The Witzard

Brelstaff & Justo The MC have released a new track together today called "Swagu." Supposedly, critics are already saying stuff like, "This is very cool," "Where'd ya find this?" "It's fire," and "It's a classic, son." The newly-minted rapper/producer duo describe themselves as an "unlikely duo of Brooklyn MC Justo and... some idiot from Scotland called Brelstaff." Justo The MC has released projects with producers Elbe Kim, Ocho Vazquez, The Lost Info, maticulous, The Sicarioz, and DK. Brelstaff, on the other hand, has self-released a multitude of solo projects, beat tapes, etc. entitled Beats from Many Moons Ago, Vol. 1, In Human Terms (Beat Tape,) and "Familia," as well as Brelstaff on Vinyl Digital, between about 2020 and 20...37. Swagu (Prod. by Brelstaff) by Justo the MC "Swagu" boasts a dusty, scratch/soundbite-filled beat hand-crafted that sound slike it could have been used by...

Owen Ross is a singer, song-writer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer originally hailing from Brooklyn, New York, who now resides in Berlin, Germany. Ross spent years on the road as a touring guitarist and has played and written many styles of music with an emphasis on Soul, R&B, Gospel, and Hip-Hop. He has worked with Baltimore emcee and producer Drew Scott on a number of projects including Luvaducious with Al Rogers, Jr. ILL VESSEL, Giddeon Gallows' CRITTER, and as Warmest Regards with BLACKSAGE's Josephine Olivia. Prior to releasing music under his own name, Owen Ross recorded and released three EP's as goste between 2013-14. Since retiring the "goste" name last year, Owen Ross has written, performed, produced, and released three EP's: 2017's Fluorescent I , it's 2018 follow-up Fluorescent II, and his latest EP, Greyscale, released on Berlin-based imprint Finest Ego. Owen Ross further explained: "I started seeing myself as a producer ...

It appears as though BRAINFEEDER founder, Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist, Experimental Hip-Hop producer, DJ, villainous rapper, and film-maker Steven Ellison AKA Flying Lotus AKA Captain Murphy AKA Kuso director steve. has been doing an Ideas+drafts+loops -style purge of his old hard drives recently; Ellison has upload a staggering seven previously unreleased tracks to his Flyinglotus Soundcloud page just this past week! FlyLo first uploaded a remix of Angelo Badalamentii 's iconic "Twin Peaks Theme" and Queen -sampling "Night Grows Pale" this past Tuesday, May 16th. Then, came a whopping five tracks just one day later: Captain Murphy -helmed "Crowned," Miguel Atwood-Ferguson -assisted "LoveTrue Opening" and "LoveTrue Opening Alt1" from Alma Har'el 's 2016 Netflix film of the same name, and two mysterious left-overs from You're Dead! (2014) credited to THUNDERDETH LOTUS ... DETHKLOK -hashtagged ...

"[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...

Chillactic - ßeat tape: vol. 1 by Praktikos "Born and raised in the culturally-diverse Bay Area , Haseeb Naweed (aka Praktikos ) is an Electronic music producer presenting a unique blend of atmospheric beats, often featuring deep uplifting melodies and soulful female vocals," Praktikos wrote within an email sent about two months ago; quickly likening his "ambient, downtempo, chill hip-hop style beats with a relaxing uplifting spacey vibe" to The Witzard 's recently covered Jenova 7 & Eddie Shinn 's A Cosmic Safari album, which initially prompted him to email me his music. "His latest release, Chillactic [Beat Tape, Vol. 1] is a 10-track instrumental catalog of ambient chilled hip-hop beats, providing listeners with an intimate introduction to his work... Influences range from Nujabes , Flying Lotus, Bonobo , and many pioneers of the chill-out/electronica sound ( Carbon Based Lifeforms, [Paul] Oakenfold, Enigma )," Naweed continued. Pr...

"GOING INTO THE SPACE... I GIVE SO MUCH OF MY HEART... OPENING MYSELF UP TO THE WORLD... AS MY SOUL BECOMES PUBLIC DOMAIN, [WHICH IS] A BEAUTIFUL THING... BUT WITH THAT ALSO COMES [YOU KNOW] HATRED [AND SH*T]... I'VE HAD TO GROW THIS CALLUS [AROUND MYSELF] TO PROTECT MY HEART," vocalist, producer, DJ, and yoga teacher Sumach "Gonjasufi" Valentine warbled within a crackly, baren Warp Records message dubbed Callus (Introduction) , which additionally included a fragment of his as-yet-unreleased song, "Surfinfinity." For those who may be largely unfamiliar, Sumach 's biggest claim to fame would likely be working alongside Jay Z and producer Kyambo "Hip Hop" Joshu on his genre-eschewing Magna Carta... Holy Grail (which samples "Nikels and Dimes" ) and was once described by Pitchfork Senior Editor Ryan Dombal as "a scraggly, scary, smoked-out croak that creeps like the spiritual offspring of George Clinton and Leadbe...

