The Witzard

"When Dev [Hynes] was 'Lightspeed Champion' , he had a little-known rap MySpace called 'Ni**a Bullshit' (2010). This was when we first started talking about a collaboration," rapper Himanshu Suri (professionally known as Heems ) recently revealed to Rolling Stone concerning his latest collaboration with singer-songwriter/producer, Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange . "I wrote some of the lyrics in college at Wesleyan , some before Das Racist in Bushwick , and most of it in my engineer Daniel Lynas' old studio with Dev [Hynes] in Dumbo ," Heems continued. "Home" was adequately described by one anonymous writer as " Dev provides fluttering guitar-work while Heems opens his chest cavity, removes his still-aching heart, [and] drops it on the floor in front of you;" the subject matter throughout Heems' forthcoming major label "debut" EAT PRAY THUG has been self-described as "much more personal than [ Hima...

EAT PRAY THUG , or "9/11 & Heartbreak," as he affectionately refers to it, is the by-product of Queens -based rapper Himanshu K. Suri (aka Heems )' self-imposed exile to Bombay, India a few years back. Although it's actually Suri's major label debut, EAT PRAY THUG is likely poised to be his first and last album, as @HIMANSHU has recently alluded that he's considering giving up his rap career and more or less defunct Greedhead imprint for a 9-5. Since unleashing a series of critically-acclaimed 2012 mixtapes, Nehru Jackets and Wild Water Kingdom , Suri has maintained a relatively low profile; until unexpectedly dropping his 4-track SWET SHOP EP with buddy Riz "MC" Ahmed and a particularly zonked out theme song recorded for Japanese Vitamin Water last year. "'Sometimes" is about dualities, identity, and the space between spaces, Like so many other people, as first generation South Asian in the U.S. I often felt like I li...

Let's face it... It's almost 2012 and by now, most of us have heard of Stargate , weather we're aware of it or not. Since their 1997 inception, the Norwegian production team, consisting of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen , has managed to fine-tune a number of Grammy-winning hit for artists like: Rihanna , Katy Perry , Beyoncé , Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa , and Marina & The Diamonds . I have to admit, I'm a [casual] fan of many of their radio singles - Not even knowing who was behind the creation of these lush, layered tracks. One could even go as far as to say that Stargate was [partially] responsible for honing the genre-bending sounds of Popular albums: Rated R - Loud , Rolling Papers , and Teenage Dream . Kassa Overall , it seems, is a fan of Hermansen & Eriksen 's varied array of works, as well. For all intensive purposes, the Harlem -based drummer/rapper-producer's latest aptly-titled mixtape is based around nothing but Stargate ...