The Witzard

"We've been getting a lot of questions about a collaborative album that Madlib & Mac Miller supposedly created. Here's the real story: What exists is what the two had originally intended—an EP's worth of music that was supposed to be the start of something. The end point wasn't planned out or even discussed. The idea was to create for creation's sake. The two met after Mac recorded the last verse on Freddie Gibbs' Piñata album. By early, 2015 Mac had batches of Madlib's beats and was recording songs. The two ate tacos at Eagle Rock's Cacao Mexicatessen and discussed ideas. Madlib played one of Mac's tracks in July of 2016 at a European festival and Egon texted Mac to tell him; "Whaaat, what song, why isn't there any video evidence!!!" was the reply. Followed by "Let's do an EP." This process continued throughout 2017, as Mac got the latest beat batches, continued recording, and continued his commitment to th...

Let me just preface this week's slightly abridged edition of The Witzard's Week In Rap by first explaining that while I could be covering Kanye 's "newly updated, remixed, and remastered version" of haphazardly-assembled steaming pile of s*it The Life of Pablo , I'm not even going to be giving his second of what could likely end up being umpteenth mixes, recently dubbed a "continuous process" by Def Jam , the sheer satisfaction of even buying into and covering it; however, with that said, his Sampha -assisted "Saint Pablo" (formerly titled "Closest Thing to Einstein" ) from his second of three rumored in-the-works albums, Turbo Grafx 16 , is likely as strong, lyrically verbose, and dare I say, self-reflective as Kanye 's sounded since Jay Z -helmed Watch The Throne or even 808's & Heartbreak . For what it's worth, a couple contenders for "honorable mentions" released sporadically throughout the week s...

Freddie Gibbs , to the best of my knowledge, has never released a proper mixtape in the typical fashion of Hip-Hop culture; a cohesive collection of re-appropriated beats borrowed from popular artists and "freestyled" over, which are given away for FREE or next to nothing. However, it would appear as though that very notion might change soon enough, as Rappcats/Madlib Invazion have unveiled plans to release a limited run silk-screened 12-inch containing "Cocaine Parties In LA" and its sparse instrumental on Side B. Gibbs previously unleashed a cocaine-laden remix of Kanye & Kendrick Lamar 's Madlib -produced G.O.O.D. Fridays (Vol. 2) submission and eventual The Life of Pablo bonus track, "No More Parties In LA." It's reportedly a track left on the cutting room floor, for whatever reasons, during the recording of Kanye 's sprawling 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy , just one composition from six CD-R's-worth of hazy...

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...

Greenhorn producer, song-writer, and composer Alex Goose has somehow already managed to log studio time with everyone from Weezer to up-and-coming Fool's Gold emcee Donnis and even had an ill-fated opportunity to work on Jay Z 's famed Blueprint 3 , which miraculously, ended up being one of his earliest career-defining moments; "In the spring of 2009, an A&R affiliated with Roc [Nation] got in contact with me. Shortly after, I had the opportunity to submit various tracks for Jay-Z 's long-awaited Blueprint 3 album. Unfortunately, none of them made the final cut... This is what the Blueprint 3 could have been," Goose told okayplayer on the eve of his aptly-titled The Blueprint 3 Outtakes . Six years later, Alex Goose has unleashed his next "solo" project under the creative umbrella of my former interview subject, Egon 's Now-Again re-issue and found records imprint. Egon recruited Goose, who has recently produced radio-friendly hits ...

Fresh on the heels of his critically-acclaimed, Madlib -produced Piñata and a series of album-preceding EP's, Freddie Gibbs has now teamed up with yet another unexpected collaborator: Black Keys affiliate, Hanni el Khatib . okayplayer vividly describes their just-released new track, "Satin Black" as a "classic break with gritty, fuzzed-out six strings licks lacquering the cut, all before the backdrop melts into a puddle of funky goo, subverting your inner-rocker in favor of heavy wahs, deep, gurgling organs and a muddied vocal filter on [Freddie] Gibbs' already haze-treated vox." It's vaguely reminiscent of Head In The Dirt producer Dan Auerbach 's pre-widespread-acclaim, Rap-Blues Rock -indebted BlakRoc album (2009) concocted along with his fellow Black Keys bandmate Patrick Carney , executive producer Damon Dash , and a gaggle of seasoned, Roc-A-Fella Records aligned rappers ranging from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Yasiin Bey fka Mos ...

Not entirely unlike his previous rapper-producer efforts – Jaylib , MADVILLAINY, and OJ Simpson – veteran Stones Throw beatsmith Madlib 's latest collaboration with Freddie Gibbs (MadGibbs) , might be one of his most ambitious, critically-acclaimed projects in years. Madlib and Gibbs rolled out three preemptive annually-released teaser EP's between 2011-13, leading up to their recent [Cocaine] Piñata full-length. "Bittersweet moment: the last @freddiegibbs 'Piñata' related release #Madlib and I will have the honor of releasing on Madlib Invazion . It's been a great ride, and I'm proud of every release," Now-Again founder Egon wrote in a heart-felt Instagram message Monday afternoon; hot on the heels of Madlib & Freddie Gibbs ' just announced Knicks Remix EP assisted by XXL Freshmen alumni Action Bronson & Joey Bada$$ , along with Brooklyn -based emcee Ransom . Despite "Knicks Remix"' s apparent basketball-refere...

