The Witzard

Hell yes, believe it or not (oh, you better believe it!) beatboxing is still alive and well in 2022. If you don't believe us, go check out The Best of Max Bent & Stan Ipcus: He's The Beatboxer, I'm The Rapper. It's a sprawling nine-track collection that spans 25 years of organic D.I.Y. beats and rhymes collaborative efforts between two life-long friends, Stan Ipcus & Max B. Human Beatboxer Max Bent and seasoned emcee Stan Ipcus have been performing and recording together since the late 90's when they were both students and aspiring musicians at The University of Maryland (UMD.) They, literally, met on-air in 1998 during a live freestyle session broadcast on college radio station, WMUC, when Max was beatboxing for a room full of rappers and Stan Ipcus stepped up to the mic to flex his skills. The audio recording of that WMUC moment—plus, eight other Max Bent & Stan Ipcus beatbox/emcee collaborations spanning almost 25 years—is included on this new Bes...

Gabe 'Nandez is an extremely talented New York-based emcee who has been closely aligned with Passion of The Weiss founder Jeff Weiss' POW Recordings since before 2017. 'Nandez has been regarded as a child of DOOM & DMX, whose parents worked in diplomacy, so he grew up moving around often, temporarily living in Tanzania, Haiti, and Jerusalem, as well as New York City. Gabe 'Nandez's latest EP, simply titled Ox, is being framed as a tribute to the spirit of Ruff Ryders. POW initially released 'Nandez's 2017 cassette compilation album Plaques and soon after, released his proper full-length debut, Diplomacy , to widespread critical and fan acclaim over the summer of 2019. Since then, Gabe 'Nandez has quietly issued a number of singles, EP's, loosies, etc. sometimes, self-released, sometimes, with POW Recordings, and, sometimes, on a variety of other Indie labels, such as Stereoma and Epidemic Sound , namely, for his guitar-fueled 2020 EP, Grove. ...

It's almost a bit hard to believe that in 2020, The Alchemist & MF DOOM haven't released a full-length project together. Although, it appears as though they have a few mutual friends/collaborators in Earl Sweatshirt , WestsideGunn, Madlib 's brother Oh No , and Egon from Now-Again Records. So, it doesn't seem entirely unlikely or 100% out of the question. However, the average fan may not be aware, DOOM & Alchemist have, in fact, worked together on a number of occasions on a couple lesser-known one-off tracks: "DOOMSAYER" was briefly released as part of DOOM 's mysteriously scrapped THE MISSING NOTEBOOK RHYMES series for [adult swim] in 2017 (a Young Guru -producer version was released in 2012) also, in 2017, Alchemist produced "2STRINGS" from WestsideGunn & MF DOOM 's super-limited edition WESTSIDE DOOM Griselda Records/Daupe! 12-inch. Then, without much prior notice, Alchemist jumped on Instagram Live this past Mon...

Lil' Fame is effectively, one half of infamous Brownville, Brooklyn -based Hip-Hop duo, M.O.P. (Mash Out Posse) along with partner-in-rhyme Billy Danze ... but I believe, the first time I ever heard Fame was on "Make 'em NV" from J Dilla 's Ruff Draft EP (2003) wherein he repeatedly rhymes: "THEM JEWELS YOU ROCK, MAKE 'EM NV!" However, Dilla himself actually, sampled Lil' Fame 's voice from M.O.P. 's world-renown party-starting anthem, "Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory.)" Since their last collaborative release as M.O.P. 2015's Nature Sounds EP, Street Certified , Billy Danze & Lil' Fame have been focusing more on their solo efforts; Danze working on an album to either be titled simply The Billy Danze Project or Behind Gates , as well as a corresponding 8-track EP and Fame , actively working on his debut solo album, Walk of Fame —previously known as The Fame & The Glory . Over the years, Lil' Fame ...

I've recently been reading Shea Serrano 's phenomenal New York Times best-selling The Rap Yearbook (a Hanukkah present from my wonderful girlfriend), in which he evaluates, ranks, and proceeds to meticulously break down "the most important rap song" from every year between 1979-2014. I would honestly, be flat out lying, if I said it hasn't largely affected the way I look at Hip-Hop singles in the grand scheme of the genre as a whole over the past few weeks; with that said, I would even go as far as to claim that Kanye 's repeatedly upped, deleted, re-upped, deleted again, etc. double-header "Real Friends & No More Parties In LA" is quite arguably the most important Hip-Hop song of 2016. Its first 3/4's, "Real Friends," was collectively produced by Kanye, Frank Dukes, Boi-1da , and Mobb Deep co-founder Havoc and features a half-sung/rapped hook delivered by Ty Dolla $ign , while its latter 1/4 was hand-crafted by Stones T...

While you patiently await SAAAB STORIES' June 11th release and contemplate what the Hell could be happening on it's highly amusing, head-scratching cover... Here's a neck-snapping Boom-Bap remix while you wait! Action Bronson expertly recruited 2 veteran Queens emcees, LL Cool J & Lloyd Banks for his official "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Remix) , which debuted on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show late last night. Chopping the bulk of his previous verses and then adding on a newly-written one the track order now seamlessly flows between Bronson, LL Cool J , and Lloyd Banks . Granted, I still haven't heard Authentic , LL Cool J 's verse seems like a return to form since the slight MASSIVE fall from grace that is "Accidental Racist" with Country super-star Brad Paisley . I'm actually kinda glad Harry Fraud didn't really do anything to re-tweak the beat, cause "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" is almost tailor-fit for LL C...

While I thoroughly enjoy nearly any and all permutations of modern day Hip-Hop ... I usually manage to pay even closer attention to interesting, left-field culled samples. Chef Raekwon has always been one of the most consistent rappers around, a favourite of mine since the "36 Chambers" days. After a few minor set-backs, Raekwon finally liberated his latest mixtape, Unexpected Victory @ the brink of 2011-12. The 17-track collection's made up of cold, hard "Boom Bap" Hip-Hop beats produced by Scram Jones , 9th Wonder, The Olympicks, Statik Selektah , and many other rising beatsmiths. Unexpected Victory boasts featured appearances from the like of JD Era, C.L. Smooth , Mobb Deep, L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Busta Rhymes , Capone-N-Noreaga, Altrina Renee , and Styles P throughout. Easily one of the collection's stand-out tracks - "Chinese Marines" showcases Raekwon & Mobb Deep chopping it up over a Scram Jones -crafted beat, which come to find out...