The Witzard

"You are the last Colbert Report musical guest. Honored to have you on, but keep in mind: Paul McCartney , R.E.M., Jack White , and Nas were your opening acts," Stephen Colbert cleverly quipped at Kendrick Lamar during their pre-performance interview on last night's show. Lamar premiered a brand new "Untitled" track reportedly produced by French beatsmith Astronote ; its world-premier performance was delivered by a pick-up band consisting of bass virtuoso Thundercat , Terrace Martin on sax, and back-up vocals from Soulquarians affiliate Bilal and Sonnymoon sogstress Anna Wise . In stark contrast to Kendrick Lamar 's previous Isley Brothers -indebted "i," "Untitled" is more of a sparse experimental, Jazz -leaning affair, which seems to be a multi-faceted narrative; "In Lamar's story, an Asian man tells him to worry about his health and not his career, an Indian man recommends he invest in real estate, the black man rev...

Kendrick Lamar 's latest non-album single, "i" has a seemingly unlikely sample source, The Isley Brother 's 1973 Soul-Funk hit, "[Who's] That Lady," which many of you may recognize from Swiffer 's hilarious long-standing "Who's That Lady" campaign. Right off the bat, "i" itself is more blatantly "commercial" than the combined the whole of it's predecessor good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), but in the best way humanly possible. It's almost reminiscent of OutKast or even Native Tongues' 90's era brand of light-heated "conscious rap." Kendrick Lamar has supposedly recorded about 30 tracks for his as-yet-untitled second album, including "a bunch of tracks" with Dr. Dre . "Lamar says to expect "aggression and emotion" from the album, as well as some straight-up freestyling" laments a recent Rolling Stone profile; "if I can say anything about this record...

" Nickelback appeals to the average drunken frat boy who can shake his fist and maybe do some pelvic thrusts to their music. And maybe do a couple goofy dances in the mix," proclaimed an outraged Dennis Guttman ; Otherwise know as the football fan who spearheaded the recent Anti-Nickelback Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Halftime Show campaign. Since the NFL announced the band's appearance, Guttman's reaction video and companion petition garnered roughly 65,000 [combined] digital endorsements! Soon thereafter, Ann Arbor, MI native Mayer Hawthorne somehow got roped up in the campaign effort - Partnering with the good people over @ Rolling Stone to release his own "Hire Me" campaign video. In my personal opinion, Hawthorne would have been a great choice for the Motor City 's halftime show performer... as he produces a unique blend of Hip-Hop and "The Motown Sound." Genres for which the city itself has become [in]famous for supporting and cre...