brethren Paul Banks and Peter Bjorn & John , Herring is front and center with some surprisingly sharp-tongued rhyming skills. Sam Herring has quietly been playing Baltimore club gigs under his Hemlock Ernst rapping alter ego between Future Islands album cycles since around June 2013, in addition to "waxing poetic" wordplay alongside the likes of Gangrene & Earl Sweatshirt , Scallops Hotel, Du Blonde , and Rapdragons. " Madlib x Hemlock Ernst project Trouble Knows Me officially dropped today [September 1st]. The Master & The Student. Double Dragon," @futureislands ecstatically Tweeted Tuesday afternoon upon the release of Herring's first widely-available "solo" project. Trouble Knows Me EP , wh...

" ["Suede"] featured the LA -based vocalist's signature rasp and slick talk over a chopped up sample of Gil Scott-Heron 's "The Bottle" courtesy of buzzing beatmaker Knxwledge , his partner in the duo collectively known as Nxworries ," NPR diligently reported late Tuesday afternoon. Nxworries is Stones Throw 's latest Jaylib -style rapper-producer concoction, consisting of Dr. Dre 's R&B crooning Compton -assisant, Anderson.Paak and prolific New Jersey/Philly -bred LA beatsmith Knxwledge . Their lone February-released single, "Suede" is an undisputed Snoop & Dre -influenced creation that's almost reminiscent of George Clinton 's own unique G-Funk -inspiring Parliament-Funkadelic sound. Stones Throw founder and label-head, Peanut Butter Wolf actually briefly appears within Nxworries' newly-minted "Suede" video as his Alyssa Milano -obsessed, Prince -esque alter ego, Folerio . Like-minded ...

Tyler, The Creator has taken a page from his Odd Future cohort and one-time "little brother" Earl Sweatshirt 's playbook by announcing that he'll surprise release a new album, Cherry Bomb just a mere three days ahead of it's planned Monday April 13th digital release; within a matter of hours, he managed to strategically unleash two previously unreleased album tracks lifted from Cherry Bomb , "F***king Young/Perfect" and "Deathcamp." "THANK YOU CHARLIE WILSON, CHAZ BUNDICK [Toro Y Moi] , AND COLE [ALEXANDER] FROM THE BLACK LIPS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO ["F***KING YOUNG/DEATHCAMP"] " @fucktyler frantically Tweeted soon after the pair of tracks were initially uploaded to his newly-launched app. GOLFMEDIA . Although, according to a trail of information accidentally "leaked" along with the album's iTunes pre-order, it appears as though Wilson's G.O.O.D. Music label boss, Mr. Kanye West will supposed...

Needless to say, it's been one Hell of a week for Underground Hip-Hop ; Action Bronson , Earl Sweatshirt, and Kendrick Lamar all dropped staggering, critically-acclaimed new albums this past Monday, March 23rd (I'm unsure why they strayed away from the typical Tuesday release day). I went out and bought hard CD copies of Bronson and Lamar's albums, but I wasn't able to find I Don't Like Sh*t, I Don't Go Outside at out local Best Buy , and I've really only had a chance to delve into Action Bronson 's gloriously frantic "debut," MR. WONDERFUL . While Bronson and Lamar's TDE crew seem to have a mutual admiration for each other, the two fledgling rappers have never recorded any material together, at least not to my knowledge. But Bronson has in fact recorded a few non-album tracks with Odd Future and their reigning adolescent prince, Earl Sweatshirt ; most notably, Domo Genesis' pro wrestling-referencing Alchemist -produced mixtap...

When Odd Future first came out (2007), it seemed like they were pretty against working with an outside producers. But they've since slightly broadened their horizons, working with a handful of various producers: Kanye , Flying Lotus, Pharrell , James Pants, The Alchemist , RZA, BADBADNOTGOOD , Samiyam, and supposedly even MF DOOM . Late Tuesday night, without any prior notice, rhyme or reason, OFWGKTA uploaded "Look" to Soundcloud ; It's produced by Nottz Raw , a Virginia -based beatsmith who's worked with everyone from Asher Roth to [The] Game . Tyler The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis & Earl Sweatshirt manage to utterly RIP apart Nottz 's hard-hitting beat over the course of nearly 5 minutes. While it's chock-full of righteous-minded bars-on-bars , some of my personal favourite lines include: "Barnacles, now I gotta brag / [Beamer] drive right by you nig*as like I was kinda fat / with a paint job that's flatter than Miley Cyrus...

