The Witzard

Honestly, at this point in time, Run The Jewels (RTJ) should require absolutely no introduction... but, just to be safe, here's a brief/obligatory introduction: RTJ consists of rapper/producer and Definitive "Def" Jux co-founder El-P and emcee and OutKast affiliate Killer Mike . Legend has it, El & Mike first met on the set of Mr. Muthaf**kin' eXquire's "The Last Huzzah" (Remix) music video shoot. Soon after, [adult swim] Senior Vice President/Creative Director Jason DeMarco—then, at Williams Street Records—connected Killer Mike with El-P , who would produce his phenomenal 2012 album, R.A.P. Music. Mike , additionally, appeared alongside El on his own 2012 Fat Possum Records album, Cancer 4 Cure, on stand-out track, "Tougher Colder Killer." R.A.P. Music & Cancer 4 Cure were released weeks apart, so fast friends Killer Mike & El-P decided to tour together behind their then-new albums. After the widespread success of said tou...

Jason "EDID" McKenzie is a Minneapolis -bred/ Brooklyn -based "Outsider Hip-Hop, Indie & Far Left-field" artist, who, by his own admission, "[makes] all the beats and [raps] all the raps." Since about 2004, ECID has established working relationships with like-minded Experimental Hip-Hop artists, such as Awol One , Eyedea, Kristoff Krane , Louise Dorley FKA Louis Logic, and milo ; over the years, ECID has been part of a number of groups including Living Stereo , Jordan Miché & David Mars Accompanied By ECID, Saturday Morning Soundtrack , Sector 7G, and most recently, TOYFRiEND with Louis Dorley . As many of you may well remembers, we, actually, covered TOYFRiEND 's debut 2017 Indie Pop/Hip-Hop EP, foolHearty with custom artwork designed by @unibrowduck . Just about six months after foolHearty , ECID returned with HowToFakeYourOwnDeath (HTFYOD) his first album solo since 2015's 2-pronged release, PHEROMONE HEAVY/Pheromone Coma: PHE...

Hangar Rarities by HANGAR 18 For this article, I've decided to employ one of the oldest writing tactics from deep within my journalistic bag-of-tricks: "WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, HOW, WHY..." Hangar 18 was Hip-Hop crew consisting of emcees ALASKA & Windnbreeze and DJ paWL . Hangar 18 , named after the Megadeath song of the same name, was together from 1994-2009 and released two albums— The Multi-Platinum Debut (2004) and Sweep The Leg (2007)— El-P 's legendary and now-defunct Definitive Jux Records AKA Def Jux . Hangar 18 also, self-released both THE SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION CD (2003) and a 2006 compilation album entitled The Donkey Show, Volume 1 with remixes and features from Cryptic AKA Cryptic One , Blockhead, Aesop Rock , Bill G. and Blueprint . Hangar 18 's members were also, part of larger New York/Tri-State Area crew Atoms Family , along with Cryptic One , DJ Cip-One, Jestoneart , Kasm, Molecule , Whichcraft, Genesis , Osirrus, Cannibal Ox ...

Mr. Dibbs is a world-renown DJ, turntablist, and producer hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. Dibbs is the founder of ever-evolving DJ crew 1200 Hobos, is the co-founder of "America's Largest Hip-Hop Festival," Scribble Jam , and has had a career-long allegiance to Atmosphere's Slug & Ant, Sab The Artist & Siddiq's Rhymesayers Ent. For years, Mr. Dibbs served as the touring DJ for Atmosphere, El-P, Run The Jewels, and Eyedea. Dibbs' music has appeared on countless soundtracks and compilations, including, but not limited to Alien Workshop's Photosynthesis, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground (THUG,) and Peanut Butter Wolf's My Vinyl Weighs a Ton , as well as numerous Warped Tour comps. Over the course of his storied career, Mr. Dibbs has worked with the likes of The Black Keys, Buck 65, cLOUDDEAD, doseone & Jel (as Presage,) DJ Mayonnaise, El-P, Felt, Gym Class Heroes, MURS, Playdough, Sage Francis, Terror, Themselves, and...

