The Witzard

Soul Music for the Soulless by WORDS HURT "The single is called "World's Worst Life Coach." It is from the album SOUL MUSIC FOR THE SOULLESS , which drops on Tuesday, November 28th and is available for pre-order. It is a comical take on New Age bullsh*t, personal branding, life coaches, and modern conformity," Words Hurt said within statement accompanying "World's Worst Life Coach," premiering right here at The Witzard . Words Hurt consists of emcee ALASKA and producer Lang Vo , who first worked together on "Impulse Control" from Lang Vo... Is Just An A**hole (2005.) ALASKA has been rhyming for nearly a quarter century and as part of the late 90's New York Indie-ground scene, his group Hanger 18 was once signed to El-P 's world-renown Definitive Jux AKA Def Jux imprint. He's also part of The Atoms Family collective and has released projects with Cryptic One as IT , Crack Epidemic with Kojo, ATOMS , Zilla Rocc...

planet pumpkin by Purple Dialect " Purple Dialect answers an ad on Craigslist to raid PLANET PUMPKIN . The orc hives are a little more lit than they appeared [in] the brochure. Zane has to decide if the job is worth it when he finds out it only pays in candy corn and Samba 45's," Zane Rice AKA rapper-producer Purple Dialect wrote within the Bandcamp description for his latest album. PLANET PUMPKIN is sub-titled, "GHOST VOLCANO: SEASON 1; EPISODE 4" and an impassioned Rice asserts, "this is a mixtape. It's raw as f**k. Hopefully, you like it." Purple Dialect 's CAMPFIRE EP follow-up, PLANET PUMPKIN , as you might have already deduced, is a largely Halloween -themed and inspired album from Philly 's own Purple Dialect . PLANET PUMPKIN consists of 13 spook-tacular tracks from Purple Dialect , who said he simply "just tried to make music that [he] liked." He then, called in frequent collaborators Luke "Spook" No...

Bummer Every Summer by Doc Heller Mere hours before penning this very piece you are about to embark upon, I was taking a late night scroll through Twitter and happened to stumble upon HYPEBEAST Editor Ben Roazen (@broazay) 's recent interview with [adult swim] Vice President & Creative Director Jason DeMarco (@Clarknova1.) DeMarco is of course, responsible in part for [adult swim] 's seventh annual Singles Program , Williams Street Records, DANGERDOOM 's THE MOUSE AND THE MASK , and bringing together Run The Jewels , amongst countless animated/musical triumphs. I was, as a matter of fact, at the time, trying to figure out a slightly unique angle to approach this Darko The Super BUMMER EVERY SUMMER write-up and VOILA... Near the end of HYPEBEAST's interview, Ben Roazen asked Jason DeMarco to briefly discuss [adult swim] 's storied years-long working relationship with DOOM ; to which DeMarco replied in part, "I've got paintings that DOOM made for...

"Idols + Enemies is a raised fist in the face of a president that openly threatens our most basic constitutional freedoms; to that end, all proceeds from downloads of this project will benefit the ACLU. They’ve had our backs, defending civil rights for nearly 100 years. As the Trump transition team seizes power, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will be a strong ally in preventing the President Elect's unlawful and unconstitutional campaign promises from becoming a reality. November’s dystopian Presidential Election sent all of us looking for answers. MY IDOLS ARE DEAD + MY ENEMIES ARE IN POWER brings together artists, activists, and academics to explore how we got here and what to do next. We stand with poor folks, Muslims, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and all Americans against any attack on our civil rights." - Lushlife (Raj Haldar) My Idols Are Dead + My Enemies Are In Power by Lushlife I. What was your initial motivation behind assembling MY...

Das Racist were hands down, one of the greatest post-2000 New York area Hip-Hop groups, who essentially created their own "outsider rap" scene, which would later harbor up-and-coming guys like Lakutis , LE1F, Mr. Muthaf*ckin' eXquire , Antwon, Kassa Overall , KechPhrase, Big Baby Gandhi , etc. Luckily enough, I had a chance to see Das Racist on their then unannounced 2012 "farewell tour" in Philly , a show which additionally featured a mini- Greehead label showcase: Lakutis , LE1F, and Weekend Money as opening acts. Since disbanding, founding members Himanshu "Heems" Suri and Victor "Kool A.D." Vazquez have each released a number of critically-acclaimed solo mixtapes; well, Heems actually uploaded two mixtapes, Nehru Jackets and Wild Water Kingdom , while Das Racist were still actively together. Suri then moved to Bombay, India between 2012-mid-2014 as part of a self-imposed exile, wherein he began recording material for his ...

Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist and rapper-producer Kassa Overall is a close affiliate of Kool A.D. and his now-defunct Hip-Hop crew Das Racist . I believe I first got in touch with Overall after discovering his stellar self-released Stargate mixtape, which featured him ferociously rapping over re-worked Katy Perry , Wiz Khalifia , and modern pop radio tracks, and he generously helped facilitate my 2011-12 interview with Victor Vazquez , otherwise known as Kool A.D. While he was previously signed to Vazquez's Greedhead off-shoot imprint Veehead , but since their disbanding, his current label situation is unknown. After years of preparation and recording, Kassa Overall is finally gearing up to release his first proper solo album consisting of entirely original production, which is tentatively titled Like Life , in the not so distant future; even though he's released countless group albums with PEACEFUL SOLUTIONS , TOOTHPASTE , and as an accomplished Jazz drummer has rec...