Whether or not it's actually factual, Tyler, The Creator Tweeted: "LISTENING TO LIL B WITH KING KRULE . GAY HUMOR WITH EMINEM . "HOE CAKES" BY MF DOOM LIVE. ALL IN LIKE 72 HOURS. MY LIFE IS SO NASTY!" Saturday evening. It's also worth noting that Odd Future 's semi-mysterious feliciathegoat Instagram handle posted a candid shot of Tyler, Earl & King Krule along with the caption, "OUT GETTING RIBS. GO GET KRULE'S NEW ALBUM, [6 Feet Beneath The Moon] ." 19-year-old King Krule 's just-released album definitely seems to have Tyler, The Creator 's approval; Archy Marshall 's debut album under the "King Krule" moniker was quietly unleashed on his birthday, August 24th, although he's released various projects under a few different now-retired monikers... Zoo Kid , Edgar The Beatmaker, and DJ JD Sports . True Panther/XL Recordings unveiled 2 teaser singles earlier this month, "Easy, Easy" and ...

It's been an ongoing quasi-real joke ever since season 8 of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2011) to seemingly change the series' overall name withe each impending new season: Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 , Aqua Something You Know Whatever, and now Aqua TV Show Show ha. Replacing the show's original, long-standing Schoolly D-penned title sequence, Brainfeeder buddies Flying Lotus & Thundercat have teamed up to produce a Jazz -infused 45-second "Aqua TV Show Show Theme." @flyinglotus recently Tweeted, " Frylock lookin' like @GASLAMPKILLER in the intro... [and that] The ending credits music is on some Silver Apples -isnpired shiieee." Thundercat 's actual role is widely unknown at this pint, but the infamous Suicidal Tendencies metal-head more than likely continued some scorchin' bass licks! The ATSS theme sequence is of course accompanied by a black-and-white 70's Soul-Funk -reminiscent animated clip; It stars Frylock, Master Shak...

SAAAB STORIES beatsmith and Psych-Rap pioneer Harry Fraud is now the proud head honcho of a brand new label imprint, Surf School Recordings , operating under recently re-lauched Priority Records . Fraud's latest creative output is a FREE 5-track mixtape EP released in conjunction with Scion A/V ; High Tide EP features unlikely collaborations with some heavy-hitters like Action Bronson , Tech N9ne, Earl Sweatshirt , French Montana, RiFF RAFF , Mistah Fab, Smoke DZA , Chinx Drugz, and Troy Ave . "Loopy" houses choice bars from stoner rapper Smoke DZA and French Montana affiliate, Chinx Drugz . But neither the emcees nor Harry Fraud actually appear in it's companion FAFU -directed music video, which stars a lone luxurious-looking glamour model. Here's Fraud's slightly scattered Twitter-liberated "Loopy" video description: "I didn't want to do a traditional Rap video. I wanted something that was fun, wavy, and visually more colorful t...

While they've released 2 quick-strike 12" EP's together, there's always been an underlying promise of a larger Madlib & Freddie Gibbs project: "Cocaine Piñata." Even though it still has a "due later this year" loose release date, we now have a tentative guest list: Raekwon , Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown , Domo Genesis, Joey Bada$$ , Ab-Soul, BJ The Chicago Kid , Meech (Flatbush Zombies), Casey Veggies , Mac Miller, Polyester The Saint , and G-Wiz. Adult Swim 's own Williams Street Records imprint has unleashed a non-album (or possible Cocaine Piñata ) track, "City" with Karriem Riggins , which they uploaded to Soundcloud earlier today, slightly ahead of it's Monday Internet -wide release. For what it's worth, "City" also kinda duals as an unofficial Supreme Team reunion; Madlib & Karriem Riggins' long-defunct golden era Hip-Hop revival crew that's only ever put out a few stellar hard-to...