"someone did a mash up album of @qotsa vocals over various music i've made and it's kind of awesome. thanks for this weird gift @boototom," el-p (@therealelp) wrote within an enthusiastic April 3, 2018 Tweet. To be honest, I hadn't heard about ToToM's El-Q album either, until El-P Tweeted about it, but once I delved in and started listening, I thoroughly enjoyed it! ToToM is the production alias of Paris-based "bastard pirate producer" Thomas Boivin; after a bit of investigative journalism, I was able to get in direct contact with the mysterious producer himself. ToToM has been constructing genre-eschewing mash-ups AKA bootlegs AKA "Bastard Pop" since about 2005-06 and readily lists DJ Zebra, Nine Inch Nails, La Phaze, and LCD Soundsystem amongst his greatest sources of influence. He's released collaborative mash-up albums with SpareElbowSkin, Fissunix & Colatron (B.I.M.A.) MichMash, Shoefiti, MsMiep, and La Phaze, as well as on...

Just in case you've been living under a rock for the past few months or recently awoke from a coma—we're terribly sorry for 2017!—Beat-maker Bedrock (BMB) is a new, recurring column here at The Witzard; initially, the brainchild of Baltimore-based beatsmith John "Jumbled" Bachman, BMB simply asks beat-makers and aspiring producers to highlight 3-5 of their personal favorite albums, which, early on, helped shape their overall sound and style. I'm proud to present to you our first Beat-maker Bedrock column 2018 and 14th overall features a playlist selected and meticulously arranged by New York-based rapper-producer and We Are The Karma Kids founder Lt Headtrip—or just "Headtrip" for production work. Following his critically-acclaimed 2017 album, Comedy of The Filtbeast , Lt Headtrip teamed up with The GreenHouse Studio/Backwoodz Studioz producer and engineer to curate LNYCHPIN; described on Bandcamp as "a full-length collaborative album featuring 16 ...

"It’s been 20 years since Chavez released their second and final studio album Ride The Fader (1996), but in late 2015, Matt Sweeney, Clay Tarver, Scott Marshall & The James Lo resumed operations; once again ensconcing themselves with John Agnello at NJ ’s Water Music , ignoring the label’s demands for a full-length album and instead delivering three knockout punches that prove these Godfathers of Art Metal (for f*ck’s sake, please don’t actually call them that—or tell them we said it) are as idiosyncratic, inventive, and anthemic as THE LAST TIME THEY TOLD US THEY WEREN’T GOING TO TOUR..." Matador Records wrote within a rather tongue-in-cheek Chavez Cockfighters EP press release. Chavez have been neither active nor inactive over the course of the past 20 years, reuniting sporadically—first, on a Stereogum -sponsored concert at B rooklyn venue Warsaw back in 2006 and a TV appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon back in 2011. Matt Sweeney has gone on to for...

"Thank God I can finally say publicly HERE'S A ZACK DE LA ROCHA SONG I PRODUCED... and shout out to my friends @nickhook and [Matt Sweeney] . They are both playing on the jam, as well... the [Zack de la Rocha] the album is happening. 2017... and that's all the info I'm authorized to give out... and yes, this is new material made this year and yes, there is more where that came from," @therealelp revealed on Twitter early Thursday morning, concerning one-time(?) Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha 's first solo single in over a decade. "Been keeping my mouth shut about my work with Zack since January when we did it. It hurt. Now, I'll commence keeping my mouth shut about the rest," an exuberant El-P gushingly continued. Aside from his short-lived 2008-11 group formed with The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore and The Locust keyboardist and organ player Joey Karam , which produced a single 5-track One Day As a Lion EP , d...

"We’ve always had this really jammy, high-energy live show compared to some of our records. We all love to dance. We didn’t want to take away from the emotion or the core feeling of what our band is all about—which I don’t even think we could take out if we wanted, because it is who we are—but we wanted to bump the speed up and have a little bit more fun," Warpaint vocalist and guitarist Emily Kokal explained within a statement concerning their self-titled album follow-up, Heads Up . Since releasing critically-acclaimed Warpaint (2014), Jenny Lee Lindberg quietly released a 2015 solo album right on! , as jennylee ; Theresa Wayman issued material as BOSS on producer Mr. Dan 's Speedy Wunderground imprint; drummer Stella Mozgawa played on Kurt Vile 's 2015 efforts, b'lieve i'm goin down... and Spotify Sessions EP ; Kokal worked alongside NIN affiliate Saul Williams on his politically-charged "Burundi," as well as "Wishing Song" ...

