The Witzard

Prolific LA-based emcee, producer, lyricist, mixing engineer, etc. Blu has left a lasting mark on the Indie/Backpack(?) Hip-Hop scene, crafting an impressive catalog instilled with the essence of the vibrant city he calls home. Johnson "John" Barnes, III—better known as simply Blu—has recorded and released a staggering amount of (largely self-released) albums, EP's, and singles since about 2006. Aside from his self-produced body of work, Blu has worked entensively in collaboration with artist like Bombay, Damu The Fudgemunk, Exile, Fa†e, Shafiq Husayn, Madlib, Mainframe as Johnson&Jonson, M.E.D. Nottz, Oh No, Ta'Raach as C.R.A.C. Knuckles, and Ray West. Now, the gifted lyricist has returned with a new album, The Color Blu(e) . Among Blu's most conceptual projects to date, The Color Blu(e) is an artistic thesis statement, celebrating and reflecting on a remarkable creative journey. The Color Blu(e) by Blu The word "Blu(e)" is featured in every ...

“There’s a song on there called "Shine Your Light" ["This Little Light"] and it’s about people being more aware about things happening in their government and the society around them. Using that awareness to spread light to other people about what’s going on,” Aloe Blacc revealed during a 2011 interview with Cuepoint @ Medium Managing Editor & Co-creator Mike "DJ" Pizzo . Blacc was referring to his Joanna Newsom "The Book of Right-On" (or The Roots "Right On" )-sampling "Shine Your Light," now slightly re-titled "This Little Light," from his long-rumored comeback with 1999-2006 rapper-producer group Emanon . It appears as though Aloe Blacc 's Exile -produced Dystopia EPx2 , which was somewhat surprised released this past Blacc(k) Friday , has been completed in some form since around 2011 and back then, may have been called either Bird's Eye View or Bullet ; " Emanon ’s Bird’s Eye View has...

"'[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...

Whole Food by Gensu Dean & Denmark Vessey "This full-length collaboration between Gensu Dean and Denmark Vessey comes packed with all the vitamins and nutrients you could possibly need without any of the frivolous packaging. The pair's debut as a duo on Mello Music Group imagines mugshot spreads in Newsweek and blood dripping down starched white aprons, and there are no $6 cappuccinos in sight," reads an incredibly well-written fragmented chunk of Dean and Vessey's forthcoming Whole Food Bandcamp press release. It appears as though While Food (which will be unleashed upon the unsuspecting world July 29th) will be a class rapper-producer Jaylib -style affair; "on Whole Food , [Denmark Vessey] expands his purview to encompass the whole human body, from the biscuits and gravy weighing down your stomach to bullet wounds in your abdomen. And he does it all with empathy, wit, and supreme technical skill," Mello Music Group ferociously continued. On...

Alex Goose is, to the best of my knowledge, the first (and likely last) Hip-Hop -loving Middle American producer who's been lucky enough to have worked with vastly different musicians like underground gran-wizard, prolific rapper-producer, and revered Jazz enthusiast Madlib AND hit-after-hit-penning Indie Rock mavens, Weezer ; aside from maybe only Uptown Funkateer and London -based producer and taste-maker Mark Ronson , who's recorded genre-blending material with everyone from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Doo-Wop revivalist Amy Winehouse . While he recently had the opportunity to remix Freddie Gibbs & Madlib 's critically-acclaimed Piñata with samples culled from Now-Again Records founder Egon 's storied re-issue vaults and back catalog, Goose has previously worked alongside the likes of Hip-Hop greenhorn emcees Kevin Gates , Jake Troth, Donnis , and Detroit -bred wordsmith Red Pill . "You may recognize the next Alex Goose -produced track from Silicon V...

" DOOM 's verse was [an] interesting one. DOOM 's concept was that it's a text message. He text messages me while I'm not home, so he comes to my house anyway and starts borrowing all kinds of sh*t, you know, villain-style," veteran Oxnard -bred emcee MED (aka Medaphoar) revealed about his recent sample-heavy collaboration with fellow West Coast emcee Blu , prolific Stones Throw producer Madlib , and masked rhyming supper-villain MF DOOM , "Knock Knock." "I was like, 'what the f*ck is that?' So, there's this whole verse about him going to my house, drinking my beers, [and] going through my DVD's. It's so hilarious and genius," MED ecstatically continued. MED Blu Madlib , as they've been collectively referred to as of late, first linked up on MED -curated Bang Ya Head 3 label comp. cut, "Your Life" produced by Blu 's Below The Heavens collaborator, Exile . Madlib was almost accidentally broug...

Homeboy Sandman is far from your average gun-slinging, crack-dealing, bitch-slapping rapper. Granted he's no Will Smith either, but Sandman teeters the fine line between "parent approved" and parental advisory. His playful, blatantly honest couplets often remind me of one of my personal favourite rappers' schemes: Biz Markie . While he's amongst Stones Throw Records' freshest crop of signees, Homeboy Sandman has been self-releasing music for the bulk of the past 5-6 years (2007). Past cohorts [collaborators] include: Das Racist , 2 Hungry Bros, Paul White , Nottz, Kyle Rapps , and DJ Mick Boogie. Subject: Matter EP is being billed as "6 Rap songs dealing with content no one has ever rapped about before," which ultimately showcase Homeboy Sandman 's intelligently-woven wordplay and keen sense of storytelling. "Mine All Mine" is the second music video culled from Subject: Matter , released in just as many weeks. Filmed through...

the only one. by exile & blu Late last night ["early morning"] while many of us were sound asleep, Blu quietly posted a mysterious link to his Twitter handle, @HerFavColor . Turns out that very link lead zealous fans to Blu & Exile 's long-awaited, mildly forgotten follow-up to Below The Heavens (2007). give me my flowers while i can smell them was written and recorded soon thereafter, only to be hastily abandoned upon partial completion in 2009 for reasons unknown. With that said, "flowers" is a raw, un-mixed/mastered 15-track album, but since this seems to be a common practice for the man simply known as Blu ... fans should expect to see a proper, fully mixed down version of the album up for wholesale within the next few months. Nature Sounds recently re-issued 2 [rough] Blu albums from 2009 in this very fashion: Open and HerFavoriteColo(u)r . While Blu & Exile have been relatively silent since 2007, they've been far from musically in-...

"As for Conversation B , It's a bit of a re-visioning of In Case I Don't Make It (ICIDMI). Some people tuned in to ICIDMI without any problem, but there were others it didn't really connect with. Conversation B pushes the picture that I created with In Case I Don't Make It through these other producer's filters. That changes the tone of the album but it also lends itself to a number of new interpretations. While I produced ICIDMI in it's entirety, "Maxell UR" is the only song I produced on this Conversation B . The rest of it was taken on by Exile, J-Zone, [Kev Brown,] Eric Lau, Oddisee , and [Apollo Brown] . It all takes on a completely separate feel this time around. Conversation B may be a good primer for people who were maybe blind-sided by how dark In Case I Don't Make It was. I hope that if this is your first time hearing a Has-Lo record, it'll make you want to go back and experience ICIDMI. That's part of the reason I mad...