There's nothing quite like aimlessly diggin' through a bunch of dusty old crates and cherry-picking one random record based on either an interesting cover, lone production credit, or even a stand-out track and then having it sound 10x more awesome than you [n]ever expected; Well, that's pretty much what Otis "Madlib" Jackson Jr. does for a living! He's recorded tracks with everyone from the late great J Dilla to Brazilian Funk drummer Ivan Conti and somehow unleashed 13 full-length albums between 2010-12. It must be hard for a seasoned rapper-producer like Madlib to constantly keep melding together inventive-sounding output. Attempting to delve into a largely untouched batch of source material, Madlib has bravely crafted Rock Konducta (Vol. 1) for an unspecified December release. He'll supposedly draw potential inspiration from "1960-70's Progressive Rock , African "Zam-rock," and other Funky forms of the Rock genre,...

Now that his long-delayed Fool's Gold debut, OLD , finally has a proper release date (Sept. 30th), Danny Brown has unleashed it's Dirt McGirt -referencing lead video-single, "ODB." The self-proclaimed "dirty old man with a pill in his mouth and his dick in his hand" skillfully recruited frequent collaborator Paul White and [director] RUFFMERCY for "ODB," as well as A$AP Rocky , Purity Ring, Charli XCX , Freddie Gibbs, ScHoolboy Q , Rustie, A-Trak , and SKYWLKR, who also contributed to OLD 's currently unspecified tracklist. Let's just fuggedabout Kendrick Lamar 's recent #rapgame-rattling verse on Big Sean left-over "Control," Danny Brown easily out-raps and most likely terribly embarrasses nearly 3/4's of Hip-Hop 's so-called "top emcees," usually over jittery almost un-rappable Electro-Trap beats. Danny Brown and his genre-blending buddies Action Bronson & Trash Talk are soon headed out o...

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...

Have you ever heard of one of those couples that've been "romantically involved" for FOREVER and have a couple kids together, only to finally get married 10-15 years later? Well, that's basically the kinda relationship El-P & Killer Mike have; 2 long-time rapper/producer friends who have been working together for years, released a joint R.A.P. Music album last year, and have finally locked down an official, albeit LL Cool J- inspired group name: Run The Jewels . While preparing their self-titled street album [mixtape] debut, Run The Jewels have teamed up with Adult Swim & Williams Street Records to unleash a glitched-out new single, "36" Chain." It's the first in a series of 15 weekly digital singles, which this year, is set to feature choice cuts from... Lil B , kitty pryde, Marnie Stern , Madlib & Freddie Gibbs, Lightning Bolt , Dan Deacon, Captain Murphy , Miguel, Pig Destroyer(?) , and more! Karriem Riggins , Viktor Vaughn [M...

Madlib is quite easily one of the most prolific and criminally under-rated rapper/producers in all the land; But any tried and true, well-versed Hip-Hop head will without a doubt champion Otis Jackson Jr. 's multi-faceted skills to the end! Madlib unleashed 13 staggering Madlib Medicine Show full-length albums/mixtapes last year under his "Beat Konducta" guise in just over 12 months-time. Every once in a while, he'll randomly drop some tunes under one of his many AKA handles, which include but aren't limited to: Quasimoto , Yesterday's New Quintet, Supreme Team , MADVILLAIN, The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble , etc. and he's produced neck-snapping beats for everyone from J Dilla to Freddie Gibbs . Mr. Jackson, who's managed to keep a pretty low profile for the first 1/2 of 2013, is gearing up to release an Odds & Sods -style Quasimoto comp. But a little while before Yessir Whatever's upcoming June 18th unv...

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 (...

Since we're being honest, I don't think I've ever actually heard anything from Kelis besides "Got Your Money" and "Milkshake;" "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they're like, it's better than yours..." After a few rough years full of shelved albums, label drama, and the dissolution of her marriage to Nas , Kelis has signed to TV on The Radio multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Sitek 's new label imprint. Federal Prism plans to unleash 2 Kelis albums and a single by year's end, along with new material from Scarlett Johansson , Maximum Balloon/Miguel, Freddie Gibbs , CSS, Chuck Inglish , and more. Kelis uploaded "Call On Me" to Soundcloud mid-Monday afternoon, which was later re-upped in substantially higher quality as "Jerk Ribs." Dave Sitek weaves a densely-layered soundbed that includes squalling horns, Funky basslines, and African drum rhythms; It almost has sonic accents re...