" Fudge came together during several sessions in the summer and fall of 2015 at Nick Hook 's Green Point studio. Prefuse 73 [Guillermo Scott Herren] brought along a hard drive full of beats. [Michael] Christmas wrote to the instrumentals in the studio, and recorded the vocals the same day, as friends swung by to check it out; some of the drop-ins at the studio ended up joining in the recording, not least D.R.A.M. who brings lifted soul vocals on the album track "All Points South,'" Lex Records wrote within a comprehensive on-site Fudge press release earlier this past week. Although this is Herren's first full-length recorded alongside an emcee, he's previously worked with a number of revered Hip-Hop legends including, but not limited to Ghostface Killah , Jewel-runner El-P, Mos Def , Aesop Rock, fellow Lex label mate DOOM , GZA, Death Grips drummer Zach Hill , and RJD2; while Michael Christmas is "a 22-year-old Boston emcee, who has...

"When we heard that [Run The Jewels] were fans and down to get on this beat, I was super excited... but cautiously so. I knew this was the type of beat that they could just eat for breakfast; but I was hoping that the whole thing wouldn't come off sounding too retro. I was at Emile Haynie 's house when the email with the mix came through and so, we stopped what we were doing to throw it up on the speakers," 1/3 of self-described "three-headed band with one man name" Andrew Wyatt recently wrote in an email sent to The FADER . Miike Snow is a world-renown Swedish-American Indie/Synthpop band consisting of Wyatt along with Christian Karlsson & Pontus Winnberg , who together function as songwriting and production duo Bloodshy & Avant ; they've collectively produced chart-topping hits for everyone from Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas to Britney Spears (including "Toxic" and "Piece of Me" ). Although, Hip-Hop isn't ...

"I did [approach TVOTR ]. They have been my friends for years and I knew it could be something special," @therealelp replied when asked by a fan what the story was behind Run The Jewels' Colbert -facilitated collaboration with "the most under-rated band of all time," TV On The Radio . "HUUUUGE shout out to our friends @TVonTheRadio , Kareem Bunton, @littleshalimar , and everyone who made last night happen. Love y'all," El-P exuberantly Tweeted Wednesday morning, following his Late Show with Stephen Colbert performance along with unlikely partner in crime, Killer Mike . El-P and TV On The Radio 's working relationship would seemingly date back to around 2006 when El-P was commissioned to remix "Hours" from their Return to Cookie Mountain LP, while Killer Mike was still running with OutKast -affiliated crews Purple Ribbon All-Stars and Dungeon Family . It should additionally be noted that TVOTR lead guitarist and in-house pro...

Not only have veteran rapper-producers Killer Mike & El-P become something of long-overdue " Hip-Hop royalty," their now-infamous handgun and fist Run The Jewels (RTJ) hashtag-friendly logo has become forever immortalized on a batch of limited-run Marvel comic book covers. "One of my heroes, @therealelp , made a incredible instrumental piece for our end credits. I couldn't be any more excited," Fantastic Four re-boot director @joshuatrank exuberantly Tweeted nearly one month ago, forever cementing RTJ 's legacy within The Marvel Universe ; that very track, now titled "Another Body," was unveiled over this past weekend. First, in the form of a painfully brief 20-second snippet. Then, it was premiered on El-P & Killer Mike 's Beats 1 online WRTJ radio show and now, it has been strategically leaked to The Internet in its full-length form. '"another body" produced by me with [co-production] by the gawd, @littlesha...

"Local man who never does anything quietly releases single on a Sunday afternoon," @despotroast half-jokingly Tweeted this past Sunday afternoon, but truth is: 33-year-old rhyming Queens native Alec Reinstein was initially signed to El-P 's now-dissolved label Def Jux from 2004-10 and has been actively working, scrapping, and repeatedly re-working his "debut" album, either titled We're All Excited , Hooray for Me , or Jerry , ever since to no avail. Despot has almost made an intern "career" out of recording nearly flawless guest verses for his friends, having recorded with everyone from Vampire Weekend to Meyhem Lauren . His latest single, "House of Bricks," which totals just about less than five overall releases, was produced by RATATAT multi-instrumentalist Evan "E*VAX" Mast and seems to date back to about August 2012 in it's earliest incarnation; Despot performed the track, then titled "House Made of Br...

" [Jordan Asher] came up with his logo, a horizontal stripe with two verticals, which can look like connected crosses or, people have told him, like "a bridge, train tracks, motorcycle handlebars," he said," laments a recently published New York Times profile centered around Run The Jewels , Beyoncé, and Sia collaborator, Jordan "BOOTS" Asher . "I'm not going to reveal rightly yet what it is. But if it's got you wondering, I'm on the right path;" Asher's purposely vague statements would in fact, then lead me to believe that the title of his recent short film/5-song soundtrack, Motorcycle Jesus , is likely a clever allusion to his sparse cross-handlebars BOOTS imagery. It's the proper follow-up to BOOTS' critically-acclaimed WinterSpringSummerFall mixtape (2014), which @bootsonboots modestly self-describes as: "my objective with this body of work was not to make "rock music." It was to make new mus...