Rising Brooklyn producer-of-the-moment Harry Fraud wrangled up a crazy/awesome posse of Internet -friendly rappers for his upcoming High Tide EP ; It'll feature frequent collaborator like Action Bronson , French Montana, and Chinx Drugz across 5 contained tracks. Lead single "Yacht Lash" positions JODY HiGHROLLER (RiFF RAFF) alongside Odd Future 's returning prince, Earl Sweatshirt . Harry Fraud successfully melds together a DIRTY Psych-Rock -drenched Hip-Hop beat, which leaves plenty of room for 32+ bars worth of swagged out bravado. Earl Sweatshirt effectively slays the first 1/2 of this track, only his 10-12th recorded appearance since returning home from juvie in Samoa (Feb. 2012). Sweatshirt laments about his triumphant return to prominence, "Nothin' much to my ethics / Bitch, I'm joggin' like I already won the election / Fuck it, shunning protection... Rest assured, I keep the label embarrassed." RiFF RAFF on the other hand...

While he's arguably years past his heyday, Marshall "Eminem" Mathers really set the stage for white-bred rappers and seems to have inspired a whole new generation's-worth of angry young white men: Atmosphere , Macklemore, RiFF RAFF , Asher Roth , Mac Miller, Action Bronson , etc. Mac Miller just never really seemed interesting enough for me to wanna check out. But it looks like he's starting to align himself with a slew of genuinely skilled rappers/producers that includes Earl Sweatshirt , Ab-Soul, Freddie Gibbs , Hodgy Beats, ScHoolboy Q , Thundercat, Pharrell , and executive producer Diplo. Mac Miller 's become a lot more interesting since he started releasing material under his assorted Larry Fisherman , Larry Dollaz, and Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival aliases, too. We're talkin' about beautiful Bright Eyes and Elliott Smith covers, hard-hitting Hip-Hop beats, a 5-track Jazz EP, and an instrumental mixtape called Run-on Sentences (...

Maybe Earl Sweatshirt really was locked up in a Samoan juvenile detention center from 2010-12 or maybe he was just "chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool" for a while. Whatever the real deal was, Odd Future 's 19-year-old protegee is back and after a string of non-album loosies, he's finally prepping his long-awaited sophomore album. Doris is rumored to feature production work from Pharrell , Flying Lotus , BADBADNOTGOOD , Samiyam, The Alchemist , Christian Rich... and guest vocals/instrumentals from Thundercat , Frank Ocean, DOOM , Om'mas Keith, Action Bronson , and his fellow Odd Future cohorts. Earl Sweatshirt quietly released "WHOA" late Monday-Tuesday night and eventually proceeded to break The Internet; Tyler, The Creator contributes a few ferocious bars, as well as directorial duties [Wolf Haley] for it's terribly AWESOME zonked out music video. I mean, getting introspective and deep is cool and all... But I can really...

It's pretty safe to assume that Action Bronson & The Alchemist first met while in the studio recording assorted parts for Domo Genesis' No Idols mixtape; Alchemist acted as reigning producer over the entire project and Bronsolini was featured on central track "Elimination Chamber" along with Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples . Instead of working on his 2-3rd album for new label VICE Records , Action Bronson is currently chipping away @ roughly 3-5 [FREE] mixtapes. It seems like the first one to fully materialize is gonna be Rare Chandeliers with The Alchemist , which should ultimately end up premiering online by mid-November. But I'd almost bet $100 that Bronson's been working on a batch of album-quality material for VICE the entire time now... as he's a man of vast mystery, intrigue, and surprise! Earlier today, it was reported that Action Bronson will be taking a will-deserved break - Heading out on a 14-date Fall Tour with Cypress Hill ,...

It's pretty wild how a forward-thinking Free Jazz group like BADBADNOTGOOD can take something as "played out" [commercial] as Soulja Boy and re-arrange it so FRESH TO DEF! I got a YouTube email alert from BBNG 's channel earlier today, complete with a still video, which was neatly linked directly to their "Pretty Boy Swag" (Remix) . While it's their first LEGIT [un-]official remix, I'd almost have to say, for lack of a better term... that what BADBADNOTGOOD do "on the reg." is already pretty remix/instrumental-rooted. The guys of BBNG really seem to teeter the line between Classic Blues-Jazz textbook knowledge and a keen 1980-2000's Hip-Hop know-how! Chester, Matt & Alex somehow managed to add all sorts of swaying, Jazzy pauses and commas to the now stripped-down "Pretty Boy Swag;" Largely accenting Soulja Boy 's weirdly endearing Ringtone Raps , which I was first turned on to through Girl Talk 's 2006-...