The Witzard

"Around the beginning of 2016, Ernest [Greene AKA Washed Out ] and his management got in touch and sent me a handful of songs to listen to from his forthcoming album, Mister Mellow with the intention of me choosing one to make a video for. I'd really enjoyed his previous albums, so I was definitely into the idea of working on something for him. A bit of time passed and in that time, Ernest decided he wanted me to work on a particular track which turned out to be "Time Off." That was cool with me, as I really loved the laid-back vibe and the YouTube sample of a kid letting the world know that you need to take time off now and again... and sometimes, that involves smoking a huge joint. Ernest gave me a little direction, starting with what work he liked of mine and what kinda vibe he felt the video needed. In fact, he [was] quite specific about the importance of slowing down the pace, as the previous song was quite lively and the one after, too was pretty upbea...

"I guess you were involved in the initial kick-start for the particular project. On my Instagram , I make a lot of random little moving image sketches and one of them, I ended up using a Jonwayne beat from a beat tape called Here You Go that he made for House Shoes' [Street Corner Music.] I think you left a comment on the post and cc'ed Jon , at the time and he dropped me a line to tell me about his new album," animator and director RUFFMERCY wrote within a recent email. I seriously had absolutely NO IDEA I was even remotely "involved" within the "creation" of Jonwayne 's latest RUFFMERCY -directed video, until a few short hours ago. "He thought the sketch I had made for that beat could be a great starting point for the skit/track "LIVE from The F**k You" he had on the album Rap Album Two . We had a little [conversation] on [Instagram] about the aesthetic and a possible idea of half-type, half-something; Jon himself sugg...

"Following the release of their debut album YES LAWD! in October, Nxworries makes their TV debut with a live performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night. The duo [performed] their song, "What More Can I Say?" off of YES LAWD! backed by a string quartet arranged by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson . The performance can be viewed online on NBC 's website now," reads a fragmented chuck of a Wednesday morning press release I received from Duncan Will at Orienteer (formerly Liberal Arts and Life or Death PR ). Anderson.Paak & Knxwledge made their collective late night TV debut on a special Valentine's Day episode of The Tonight Show alongside Ice Cube 's Fist Fight co-star Charlie Day and socialite Kendall Jenner . I have to admit, "What More Can I Say?" was entirely unlike anything I had ever previously seen on late night TV; playing out more like a live-shot music video than your run-of-the-mill pre-recorded late nig...

While my recent Best Albums, EP's & Mixtapes of 2016 List didn't include any type of "Honorable Mentions" section, if it had, it would have likely included the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Blink-182, Nxworries, and J-Zone (for Fish-n-Grits). Aftermath crooner Anderson.Paak and beat-maker Knxwledge's full-length debut as Nxworreis, YES LAWD! It's equal parts The Roots, D'Angelo, J Dilla, and Drake; a perfect mix of Hip-Hop and modern day R&B, easily one of Stones Throw's absolute strongest, most cohesive releases in years. I really haven't given Nxworries' YES LAWD! a whole lot of coverage here at The Witzard (aside from the early singles) and have really just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to write about Anderson.Paak & Knxwledge again... until this past Thursday afternoon, when I heard about Nxworries' "SIDEPIECE" music video filmed at Stones Throw "in the dungeon" by director Ross ...

"The silver vehicle featured in ["Du-Rag vs. Headband"] is also an E31 8 Series BMW , an “M8;" the only prototype ever produced (one that was reportedly not even road safe) was locked away by BMW in the company’s Giftschrank (poison storage). BMW and The M Division had strongly denied that the car was even a possibility, since the initial stages of its development. The only public showing of the car happened on August 17, 2012 during The Legends of The Autobahn car show held in Carmel, California . The car was specially shipped from Germany for the appearance," Genius contributor @ebuzzell wrote, appended along with "Mash the petal of the 850 ; sound like the thunder cracking." Sharp-tongued Flushing, Queens rapper and former chef turned television personality Action Bronson surprise released his latest non-album single, "Du-Rag vs. Headband" last night at 10:00PM on his VICELAND travelling food show, F*ck, That's Delicio...

"I'm really just trying to write as much as possible. I've been recording and writing all of the material myself over the past two years using just GarageBand and a couple ribbon mics. It's very liberating to be able to begin a new idea or vision on a new instrument, whether it be guitar, bass, piano, or drums. 'The 303 Construct' is definitely a conglomeration of what I've been listening to the past two years being in Denver . I've seen a lot of great musicians—drummers, in particular," Peanut Butter Lovesicle frontman-drummer and New Jersey by way of Pennsylvania native Timmy Miller wrote within a recent email, concerning his forthcoming solo project tentatively titled The 303 Construct . "Affiliating myself as mainly a drummer, I've been enjoying the less-is-more pocket style with some R&B off-beat hi-hat accents. Anderson .Paak 's album, Malibu has some great examples of that and I've really been enjoying watchin...

Heralded as a greenhorn rapper-producer project that's "shaping up to be easily the best thing on Stones Throw in [recent] years," despite the fact that they only have a mere two released tracks under their belt; Nxworries (pronounced: No Worries ) have managed to hone in a unique sound that could characteristically be best described as the missing link between George Clinton 's ground-breaking Parliament-Funkadelic and N.W.A. & Snoop Dogg 's G-Funk sub-genre of 1990's West Coast Hip-Hop that Clinton himself unknowingly helped inspire. Once distilled down to its R&B -leaning Hip-Hop core, Nxworries is essentially a sparse Jaylib -indebted "2 turntables and a microphone"-style project consisting of New Jersey -bred beatsmith Knxwledge and Dr. Dre's latest protégé, LA crooner Anderson .Paak . "He was a big part of me finding a sound that I was looking for and a tone that people are more familiar with now... when I started ...

" ["Suede"] featured the LA -based vocalist's signature rasp and slick talk over a chopped up sample of Gil Scott-Heron 's "The Bottle" courtesy of buzzing beatmaker Knxwledge , his partner in the duo collectively known as Nxworries ," NPR diligently reported late Tuesday afternoon. Nxworries is Stones Throw 's latest Jaylib -style rapper-producer concoction, consisting of Dr. Dre 's R&B crooning Compton -assisant, Anderson.Paak and prolific New Jersey/Philly -bred LA beatsmith Knxwledge . Their lone February-released single, "Suede" is an undisputed Snoop & Dre -influenced creation that's almost reminiscent of George Clinton 's own unique G-Funk -inspiring Parliament-Funkadelic sound. Stones Throw founder and label-head, Peanut Butter Wolf actually briefly appears within Nxworries' newly-minted "Suede" video as his Alyssa Milano -obsessed, Prince -esque alter ego, Folerio . Like-minded ...