" Run The Jewels will self-produce a new episode of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey , with Mike and El both playing Gordon Ramsey . We will travel to a restaurant with you of your choice, completely uninvited and attempt to force them to change the menu. All the while, verbally abusing and insulting the entire staff to hilarious effect," reads the utterly side-splitting RTJ2 We Are Gordon Ramsey Package ($150,000). It's one of 11 totally outlandish too-good-to-be-true RTJ2 pre-order "BONU$" packages ranging from $7,500-10,000,000 in "price," which Run The Jewels blatantly admit that they'll "take your money and not fulfill any of [their] obligations as outlined in any package priced at 35k or more." There's even a Meow The Jewels package, wherein for the right purrice, Killer Mike & El-P will supposedly "re-record RTJ2 using nothing but cat sounds for music." Run The Jewels unleashed the second single...

"for those who spent tuesday in a coma or in the wilderness [here's] RUN THE JEWELS "BLOCKBUSTER NIGHT PART 1," @therealelp Tweeted Wednesday afternoon; he's of course referring to the 100 second snippet he and partner-in-crime Killer Mike let loose within the last 36-48 hours. Run The Jewels have been hard at work on the follow-up to their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut, reportedly even recording tracks with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and Rage Against The Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha . The forthcoming album, tentatively titled "Run The Jewels 2," is seemingly nearing completion according to El-P 's stream of recent Twitter updates; "RTJ2 is one day away from being fully mixed... one song from having #RTJ2 mixed. That's 4 albums in 2 years for those keeping count. f*ck with me." While it's only about a 1:40-long snippet, Killer Mike & El-P still managed to deliver three verses-worth of sharp-tong...

It almost pains me to admit it at this point because I thoroughly enjoy their respective newer output(s) so much, but WAVVES and Cloud Nothings are two bands that I just didn't get upon their initial Indie blog break-out nor did I enjoy their purposely lo-fi brand of bedroom-recorded Scuzz-Rock . While veteran rapper-producer El-P is without a doubt a Cloud Nothings super-fan, WAVVES frontman Nathan Williams seems to be a little more vocal admirer; Dylan Baldi recently woke up hungover in Paris to a random text from Williams to the effect of "Yo, wanna make a record together?" He further described their nearly completed Dylan & The Dead -esque album to Exclaim! as something in-between Cloud Nothings & WAVVES with "another [sonic] element that wasn't present in either of our music before." Cloud Nothings finally unveiled the companion music video for their January-released lead single, "I'm Not Part of Me" yesterday, coinci...

Not since Bad Company boldly decided to go where no band had gone before, courageously naming their 1974 album Bad Company , which also included the song "Bad Company," has a band shown such a self-aware display of badass-ey; But with that said, Run the Jewels' self-titled FREE download album was easily one of the most righteous, skull-rattling Hip-Hop albums I've heard in years! While they're already animated enough in their own right, Killer Mike & El-P have now been properly cartoon-ified by Bristol -based director RUFFMERCY and animator Patch Keyes . "Run The Jewels" is just the latest in a recent string of surprisingly well-executed and unique visual accompaniments; for those of you who haven't had a chance to hear it yet, Run The Jewels (album) almost plays out like a buddy cop movie or Saturday morning cartoon and you can tell that these guys are best friends who are thoroughly enjoying what they're doing. "We're dati...

Let's be honest here, it'd be almost impossible for a part-time writer/web-master like myself with a regular 9-5, too to even attempt to assemble a 50-album year-end list in an effort to "compete" with the Big Dogs like Pitchfork , Stereogum, etc; I think it'd be far more feasible to do a list of my Top 5 Favorite Albums of 2013, not even your typical run-the-mill best of list. So, with that said, here's a collective run-down of the most played artists and companion albums on The Serpent (my 160GB iPod), my car stereo, and personal iTunes library. I tried to compile a pretty diverse broad-spanning list, which ranges from Industrial Aggro-Hip-Hop to Philly-bred "Pig-Fuck." Enjoy the list and Happy New Year! While The Wizard's #5-ranking album is seemingly an unwarranted 16-track leaked bootleg; the scattered fragments of Jai Paul 's long-rumored XL Recordings album. Included within were 16 rough tracks, 3 of which had been previously releas...