"The WOKE project started about three years ago. I, myself, and some screenwriter friends of mine started writing a script for feature film called WOKE . It was something that we developed for quite a while. Initially, it was going to star Ishmael [Butler] from Shabazz Palaces and Jeremiah Jae . We worked on it for a while, started work-shopping, but there's always the financial issue — I haven't found anyone who is going to invest in the film," Flying Lotus recently revealed during a Pitchfork-prompted phone interview upon the release of his [adult swim] single, "The Lavishments of Light Looking." Despite the fact that he has yet to acquire adequate funding to produce a WOKE film, Flying Lotus aka multi-instrumentalist Steven Ellison decided to instead focus on the musical accompaniment for said unmade film first; "We started working earlier this year on music. We did a few songs. We have a few things. We're just going to let it build...

"Peep my bro @LupeFiasco 's new FREE mixtape!!! The track "Valleys" is my Dillalude #2, " Robert Glasper Experiment/Trio frontman and founder @robertglasper exuberantly Tweeted late Saturday evening. Glasper is of course referring to Chicago emcee Lupe Fiasco 's latest 6-track mixtape EP, Pharaoh Height 2/30 ; a clever allusion and quasi-sequel to his own 3-volume career-boosting Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series (2006). When arranged in descending order from #1-6, Pharaoh Height 2/30 's tracklist cryptically reads: "IN... VALLEYS... OF... KINGS... PYRAMID... SCHEMES." Not entirely unlike his Thanksgiving 2011 mixtape freebie, Friend of The People: I Fight Evil , Pharaoh Height 2/30 showcases an eclectic sampling of production work culled from the likes of Glasper, J Dilla , The Weeknd affiliate Daheala, Flying Lotus , and even a Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain E3 commercial . Pharaoh Height EP 's Grade A choice cuts include ...

Flying Lotus' latest Warp Records -released creation, You're Dead! features a wide array of contributions from an unlikely gamut of collaborators including Kendrick Lamar , Snoop Dogg, Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock , Angel Deradoorian, frequent collaborator Thundercat , and even Lotus' own rapping alter-ego Captain Murphy; but according to a flurry of late night Tweets the other night, for whatever reasons, additional tracks recorded with super-star guests Pharrell , Chance The Rapper, Mac Miller , and supplementary Kendrick Lamar material were ultimately scrapped. Aside from dwelling on what could have been... Flying Lotus unleashed the first Lamar-assisted single from You're Dead! , "Never Catch Me" nearly one week prior to the album's release, last Wednesday, October 1st. It's an oddly heartwarming life-affirming, death-defying clip, which only showcases a brief milli-second glimpse of Steven Ellison (Lotus) himself, who's quietly seated ...

Jazz-Funk pianist Herbie Hancock is quite arguably the Godfather of Hip-Hop ; his 1983 Electro-Funk composition "Rockit" is oftentimes cited as an early sonic blueprint for the then budding genre. I can still vividly remember the first time I heard Hancock's music, on an RS 500 [Greatest Songs of All Time] sampler CD around the age of 12-15. It was "Watermelon Man" from his sprawling four-track Head Hunters album (1973) assisted by back-up The Headhunters ; more or less a progressive and slowly deconstructing re-make of Herbie Hancock 's own 1962 composition, which was originally inspired by "the cry of the watermelon man making the rounds through the back streets and alleys of Chicago . The wheels of his wagon beat out the rhythm on the cobble stones." President Obama & The First Lady amongst DC 's finest inducted Herbie Hancock , Martina Arroyo, Billy Joel , Shirley MacLaine, and Carlos Santana at the 36th annual Kennedy Center ...

Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover ) hasn't really released much new material since unleashing last year's feature-heavy Camp follow-up mixtape, ROYALTY . But it sounds like the former Community star is planning to unveil what will likely be a new full-length mixtape [or album?], because the internet , "this winter break;" and if @DonaldGlover's Twitter feed is to be believed, it just might house collaborative tracks with buddies Kid Cudi , Flying Lotus, and Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), as well as his other recent web-single, "Centipede." because the internet 's latest rumored inclusion, "Yaphet Kotto" (freestyle) was uploaded to Gambino's Soundcloud page roughly a week ago. Preceded only by a Skylar-White -drowning- Breaking-Bad -like teaser trailer, "Yaphet Kotto" showcases Childish Gambino blatantly addressing his detractors: "Worst rapper to ever spit on an open mic / Worst rapper to ever get on so...

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...

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...

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 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-...

A few things about Matthewdavid 's new EP are almost instantly alarming "right off the bat:" (1.) That call-to-arms of a title - Producers In 2012 Learn to Spread Love EP ! (2.) Submissive-looking Rick James flanked by 2 fucking 3-eyed tigers on the cover... vaguely reminiscent of a terribly AWESOME tattoo! (3.) The massive amount of "sound ground" that Matthewdavid somehow manages to cover over the course of 3 brief tracks: Soul , Dubstep, Chopped & Screwed , Hip-Hop, Pop, Dark R&B , etc. Matthewdavid's overall style is essentially an Ambient sort of Instrumental Hip-Hip , something largely popularized by guys like Clams Casino in recent years. Matthewdavid [McQueen]'s lengthy-titled EP comes on the heels of his Brainfeeder debut, Outmind (Feb. 2012) which was released in conjunction with his own label imprint, Leaving Records . They successfully self-released Matthewdavid 's most recent project, a mixtape called Jewelry EP ; It ...

"The Ritual" is the latest released track from mysterious and already infamous rapper, Captain Murphy , who's true identity is still largely unknown - Even with 3 pretty STELLAR tracks nestled under his belt this early! Murphy first appeared with a brief verse on Flying Lotus' second Adult Swim single, "Between Friends;" Since it's July 23rd release, Captain Murphy 's identity has quickly become quite the "hot topic" across Hip-Hop ... He may or may not be a cleverly-crafted alter ego of either Flying Lotus , Earl Sweatshirt , or Tyler, The Creator . This whole mystery ego thing really reminds me of Quasimoto, King Geedorah , and even Humpty Hump [1990]. While "The Ritual" actually swiped it's primary beat from "Dear Moleskine" (Jay Electronica) , his other 2 tracks: "Mighty Morphin' Foreskin" and "Between Friends" seem to be [mostly] original compositions. iTunes' Info section s...

Matt Tavares, Chester Hansen , and Alex Sowinski are 3 no-holds-barred rhythmic Jazzcats more commonly know as "BADBADNOTGOOD." Undoubtedly knowledgeable beyond their [lack of] years, studio footage of the young Canadian musicians covering a few Odd Future standards soon emerged (Summer 2011). Hot off the press, they were originally known as "The Odd Trio" and exclusively re-tooled Tyler, The Creator & Odd Future -related tracks; BADBADNOTGOOD 's simplistic blend of keys/guitar-bass-drums works surprisingly well when re-interpreting Tyler's often airy, Jazz -esque compositions. If Tyler, The Creator has any sense whatsoever, he'll employ the BBNG boys to lay down some sophisticated riffs for his upcoming "progressive" album, Wolf (2012). BADBADNOTGOOD 's latest release is the aptly-titled BBNGSINGLE - The first sampling from BBNG2 (mixtape) . To the best of my knowledge, "Rotten Decay" is the group's premier orig...

Gonjasufi is a true "gypsy" in all senses of the word - A yoga instructor by day, rapper by night. He has been actively involved in the music industry in various facets for an un-disclosed period of time. Prior to releasing A Sufi and A Killer (2010), Gonjasufi somehow managed to quietly assemble and circulate a limited number of mix CD's. Released under his government name Sumach [Ecks-Valentine] , 4 hand-made CD-R's were spread throughout the San Diego, CA area between 2002-07. Upon its release, A Sufi and A Killer was widely praised by critics and Indie Hip-Hop fans alike; Due in part to its unique mix of Hip-Hop, Middle Eastern stylings, and 60's era Psych/Acid Rock ... all the while, skillfully blended with Gonjasufi 's signature chant-like vocal touches. The bulk of the record was produced by The Gaslamp Killer, Flying Lotus , and Mainframe under Ecks-Valentine's own artistic direction. Contrary to popular belief, Gonjasufi has been far fr...