Almost effortlessly cruisin' down the same nautical, boatshoed lane as Yacht Rock pioneers like Christopher Cross , Steely Dan, Beach Boys , and Hall & Oates, The Alchemist quietly released one long 12-minute track [EP] appropriately dubbed "YACHT ROCK (Side A-B)" late Wednesday afternoon. It's pretty much the perfect soundtrack for throwing back a few boat-side brews, which might've been partially inspired by The Alchemist 's fruitful shades/readers partnership with 9FIVE Eyewear ; Hypebeast eloquently describes the glasses as " 9FIVE Watson frames [with] a custom black and grey pattern added to the outer portions with red leather wrapped around the temple tips. The sunglasses variant receives polarized black lenses, while the reader model features clear CR-39 lenses." Now, while that all sounds pretty TIGHT, $150's a little steep for 2 pairs of glasses, a fancy striped box, and a RARE 7-inch record... So, The Alchemist has libera...

The Black Keys & RZA first linked up for 2 tracks on their wildly successful Dame Dash -helmed Blues Rock/Rap fusion album, BlakRoc (2009). It seems like RZA might've called in a few favors when assembling the soundtrack to his upcoming film debut, Man with The Iron Fists : Kanye , Flatbush Zombies, Raekwon , Freddie Gibbs, Corrine Bailey Rae , Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli , and Pharoahe Monch. Following a steady stream of leaks, the opening track from it's soundtrack album, which is out nation-wide Oct. 23rd, "The Baddest Man Alive" was unveiled Thurs. afternoon. Seemingly co-produced by both Dan Auerbach & RZA himself, "Baddest Man" is a Blues -leaning romp, accented by boastful Hip-Hop bravado. FuseTV premiered the track and quite aptly described it as sounding a lot like "an Ennio Morricone track produced by B.B. King ." While he's been pretty heavily influenced by Kung-Fu [Shaolin] since the Wu-Tang Clan days, T...

The Chain Gang somehow managed to seamlessly splice together a bunch of stop-motion [animation] clips to construct Sean Price 's latest music video, "STFU (Part 2)." Before it's all said and done, we see Super-Price courageously fending off a pack of angry killer apes with a microphone... getting some calcium fortification, pilot a spaceship, re-enact a couple album covers, run through the jungle, etc. All of Sean Price's milk-fueled hi-jinx were animated by crafty illustrators, Haroon Gilian & Whitney Alexander ; "STFU (Part 2)" will appear on Price's long-awaited Mic Tyson album, along with previously-released tracks "Haraam" and "I See." Rome York directed and released a quick, 1:30-minute music video last week to go along with "I See," which was in fact pre-empted by "Sean Price Plays Tennis" back in early Sept. Duck Down Records are finally gearing up to liberate Mic Tyson on Oct. 3...

When my buddy Dave & I saw Cults @ Union Transfer (Philly) roughly 2 weeks ago, lead guitarist Brian Oblivion talked about how the band doesn't ever really play live covers, simply because the couldn't nail down a suitable tune. Cults then proceeded to rip through a heavy, emotionally-driven rendition of "Everybody Knows." Originally appearing on Leonard Cohen 's 1988 album I'm Your Man , the track was penned along with Sharon Robinson , and later appeared on a handful of various film soundtracks. From what I can tell, that very Friday The 13th show marked the premier live performance of "Everybody Knows." It has since been revealed that Cults' cover is actually the first in what will essentially be an on-going series... "Old Ideas with New Friends." The compilation is set to be leaked out gradually over the course of the [up]coming months. A few of Indie Rock 's favourite leading men, A.C. Newman (New Pornographers) , Br...

Although I really can't relate to the gun-slinging experiences outlined by the average rapper these days... as an aspiring, young Journalist , I can however, relate to the sheer "hustle," which is commonly detailed throughout Hip-Hop . Especially the sort of hard-as-nails actions seen across Freddie Gibbs' recent Madlib -produced lead single, "Thuggin.'" Indie director, Jonah Schwartz (DD172 Films) has now teamed up with "MadGibbs" to produce a truly chilling visual accompaniment for the hard-hitting track. Over the course of the music video, Freddie Gibbs proceeds to surprise attack, murder & pillage a number of "sinners:" drug dealers, pimps, hookers, etc; Therefore it might be particularly fitting to dub "Thuggin'" as Crack Rap. Madlib & Freddie Gibbs' debut collaborative 6-track EP is now available over @ Stones Throw and they're currently working on a proper full-length album together. The u...

Madeline Follin was even more beautiful and sultry live in concert than I could have ever even imagined! Her voice was a tad bit deeper than on record, but I think it actually sounded better in a larger-scale [concert] setting. A drummer, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist were brought into the fold to help beef up the band's sound, just for the special occasion. Follin belted out each and every passion-filled note as if she were a seductive, slithering Jazz songstress playing a gig @ a hoppin' Lounge joint back in The Roaring 50's . Cults proceeded to rip through the entirety of their 11-track Columbia debut. A few appended tracks were also added into the mix for good measure: "The Curse" (Cults 7" EP) , a BRAND NEW Leonard Cohen cover, miscellaneous noodling and banter. At the imminent close of said blistering set, guitarist Brian Oblivion muttered something to the effect of "Fuck that corny shit where the band walks off stage, pretends to han...