The Witzard

I was gonna write up something about Lil B & Joey Bada$$ 's Twitter -fueled Rap beef that went down last night. But after a quick 1-2 punch/mediocre track release, that one had already fizzled out by daybreak Wednesday morning. Man, Hip-Hop sure as Hell isn't what it used to be; So, it's a good thing there are still groups like CZARFACE that manage to keep 90's Boom-Bap traditions alive! Inspectah Deck, 7L & Esoteric first linked up for the "Speaking Real Words" 12" (1999) and finally ended up reuniting now, some 14 years later. "We are CZARFACE because they know our faces and they know us for being dope rhyme suppliers, like Tony Montana we are known for our balls and our word; Lyrically we will conquer the world and everything in it," Inspectah Deck began to vividly detail in a press release ... "CZARFACE is a vigilante. He's and anti-hero character who serves as the face of the project and his focus is on annihil...

"Fuck 1 Time" is quite arguably the most gripping, utterly revealing music video of 2012. It was filmed in the post-apocalyptic-looking world that is Lower East Side [New York] after Hurricane Sandy ; Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire 's face is dimly lit by whatever lighting Shane Annas and crew could scrounge together... flashlights, police car "cherry tops," mag lights, cell phones, etc. It's an eerily realistic clip that chronicles one of the toughest, most unifying natural disasters our nation as a whole has been through since Katrina (2005). The track's pulled from Mr. MFN eXquire 's guerrilla mixtape, The Man In The High Castle , which Universal has essentially pulled from the vast cyber-waves of The Internet . Sonically, he kinda sounds like a comic book/ WWE -loving mix between Biggie & ODB . Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire rolls with a crew of up-and-coming New York area rappers: Action Bronson , El-P, Danny Brown , Das Racist , Go...

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire is hands down one of the most outlandish, characteristically "un-commercial" major label signees to co-align with the big dogs since... I don't know, Frank Zappa or Alice Cooper . Mr. MFN eXquire is basically like a more crazy/broke version of Biggie & Ol' Dirty Bastard , who frequently raps about comic books, pro wrestling, and bitches; Tom Breihan almost perfectly described his overall persona once as "the perma-drunk guy in your building, the one who's still PARTYING loudly @ 4a.m. but who never gets told to keep it down, since he makes everyone vaguely nervous." Power & Passion EP/mixtape is slated for an Oct. 30-31st release, making it his first project since initially signing a deal with Universal Records back in April-May. Mr. MFN eXquire manages to lace up some pretty slick rhymes, which are then over-laid on top of a beat hi-jacked from 50 Cent 's sophomore album The Massacre , "Position of Po...

Lately, El-P 's stream of recent output(s) have been pretty shocking, original, and un-apologetic ALL @ once... if that even fucking humanly possible in this sickeningly over-saturated marketplace! Much like his records , El-P 's new music video, "The Full Retard" is painfully brash and almost uncomfortably in-your-face. In an attempt to defend his art, El-P recently described "The Full Retard" to Pitchfork : "Did I give a shit [if it's offensive]? Of course not. I don't care. It's a fucking joke, a Pop Culture reference. Even the context of that reference itself isn't making fun of retarded people -- It's people condescending to retarded people. I mean, honestly. Blow me . " Call it "offensive" or whatever you'd like, but Timothy Saccenti manages to direct a video that's equal parts jacked up and oddly appeal/endearing. Through out the course of "The Full Retard" 's plotline, El-Producto ...

The Roots became Jimmy Fallon 's in-house band [comedic relief] when Late Night originally kicked off back in 2009. All the while, they've still somehow managed to produce 2 studio albums (How I Got Over & undun) , as well as supply session work for John Legend , Duffy, Booker T. D'Angelo , and the late Amy Winehouse . ?uestlove recently became little Blue Ivy 's godfather and started a road-side food service truck, "Quest Loves Food." Since re-discovering this new-found sense of fame that came along with their 13th full-length album, The Roots have been asked to curate 2 separate yearly festivals: The Roots Picnic and July 4th Jam (Philly). One of the first BIG festivals of Summer [concert] season, The 5th Annual Roots Picnic is actually taking place this upcoming weekend - June 2 & 3rd. The Legendary Roots Crew will be playing a full "solo" set, backing De La Soul , and re-creating Paid In Full with Eric B. & Rakim ; They al...

It's no secret that I stay in quite close contact with Das Racist 's inner [rapper-producer] circle: Victor Vazquez , kechPhrase, Kassa Overall , and Daplib (Pedro) @ Illuminati Zone . Talking with these Brooklyn -based artists as of late, "Fat Tony" is a name that comes up in conversation pretty damn often! Originally based out of Houston , Fat Tony is currently prepping the follow-up to his last effort, RABDARGAB (2010); Double Dragon , which was produced along with Tom Cruz , will be released by newly-formed Indie Hip-Hop imprint, Young One this upcoming June 1st. It's set to feature contributions from 10ille , MURS, TECLA , Main Attrakionz, and Ninjasonik . Fat Tony 's record label roster also includes the likes of Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire , Cities Aviv, Main Attrakionz , and Children of The Night . Along with Young One 's formative announcement and mixtape sampler release, Fat Tony & Tom Cruz debuted Double Dragon 's premier single:...

