The Witzard

Girl Talk CREDIT: Joey Kennedy Girl Talk is the music-making alias of mash-up maestro, super-producer, and beat-maker Gregg Gillis. Girl Talk famously rose to prominemce in the early to mid-2000's with his unique sample-filled releases Night Ripper (2006,) Feed The Animals (2008,) and ALL DAY (2010.) Gillis soon ascended to large-print typeface atop countless festival bills and, eventually, got so busy, he had to quit his day job as a bio-medical engineer. Even prior to Night Ripper, Gregg Gillis had been quietly making music as Girl Talk since about 2000-02 and had issued a number of releases, including, but not limited to, Secret Diary, Unstoppable, Stop Cleveland Hate 12-inch, and Bone Hard Zaggin' 7-inch EP with Illegal Art, 12 Apostles, and 333 Recordings, respectively. Arguably, his most successful—and in our opinion, most enjoyable—release from this period would be 2006's Night Ripper, which boasts some 300 inter-woven samples. Gregg Gillis was able to lega...

Just about a year ago, John "Jumbled" Bachman helped link me up with a fellow Baltimore-based producer buddy of his, Timothy "Tim" Chester AKA UncleRussie (@PeaceRussie.) Right around the time Tim. & I first met, he was preparing to release his next project, Trunks EP. which was a 14-track audiophonic examination of Trunks Brief - Past, Present, & Future (?) from Dragon Ball Z . Now, while I'll readily admit, I'm far from a die-hard Dragon Ball Z fan, it's been pretty interesting to learn about the series through a medium I'm extremely familiar with: Hip-Hop ! For Trunks EP. UncleRussie recruited a who's-who of The East Coast/Baltimore 's finest emcees, singers, and producers to help convey his vision, such as: Benjamin Banger , Dot-Com Intelligence, Swellthy , Action Bastard, TEK.LUN , ONLY, Jumbled , and Drew Scott. Many of you may recognize UncleRussie 's name from his submission(s) to The Witzard's Andy Cooper ...

While he's remained relatively silent since releasing The Ecstatic (2009), Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey has seemingly completed his forthcoming G.O.O.D. Music "debut" while shacking up overseas. Bey has recently re-emerged from his self-imposed exile and decided to unleashed a pair of unexpected André 3000 -style features for A$AP Rocky 's At.Long.Last.A$AP as well as Eric Biddines and producer Paul White 's newly-minted Golden Ticket project. His latest presumably non-album loosie, "Marigolds" skillfully re-appropriates New Zealand -based Kiwi Funk-R&B duo Electric Wire Hustle 's 2009 self-titled album track, "Chaser." It's almost aesthetically reminiscent of Yasiin Bey 's long-aborted Top 40 Underdogs cover/freestyles initiative; wherein he boldly took on radio-friendly Kanye & Jay-Z , Lil' Wayne, and Chief Keef beats and ruthlessly flipped them on their heads. "Marigolds," on the other hand, was su...

Not entirely unlike it's highly-revered Classic/Indie Rock predecessors Sgt. Pepper's and The Blue Album , sample grand-wizard Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk ultimately intended for his latest body of work, Broken Ankles EP to function as "a continuous mix and it intended to be listened to as a while with gap-less playback." The Pittsburgh native then recruited veteran emcee Freeway from the neighboring suburb of Philadelphia to overlay gritty complex rhyme schemes atop his multi-layered 6-track mini-album, which somehow still manages to sample everyone from Aretha Franklin to Nine Inch Nails . For the purposes of this very EP, Girl Talk & Freeway have both slightly modified their respective styles, but not to the point that it's beyond recognizable or would endanger alienating long-time fans. I'm actually a little surprised at how good most of Girl Talk 's beats sound; they're 100% full-fledged Hip-Hop beats with sufficient room for additi...

While I've been an avid supporter of Girl Talk aka civilian engineer Gregg Gillis' hyper-disoriented (s)mash-up style since the initial media on-slaught of Night Ripper (2006), I never thought I'd see the day when he'd commit a full-fledged collaboration with a real-life rapper to wax, let alone former Roc-A-Fella affiliate and Philly native, Freeway ; to the best of my knowledge, Gillis hasn't worked alongside an emcee since his 2011 Pitchfork Selector -initiated Jim Jones track, "Believe In Magic." It seems as though Broken Ankles is just a small chunk of a recorded, albeit unreleased, body of work, the first of which will become available for FREE download this upcoming April 8th. "Tolerated"' s Allen Cordell -directed video treatment is loosely inspired by late 90's Brit -hit "Bittersweet Symphony." "I just thought it'd be cool to do a video where the premise is me and Freeway walking down the street and ...

Roc Marciano makes what a Hip-Hop purist would best describe as "real Rap;" It doesn't take long to realize that Marciano & Cormega are highly-skilled wordsmiths, who could easily out-rap most guys without use of a proper beat (a cappella). We're kinda talkin' about the Thin Lizzies of Underground Hip-Hop ... often referenced, admired, and copied by your favourite run-of-the-mill rappers. It's almost crazy to call something as immaculate-sounding as "Ruff Town" a mere loosie, but it really doesn't seem like a whole lot more than just that. Effectively 1/2 of a NOT super-group [M.A.R.S.] along with Action Bronson & Saigon , "Ruff Town" may or may not end up re-appearing on Roc Marciano 's forth-coming third full-length, Marci Beaucoup . It's rumored to be a 100% Marciano-produced affair with nothing less than top-notch guest features from Freeway , Ka, Guilty Simpson , Boldy James, Knowledge The Pirate , M.A.R....

Freeway pretty much pulled out all the stops for his latest mixtape, Black Santa EP : rapped verses from Iman Shumpert/Rasheed Wallace (The Knicks) and champion boxer Adrien "The Problem" Broner , a clever Kenny Loggins sample, spear-heading the State Property reunion, and releasing a DOPE holiday-themed mixtape just in time for Christmas . I've always thought that Freeway was a talented, criminally under-rated emcee and over the years, he's been affiliated with powerhouse labels like Roc-a-Fella , Cash Money, Rhymesayers , and G.O.O.D. Music. Freeway 's critically acclaimed debut, Philadelphia Freeway (2003) was [executive] produced by Jay-Z , Just Blaze, and Kanye ... as well as star-studded guest features from Snoop , Mariah Carey, Peedi Crakk , Nelly, and Nate Dogg . Black Santa EP features some note-worthy production work from the likes of Jake One , Statik Selektah, DJ SNS , and Jumbo Beats; But one particular track, "Roc Re-loaded" (Re...

Mos Def is not merely a rapper, he's a fucking lyrical assassin! Born Dante Smith (1973) and formerly known as "Pretty Flaco," the man now replies to Yasiin Bey . Take it as a mid-career re-invention, of sorts for the seasoned rapper who's worked with everyone from The Black Keys - Gorillaz . In late 2010, Mos Def signed a record deal with Kanye West 's very own G.O.O.D. Music , but an album for his new label has yet to fully materialize. Yasiin Bey is currently working on a number of assorted projects: 5th solo album ( G.O.O.D. debut), Black Star Aretha with Talib Kweli , and Kanye 's label comp. - "Cruel Summer." My personal favourite Mos Def album is The New Danger , which was released in 2004... right around the time that I was first getting into Hip-Hop and forming my own unique "musical ear." It's essentially a Blues -inspired Hip-Hop album that was recorded with African American Punk musicians, Black Jack Johnson . In...