The Witzard

"PGH to PHL. Cody & Don have been yucking it up as pals and collaborators for years, but up until now, they have never done a full album together," reads a description on Bandcamp. ialive & Cody Cody Jones (then, known as Stillborn Identity) have been working together sporadically ever since 2015-16. ialive appeared alongside Cody on Jumbled-produced "Groundhog Day" from STLBRNcollabamonth2015. "Often succumbing to areas of internal turmoil, we see the boys letting go of inhibitions, flipping the script, and cutting loose on tracks like a dirtbike through dry leaves," said description continues. Through 2017, Cody Cody Jones & ialive released two collaborative digital splits together entitled FOUR TO THE FLOOR 1-2. ialive appeared alongside Blastmaster Baker on "Call of The Void" from Cody's monthly/year-long 2018 project, Year of The Dog. Rap of The Month. ialive & Cody Cody Jones have since worked together on a number of...

Monday morning, self-described "Rap singer, song-writer, beat-maker, and pal" Donovan "ialive" Phillips quietly announced he'll be releasing his fourth (fifth?) solo studio album, I'LL WAIT FOREVER , later this month. It will be his fourth consecutive release with Baltimore-based Cold Rhymes Records run and operated by Dan "Height" Keech & MISTER AKA Cool Guy Bry . We first heard about ialive through an interview posted by John "Jumbled" Bachman on his blog a few years back with both Donnie & Darko The Super , together, billed as The Hellhole Store . ialive 's Height Keech -produced TIMEWAVE ZERO (2017) and self-produced follow-up, DON'T DO NOTHING (2019) were, easily, two of our favorite Hip-Hop albums of the last few years. I'LL WAIT FOREVER is the direct follow-up to ialive 's Odds & Ends-style 2019 EP, ODD ORTS , which boasts remixes from both Juan Cosby & Unsung. Now, it appears as though this...

Floating Polygons by Googie The Witzard regulars may recognize Googie 's name (sometimes, spelled "GooGiE" ) from "Innate Communication" from Henry Canyons' 2018 Album of The Year contender, Cool Side of The Pillow . Googie & Henry , actually, previously collaborated on a we are the karma kids' 2016 non-album single entitled "The What Ifs," which was later remixed by BRZOWSKI/Vinyl Cape affiliate and beat-maker C MONEY BURNS as #Goth Dancehall -tinged C$ Burns "Nocturnal Twinz" Remix. NYC/NJ -based emcee Googie is a member of Lt Headtrip 's East Coast Hip-Hop crew, we are the karma kids AKA karma kids and has issued a number of releases on the crew's in-house label since first joining forces around 2013; Googie 's karma kids releases include singles "All The Pretty Lights" & "Champion Sound," 2013 mixtape The Logic Is Sound, BALD AFRO with Lt Headtrip , and his 2016 debut full-...

"OLD SELF, aging Millennial Rap man, finds himself at corner of nostalgia sickness and questionable materialism on his debut album, Word Art Gallery. Headtrip, of NYC Rap outfit The Karma Kids, provides beats, building a relic-filled funhouse to explore as you experience OLD SELF's "various styles." Word Art Gallery is an endearing excursion in Late-stage Capitalism Rap. The copious quotables and near-rhyming Pop culture references will have you reaching for the Repeat 1 setting," reads we are the karma kids' on-site Bandcamp description. OLD SELF's Lt Headtrip-produced debut, Word Art Gallery is a zany nostalgic trip through his "various styles" chock-full of countless 1990's-early 2000's lyrical references and allusions including, but not limited to: Britney Spears, Sammy Sosa, Chuck D, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Salute Your Shorts, N64 cartridges, Dr. Octagon, beginner skateboard tricks, The Illuminati, Mark McGwire, Blink-182...

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...

"I'm Lt Headtrip , head of the Queens -based Indie Rap label, we are the karma kids . Also, a part of the Rap group, The Karma Kids . It started with me, Samurai Banana (my DJ/producer,) and Reson , another rapper friend from my hometown on Kent, OH , back in a basement on Long Island in 2008. We were just our Rap group, Sarcasmo and a rotating cast of spitters and Punk bands back then. Nowadays, we throw shows in NYC , book ourselves tours, make music videos, record, mix, help out fellow rappers, etc." reads a brief intro to Lt Headtrip directly from the deranged, often lyrically unhinged man himself. Lt Headtrip has released a number of projects under various monikers and with a handful of groups including, but not limited to Webtrip , BALD AFRO , Sarcasmo , Impervious Machine, and bluelight + Lt Headtrip , since around 2007. Headtrip 's New York -based label imprint and collective, we are the karma kids (or The Karma Kids , for short) now includes sharp...