Run The Jewels are already poised to be a little different than El-P & Killer Mike 's previous collaborations because it'll feature the 2 emcees trading bars, rather than just acting as rapper/producer. The LL Cool J -inspired "dream team" are planning to unleash a currently untitled free album [mixtape] by June on Fool's Gold . "Get It" is our first LEGIT taste of what Run The Jewels really have in store for the unsuspecting world of Hip-Hop , unless you count that short and sweet 90-second "Banana Clipper" sample. Tom Breihan recently attempted to describe "Get It" 's overall sound as "someone beating up Kanye 's "Clique" with an aluminum baseball bat," which I think is a pretty accurate description for El-P 's borderline mainstream, robot squall-accented brand of Experimental Hip-Hop . It's almost impossible to explain how HARD this track hits using mere words... so, here's a...

Bad-ass vampire/vampire slayer flicks have been a pretty solid Hollywood mainstay for the bulk of the past 50+ years; We're talkin' about shit like Dracula , Interview with a Vampire, The Lost Boys , Blade, Buffy Vampire Slayer , etc. - NOT those pussified, glistening love-stuck "vampires" from Twilight or whatever! While I was a little too young for The Coreys' Lost Boys (1987) and even Blade's late 90's reign of terror, I can vaguely remember Sarah Michelle Gellar 's sheer ass-whooping hotness... I guess former- Das Racist swordsmen Heems is a champion of OG vampires, too because from what I understand, his latest music video for "Desi Shoegaze Taiko" re-purposes Stephen Norrington 's opening scenes from Blade (1998). It's basically a Wesley Snipes -less scenario with a room-full of white people gettin' downright Funky @ some sort of weirdly awesome [and bloody unsanitary] vampire rave/BLOODBATH, which appropriately ...

While it was just announced late yesterday afternoon, WILD WATER KINGDOM is quickly shaping up to be[come] his second mixtape of 2012, and Heems has already tapped a wide array of beat-makers for possible inclusion: Diplo , Le1f, Harry Fraud , Yorrissey, " @keyboardkid206 , @beautifullou1, AND @MikeFinito ." Making a pretty un-characteristically bold move, Yorrissey (BLKHRTS) decides to employ a tricky sample pulled from Shoegaze godfathers, Echo & The Bunnymen on "Killing Time." It sounds a lot like Donnie Darko from the get-go and after a re-purposed vocal fragment [hook] plays out, Heems comes in... rapping full-force about being bored? For all intensive purposes, "Killing Time" just might be the true genesis of Slacker Rap-Rock . Along with friend-producer Yorrissey , Heems somehow manages to find the middle ground between self-loathing 80's Indie Rock and Underground Hip-Hop . Heems recently stated on Twitter that Beautiful Lou ...

For some odd reason, I just feel that a Das Racist -fried Lana del Rey remix really isn't going to need much "hard selling" 'round these parts of town [The Internet]. Das Racist are without a doubt one of my favourite Hip-Hop bands; I'm still not too sure exactly how I feel about Lizzy Grant I mean, May Jailer er, uh... Lana del Rey . Regardless, "National Anthem" (Das Racist Remix) should manage to pique the interest(s) of all sorts of music fans far and wide! Heems & Kool A.D. work their lyrical "magic" over a stripped down, nearly vocal-less re-worked beat. Frantically bragging about everything from money/rupees to Bruce Willis and somehow working in mentions of Lil B , Tyler The Creator, Bad Brains , Boy Crisis, Diplo , Oscar The Grouch, deadmau5 , and Amy Winehouse. * Shouts to Pedro (Daplib) @ Illuminati Zone for the "Private" Soundcloud link hook-up! Lately, it seems like Lana del Rey , who also recently linked u...

Stolen Love by Fast Years From what I can tell, MOSHOLU seems to consist of a pretty solid mix of new/old, previously unreleased, and re-hashed music. Eastern District even managed to conjure up some of New York 's finest young Hardcore Punk, Hip-Hop , and Psych-Rock bands for inclusion on their recently-issued comp., which was released sometime over July 4th Weekend . Aside from a couple STELLAR Das Racist -fueled collabo tracks ( Talib Kweli & Spank Rock ), MOSHOLU features plenty of other great new artists/bands... that even a "savvy" blogger like I had never heard of: Fast Years , Telli Federline , Kenneth Whaulm III , The Wellington Papers, Michael Alan Alien , Viennagram, Gunfight! , and plenty more. MOSHOLU basically plays out like a classic 1975-80's Hardcore Punk comp. where you really just pick it up for 3-5 bands and wind up discovering 15-20 new ones by the time the final track plays out; It would probably remind a lot of kids from our generatio...

