The Witzard

AGES, Vol. 1 by Mega Ran We've been closely following Phoenix by way of Philly emcee Mega Ran 's career since the earliest aughts of The Witzard, coinciding with the 2010 release of Bits & Rhymes ( Ran & K-Murdock )'s Kickstarter-funded collaborative album, FOREVER famicom . Mega Ran &/or K-Murdock were amongst our first-ever published interviews here at The Witzard, as well. Needless to say, we've thoroughly enjoyed Ran 's wide array of genre-eschewing output released nearly non-stop over the past 10 years since. His latest full-length effort, THE DEWEY DECIBEL SYSTEM with rapper buddy MC Lars , is a mic-aided journey through literature, novels, comic books, poems, short stories, etc. and is currently being used as a learning tool in class rooms Nation-wide. Now, Mega Ran has returned (once again) for one final solo project of 2019: AGES, Vol. 1 . Technically, a "surprise Winter 2019 release," AGES —that's "SEGA" spelled b...

Not long after publishing my review of Henry Canyons' La Côte West EP on The Witzard a couple months ago, I was fortunate enough to speak with Henry on the phone; it was at this point, which we formulated a tentative roll-out plan to publish this very interview. Henry Canyons was kind enough to send em a private Soundcloud stream of his then-unreleased album, Cool Side of The Pillow ("Cool Side," for short) and needless to say, I haven't stopped listening to the album since. Cool Side of The Pillow has since been released on billy woods' imprint, Backwoodz Studioz and was received to wide-spread critical/fan acclaim across "Rap Twitter." I'll personally, go as far as to say, Henry Canyons and his long-time friend and producer Matt "Bones" Bowen cooked up a solid contender for 2018's Album of The Year. It's easily one of the most simple, easy-listening, yet complex albums I've heard in a long time. "Bones" effortlessl...

Over the course of the past month or so, there have been a plethora of solid Hip-Hop EP's released online; a quick, concise 30-minutes or less format that's seemingly, replaced the mixtape/"street album" format of years passed to become your favorite underground rapper/producer's go-to promotional tool. Here, for this inaugural edition of The Witzard's Rap EP Wrap-up, we'll be profiling eight EP's released throughout March 2018, as well as two released at the end of February that were honestly, way too dope to not include! Featured below, in no particular order, are EP's from the likes of ALASKA & PJ Katz, Elaquent, Epic Beard Men (Sage Francis & B. Dolan,) Luke Sick & Damien *, Madlib & J Dilla's proteges MED AKA Medaphoar & Guilty Simpson, Loretta Records founder Observe, Roughneck Jihad & IL Torsolo *, SULTANS OF SPRING touring mates PremRock & Fresh Kils, and Purple Dialect, as well as a posthumous Illa Ghee-as...

Over the course of the past month or so, there have been a plethora of solid Hip-Hop EP's released online; a quick, concise 30-minutes or less format that's seemingly, replaced the mixtape/"street album" format of years passed to become your favorite underground rapper/producer's go-to promotional tool. Here, for this inaugural edition of The Witzard's Rap EP Wrap-up, we'll be profiling eight EP's released throughout March 2018, as well as two released at the end of February that were honestly, way too dope to not include! Featured below, in no particular order, are EP's from the likes of ALASKA & PJ Katz, Elaquent, Epic Beard Men (Sage Francis & B. Dolan,) Luke Sick & Damien *, Madlib & J Dilla's proteges MED AKA Medaphoar & Guilty Simpson, Loretta Records founder Observe, Roughneck Jihad & IL Torsolo *, SULTANS OF SPRING touring mates PremRock & Fresh Kils, and Purple Dialect, as well as a posthumous Illa Ghee-as...

La Côte West by Henry Canyons Henry Canyons is an LA -based Brooklyn -bred emcee, who, as a self-described "Brooklinite-French-Jew," transcends your typical ideal of what Hip-Hop could and should be; from his training as a Jazz saxophonist to his teenage years spent in Brooklyn ciphers, his melodic style, and bilingual lyrical integrity, Henry Canyons isn't exactly your typical emcee. He evokes a laid-back, yet extremely impactful flow similar in style to one-time Stones Throw signee Jonwayne with a keen ear for heavy-hitting, slightly off-kilter beats akin to Homeboy Sandman . Over the course of his storied career, Canyons has shared the stage with the likes of Macklemore , Tash (Tha Alkaholiks,) Open Mike Eagle , Pigeon Jon, Homeboy Sandman , Blue Scholars, DJ Mo Niklz , and PremRock. Henry Canyons boasts label affiliation with Brooklyn -based "Dystopian Hip-Hop" imprint/collective Backwoodz Studioz , whose current roster includes Armand Hammer (o...

" [Leave In Tact:] The Remix Collection boasts a strong addition to the pair's already robust resume, and as they set their sights on another ambitious tour with contemporaries' billy woods and Henry Canyons , their prospects only continue to grow. If you missed Leave In Tact , due to the avalanche of the election fallout or perhaps, because of the shared release date with a comeback album from the greatest group of all time, you are forgiven, but do take this chance to catch up," reads a Remix Collection -accompanying statement uploaded to PremRock & Fresh Kils' Bandcamp . I recently got a pre-release version of Leave In Tact: The Remix Collection and producer Fresh Kils (@freshkils) told me, he "would love to hear [my] comparative thoughts on the remixes vs. the originals;" with that said, here's a very laxly-structured first impressions review of Leave In Tact: The Remix Collection . PremRock & Fresh Kils' latest 7-track release...

"20 years to the day of the tragic murder of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. Mega Ran offers this heartfelt creative tribute to the man they called Biggie. Ran and producers Fresh Kils & DJ DN3 cleverly re-sample 10 classic B.I.G. bangers, adding new lyrics and perspective to the sounds of the legendary emcee. Narrated by Ran's childhood friend, Notorious R.A.N. revisits the feeling, the rhymes, and the charm of the fallen Hip-Hop hero, while continuing Mega Ran's track record of quality releases," reads an emailed press release sent along with Mega Ran's Biggie tribute mixtape, Notorious R.A.N: Ready to Live. As Ran (formerly Random) states, he's releasing Notorious R.A.N: Ready to Live today on March 9, 2017—the 20th anniversary of Christopher "Biggie" Wallace's tragic murder—with little to no prior press. I believe I first worked with Mega Ran—then, still Random AKA Mega Ran—around the time of his 2010 video game-sampling album, Forever Famic...