The Witzard

Anwar HighSign is a talented emcee and producer originally hailing from Philly. Anwar HighSign went by Has-Lo for the majority of his career up until very recently. Anwar HighSign/Has-Lo has appeared on songs alongside Al-Shid, Arckatron, Armand Hammer, Blueprint, Castle, Dr. Quandary, August Fanon, Willie Green, HU$ KINGPIN & SmooVth, Illogic, J-Zone, Open Mike Eagle, Preservation, Vic Spencer, and Stik Figa. Most recently, Anwar appeared on "Pressed" from Atmosphere's 2021 effort, WORD? going bar for bar with BlackLiq, Sa-Roc, Haphduzn & Lateef The Truthspeaker. Just about two weeks ago, Anwar HighSign self-released his second proper project since moving onward and upward from Has-Lo. Live N*gga Prophesy was released on February 4th (on Anwar's birthday) and boasts five original tracks fully written, produced, and arranged by Anwar HighSign himself. Kyle Tierce (Quandary) for Memetic Supply Co. made a hand-cut paper collage with some digital embellish...

Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint by Griff/Scorcese Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint is a project that's long been in-the-works from Chicago-based producer Jason Griff and Philly emcee Scorcese Lorde Jones , here, known together as Griff/Scorcese . Dream Team... was originally pitched as a mixtape in celebration of the independent wrestling circuit, as well as Hathaway's unique, Hip-Hop indebted approach to the artform. However, it eventually evolved into a full-fledged album based around the ideals and inspiration of the esteemed 1996 Source Award Winner, publicist, and manager, Stokely Hathaway —now signed to WWE/NXT as Malcolm Bivens . Dream Team... is entirely produced by Jason Griff (Alex Ludovico, Zilla Rocca) and primarily performed by Scorcese Lorde Jones AKA Scorcese FKA Scorcese Shells (2-Man Power Trip... Gods Know) with cinematic interludes and embellishments from Stokely Hathaway AKA Malcolm Bivens himself. Dream Team... is, indeed, Wrestle/Wra...

Lost Remixes by Algorhythms Justin Boland & Kyle Tierce were the co-founders of beloved and now-defunct Indie/Underground Hip-Hop label and collective, World Around Records . Thanks to Zilla Rocca , we ran a sort of label send-off/track-by-track breakdown for their final comp. before permanently closing up shop, 2017's We Are World Around, Vol. 6 . Tierce frequently records and releases "dusty, sample-heavy beats inspired by the Psychedelic music of the late 1960's" as Dr. Quandary , according to Discogs . Aside from his solo output, Quandary recently released an album of fictional Italian "film scores" as MASSIMO E MASSIMO with Dakota Crane and produced the entirety of one-time label mate Louis Mackey 's 2017 effort, AVGVSTVS . Boland, on the other hand, has recorded and released music under a revolving door of musical nom de plumes, over the years, including, but not limited to Thirtyseven , Humpasaur Jones, Hump Jones , FDR with Godforbid...

"Hathaway comes to the Performance Center after a successful tenure as a manager and a wrestler on the indies. Although, trained for the ring, Hathaway gained a reputation in recent years for wheeling-and-dealing on behalf of other wrestlers. The notoriously outspoken Hathaway has represented clients in several promotions throughout The US, from EVOLVE Wrestling to the New England-based Beyond Wrestling. He hails from New York City," reads a recent WWE Performance Center press statement. They're, of course, talking about Independent wrestler and manager Stokely Hathaway, who recently signed a deal with WWE NXT/Performance Center. Hathaway has previously wrestled and managed talent for EVOLVE Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and Major League Wrestling (MLW) and has gone by a variety stage names, including Chuck Taylor, Ramon, and most recently, Court Moore for NXT. Stokely is the self-proclaimed 1996 Source Awards Winner & Former Editor of XXL Magazine. ...

"I first met Zilla, barely out of college, downing bottles of malt liquor and idiotically, drunkenly throwing them into darkened stairwells at his old Catholic high school in South Philly. He was aligned his former crew then, one half of a Rap group called Clean Guns , attempting to start a fledgling label in an underground climate that seemed inhospitable and rebarbative to anyone trying to figure out what Boom-Bap would sound like 20 years in the future. Zilla could always rap and produce, but he hadn't found a voice or character that allowed him to channel what eventually reached its (27-inch) zenith on Future Former Rapper—believe it! Starting with the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers project, he's refined an aesthetic akin to Raymond Chandler raised on Raekwon, splitting the difference between James Ellroy and Guru sneering at rivals that they're paranoid because they're sons like Elroy. One of the reasons why I started POW was to offer a wayward station for the ...

Elder Orange is the recording alias of Vermont -based producer, multi-instrumentalist, and "all around nice guy" Matt Scott (@MatthewLScott.) For years, Scott had a long-standing working relationship with international collective/ Indie Hip-Hop label World Around Records , until the imprint's demise in 2016. World Around issued a number of collaborative releases featuring Elder Orange alongside Dr. Quandary and Louis Mackey , as well as tracks appearing on We Are World Around, Vol. 5-6 . Matt Scott splits his time between Elder Orange and North East Kingdom Soul/R&B/Jazz/Funk/Rock quartet The NEKTones , in which he provides gtr. vox. AKA guitar and vocals. While Scott has released and participated in countless projects, he just liberated his proper debut album, All My Friends Believe In Ghosts (AMFBIG,) this past Friday, June 1st, which was also, his father's 64th birthday and Scott's first day on leave from his job of eight years to pursue music fu...