Contrary to popular belief, Das Racist 's version of "The Recipe" (Gwyneth Paltrow) actually pre-dates Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre 's single version, which was released first. Since "Meet The Frownies" [sample] was only issued in 2010, this all had to happen over the past 2 years... Scoop DeVille gave a rough version of the beat to Das Racist before ever even meeting Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre . But because Aftermath somehow managed to release "The Recipe" first, it may seem like Kool A.D. & Heems are beat-jacking, which is entirely off point. Anyways, here's Das Racist's final take, "Gwyneth Paltrow," now accompanied by some sort of found footage of 2 weird-ass 1970's "putty face" re-molding performance artists. Victor Vazquez directs or something...

Ikechi Nnamani decided to head to Nigeria for "Winter Break" [2011-12] in a combined effort to take a much needed break from UPenn , visit with family & friends, and simply de-stress a bit. It's 16 rudimentary Boom-Bap beats were largely recorded on laptop programs in a grass hut... likely adding to the album's overall "Old School" aesthetic. While they were originally released back in April , kechPhrase & Veehead issued a slightly re-packaged re-relased version of Kechstrumentals: Live from Nigeria, Tape 1 earlier today. Mishka is currently hosting a stream-able player containing the complete mixtape; So far, kechPhrase 's beats have been [or will be] rapped over and further embellished by Kool A.D. Fat Tony, Epic, Bill Ding, Chakuza (Germany) , and a few other talented wordsmiths. Pretty sample-heavy and chock-full of strings, synth flourishes, 808 drum patterns, and vocal excerpts... Kechstrumentals is definitely worth checking out! S...

Dayglo Abortions - "Stupid Songs" My favorite Canadian band of all time. This is the opening track on Dayglo's 2nd and most popular album, Feed Us a Fetus. For anyone not familiar with this groups work, this is probably the perfect first impression. If you dig this, look up "Stupid World" off the same aforementioned album. Side note: These guys sound exactly like the records live; They're really on top of their live performance! Feederz - "Taking The Night" Some bands mix music and performance art perfectly - This is one of those bands. Singer Frank Discussion opened fire on an audience with a machine gun full of blanks, got banned from 924 Gilman St. for wearing euthanized dogs like a stool and flinging it into the crowd, and stole Jello Biafra's wife (that last one I don't think was an "artistic statement" as much of it was just a dick move). The Lewd - "Climate of Fear" The Lewd are one of a long list of...

The good people over @ VICE recently asked Das Racist to host an interview show of "rappers interviewing rappers" for their new music channel, noisey . Himanshu & Kool A.D. will reportedly alternate weeks hosting "RAP SHOW;" Episode #1 was uploaded just this past Friday [The 13th] and features Heems sitting down with Compton 's favourite rapper, Kendrick Lamar . Imagine if Eric Clapton interviewed Jimi Hendrix and they talked about... notepads, lucid dreams, black hippies, "The N word," Home Improvement , 80's babies, and essentially everything BUT music. Well, this is exactly like that. Pretty cool concept nonetheless. I just hope that Das Racist & Kendrick Lamar decide to record and release a track together! Future episode of RAP SHOW will feature Himanshu & Kool A.D. interviewing Wiley, Tyler The Creator , Bun B, Killer Mike , Mystikal , Gunplay, etc. Make sure to go pick up [download] copies of Relax , Nehru Jackets , and...

Ever since it's 1975-80's inception, "the struggle" has been a consistent, underlying genesis of Hip-Hop . But anymore, the originality's long gone in mainstream Hip-Hop ; These days, everyone's so manufactured and "cookie-cutter." The genre's final hope just might rest within Das Racist's collective of Brooklyn -based artists, producers, labelmen, etc. My attention was first drawn to [rapping college student] kechPhrase last Summer when he made a few original beats for Kool A.D. Since then, I've paid close attention to his career's gradual progression and I'm happy to say that we've stayed in touch throughout his blooming wave of early success. Chalking his past releases up as a test run, kechPhrase is prepping the release of 2 BIG companion projects: Slight Progress EP and Slight Progress (3rd World Dreaming) . "Can I Flow?" is the latest track from Slight Progress EP and shouts to Ikechi Nnamani for let...

Hyperbolic Chamber Music is essentially one long, free-form 22-minute-long posse cut commissioned by Mishka NYC and [entirely] produced by Ryan Hemsworth . Amongst it's included 27 up-and-comers are: MondreM.A.N. Squadda B, Kool A.D. Big Baby Gandhi , Fat Tony , and Shady Blaze . Average Russian-American John Q. Public and Das Racist -affiliated rapper, Aleksey "Lakutis" Weintraub appears @ some point during "Hyperbolic Chamber Music" 's latter 1/2. Lakutis' 2-3 bars have since been segmented into "Pool Party," which now has it's own companion music video... directed by Das Racist and Battles members, Dapwell and [drummer] John Strainer . Roughly a 2-minute affair, "Pool Party" comes off as weirdly low budget D.I.Y. yet surprisingly endearing and heart-felt. Dapwell manages to employ a gaggle of go-to camera tricks: swanky furniture, flashing lights, an e-cigarette, geometric shapes, and "explosive" stock ...

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 ...