For all intensive purposes, El-P and his Brooklyn -based crew, Company Flow (1992-2002) essentially spearheaded the formation of East Coast Underground ["Indie"] Hip-Hop . Company Flow has since disbanded and El-P recently dissolved his own record label, Definitive Jux . But El-Producto is still fairly active as a producer, solo artist, graphic designer, etc. Fresh on the heels of his upcoming solo album, Cancer for Cure (May 22nd), El-P has carefully re-aligned himself with the Brooklyn scene that he once helped create. Much like a returning, hard-partying frat boy, El-P now rolls with Indie Hip-Hop 's finest up-and-comers: Das Racist , Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire , Danny Brown, Killer Mike , Nocando, Aesop Rock , Despot, Cannibal Ox , and... The Mars Volta? El-P most recently lent his production talents to Das Racist and Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire 's breakthrough efforts, Relax/Lost In Translation ; Even spitting a few memorable bars, for good measure...

Brooklyn rapper Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire has signed with Universal Republic , Billboard has learned and confirmed with the label. The news came on the heels of a SXSW 2012 panel eXquire participated on Wednesday (March 14), "The Importance of Online Video & Social Media," a topic in which the rapper is quite well-versed. Since posting his $400 video for "Huzzah" on YouTube last spring, eXquire ignited the attention of the Underground Hip-Hop community and the Indie blog circuit alike, making Pitchfork 's year-end list and attracting interest from rappers like Danny Brown and Das Racist , who guested on a remix of "Huzzah." - Andrew Hampp (Billboard) In November of last year, as the rapper's success began to rise, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire took to his Tumblr to share a few words: "What [an] ill fuckin' journey this year has been for me! When that New Year's Ball dropped, I would have never thought I'd be on...

Himanshu "Heems" K. Suri is really the only [rapping] person who can ACTUALLY pull off sounding so smart/dumb all @ once, without coming off as a complete and total toolbag. It almost seems like "WOMYN," which was the premier track debuted from Nehru Jackets (June) and still my personal favourite... is being told through the voice of Saved By The Bell 's very own "AC Slater." Indeed, yet another fine Pop Culture reference from America 's favourite brown Indie Hip-Hopper ! Remember that one time that Jessie told him that girls don't like being called "chicks" and would much rather prefer "women" instead? Well, this is kinda like after that, when Slater [trying his absolute best] continued to use "women" in the totally wrong tense. OK well, maybe that last part didn't really happen on Saved By The Bell . But it's highly plausible and that what Heems & Mike Finito Lakutis proceed to do here, an...

Danny Brown is far from shy about his love affair with prescription drugs and is often coincidentally referred to as "Adderall Admiral." Since releasing his 2010 debut project: The Hybrid , Brown has constructed a joint street album with Tony Yayo (G-Unit) , liberated a loose concept mixtape - XXX , dubbed up a RELAX ing verse for Das Racist , and appeared within Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire 's posse cut [remix]: "Huzzah!" Motor City Brown 's latest contribution to the world is... some appended bars to an alternate remix of AraabMUZIK's flip of The Big Pink 's come-back lead single, "Stay Gold." Come Nov. 1st, Fat Beats will unleash Black & Brown EP; A collaborative 10-track effort... a sequel of sorts, between Detroit "Boom-Bap" pioneers, Black Milk and Danny Brown . Thanks to a tip provided by the lovely PR wonder Rosalinda Ruiz, I was directed to an easily accessible full stream of said joint EP. With the excepti...

New-comer Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire reminds me very much of Biz Markie ... wherein @ any given moment in time, you're not entirely sure if he's fucked up, prolific, "mental" [zany], or TOTALLY serious. Last week, Мишка (Mishka) liberated eXquire's debut mixtape, Lost In Translation , to the masses. It's 18 contained tracks channel that raw energy/talent that Tom Breihan & I have [very] recently championed. The mixtape features beats pain-stakingly crafted by Charli Brown Beatz, Necro, El-P (Cannibal Ox), Constrobuz, Jake-One, BoweryBeats, Esoteric , and eXquire himself. Note: The young New York rapper's vocal stylings may remind seasoned fans of Wu-Tang Soldier, Method Man 's notorious rhyming abilities. For all intensive purposes, "Huzzah" is being pushed as Lost In Translation 's lead single. Directed by TKTK Media and filmed entirely in black-and-white, the music video for "Huzzah" (Bonus Remix) features fellow...