The Witzard

Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with everyone from the Beastie Boys to Spin Doctors. Biz's film and television appearances...

CREDIT: James Reitano (TFU Studios) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "In summer of 2003, I'd re-discovered the Grantray-Lawrence series of Marvel Comics cartoons. I distinctly remember these as a kid that my brother and I would laugh and make fun of these embarassingly simple animations. Marvel was trying to get into the animation business and using the actual 60's comic art,...

Last month, Stones Throw (@stonesthrow) mysteriously posted " @edanexists & @homeboysandman are working on some music together, which will debut at our SXSW showcase this Friday" on their Instagram page, which has since garnered 2,667+ Likes. As should be expect, for anyone interested in Indie/Underground Hip-Hop , a few of my writer friends and I went nuts on Rap Twitter . About for weeks have passed with no additional mention of Sandman & Edan 's rumored collaborative efforts from Stones Throw . Just this morning, on a whim, I decided to check Stones Throw 's home page and BAM! there it was: "Homeboy Sandman & Edan #NeverUseTheInternetAgain" —right there in the middle column of the front page. It seems as though no one (aside from RAW DRIVE ) had noticed or even checked Stones Throw 's site for the past 7 hours or so, this including myself! While on a roll about the downsides of The Internet , Sandman jokingly(?) rhymes: "Inter...

J Dilla + Michael Jackson = Share My Bed by J.Rocc It's safe to say, I've been patiently awaiting J.Rocc 's J Dilla & Michael Jackson -blending mash-up project ever since Stones Throw posted: " Share My Bed=M.J. & Dilla 1st track "Player Has Butterflies" ... wait 4 the rest" nearly 10 years ago back in November 2009. Over the years, a handful of tracks have been sporadically leaked out from the project—alternatively, referred to as "Dil Jackson" —but every year, as Dilla Month (February) comes and goes, I've always wondered, if we would ever hear the entirety of J.Rocc 's Share My Bed . Even this year, J Dilla 's birthday, Feb. 7th (same as my dad's!) passed, as well as Feb. 10th, the 12th anniversary of his passing, and still, no signs of J.Rocc 's anxiously-awaited Dil Jackson project. However, just a few days ago, on Valentine's Day , J.Rocc quietly dropped Share My Bed on his Bandcamp , without any pr...

“There’s a song on there called "Shine Your Light" ["This Little Light"] and it’s about people being more aware about things happening in their government and the society around them. Using that awareness to spread light to other people about what’s going on,” Aloe Blacc revealed during a 2011 interview with Cuepoint @ Medium Managing Editor & Co-creator Mike "DJ" Pizzo . Blacc was referring to his Joanna Newsom "The Book of Right-On" (or The Roots "Right On" )-sampling "Shine Your Light," now slightly re-titled "This Little Light," from his long-rumored comeback with 1999-2006 rapper-producer group Emanon . It appears as though Aloe Blacc 's Exile -produced Dystopia EPx2 , which was somewhat surprised released this past Blacc(k) Friday , has been completed in some form since around 2011 and back then, may have been called either Bird's Eye View or Bullet ; " Emanon ’s Bird’s Eye View has...

"The video began taking shape a year ago. Fab [5 Freddy] and I have been friends for a while now and we connected with Peanut Butter Wolf . Wolf thought Vex Ruffin would be a great fit with my animation style. The video and song have strong connection to Fab 's earlier Hip-Hop NYC roots. I started as an experimental animator, so this was a great chance for me to get real crazy with it. Giving a nod to the early 80's experimental films that the sound is inspired from," director and animator Ben Marlowe wrote within an email Wednesday afternoon, concerning his latest creation, "The Balance." Marlowe says it was "filmed, then created using a [combination] of hand animation and special effects" over the course of the past year. "The Balance" is Vex Ruffin 's first properly released sampling of new music since his self-titled (alternatively known as ¢ ) 2013 Stones Throw debut full-length; while it additionally serves as one-tim...

Full disclosure: Lions producer-guitarist and founding member Dan Ubick and I are friends, frequent collaborators, and mutual fans of each others' collected bodies of work (or at least, I would like to think so). With that said, it's really a no-brainer that nearly any given time Ubick and his number of creative outlets decide to unleash genre-blending music upon the unsuspecting world, I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity to write a piece centered around it; I've previously had the wonderful opportunity to interview Dan twice before, coinciding with the releases of The Lions' This Generation and Soul Riot, as well as having the coveted honor to premier their Ross Harris-directed Clash re-interpretation, "The Magnificent Dance." In addition to The Lions and former Stones Throw-signed Funk/Breakbeat group Breakestra, Ubick has been fortunate enough to work with everyone from Snoop Lion to storied emcee Big Daddy Kane and even formed his own The Beatles/S...

"You may find that after listening to the project, it's nearly impossible to get it out of your head. It's only a matter of time before you share it with others," was a running unofficial mission statement during the relatively quiet roll-out for Homeboy Sandman & Aesop Rock 's December-released and incredibly infectious Lice EP . Sandman & Rock , two seasoned underground vets who have collectively been active in the rap game for about 20 years and have forged ties with Blu , Felt, Madlib , Kimya Dawson, D as Racist , Hail Mary Mallone, El-P , Nevermen co-founder Doseone, Atmosphere emcee Slug , and Paul White. Charles Hamilton -produced Lice EP closer "Get a Dog" utilizes a phenomenally unexpected and rather hard-hitting sample culled from Linkin Park 's 2000 break-out hit, "One Step Closer" and now, group emcee Mike Shinoda has submitted an original remix, effectively bringing the sample-based collaboration full circle. ...

"If my mother knew I was in show business now, she would worry herself just sick... she thinks I'm in Philadelphia sellin' dope," reads a comical Richard Pryor -esque bit from an unknown comic; it acts as the spoken-word intro to Guilty Simpson 's "Blunts In The Air," which dually serves as an unofficial mantra throughout Guilty 's hard-as-nails Katalyst -produced Detroit's Son . Guilty & Katalyst first met during the recording sessions that would ultimately yield Geoff Barrow 's 35-member Hip-Hop collective Quakers' self-titled Stones Throw debut (2012). Detroit's Son 's introductory track, "R.I.P." is actually a vocal version of Katalyst 's "R.I.P." instrumental lifted from Quakers , which seamlessly ties the two projects together right off the bat. Although it was initially billed as a "Guilty Simpson x Quakers" project upon the release of THE SIMPSON TAPE , Detroit's Son was...

"Holy sh*t! Here's a new song we made [with] Homeboy Sandman for our show together Friday," now-defunct New York Hip-Hop revivalists Das Racist Tweeted way back when in 2010, promoting a then-upcoming November 5th Southpaw gig along with a pre- Stones Throw Angel del Villar II ; if I remember correctly, "I'm Up On That" was the very first time I had ever been treated to the sweet, rhythmic sounds of Homeboy Sandman , who's comfortably seated as one of Stones Throw 's sharpest emcees. "Here's a new track from Homeboy Sandman , as the MC (and amazing live performer) kicks off a couple weeks of live dates through the east and southern states, culminating with a couple Texas shows with Stones Throw crew [Peanut Butter] Wolf , J Rocc & Guilty Simpson ," Stones Throw wrote in a recent quick-strike press release accompanying Sandman's latest non-album Soundcloud loosie. '"Nonbelievers" produced by EL RNTC . T...

" ["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 ...

Following an initial batch of emailed conversations around Thanksgiving, former Stones Throw General Manager and Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt and I decided to reconvene after the holidays to conduct an all-inclusive interview for this very site, The Witzard; and now, a few months later, it has finally come to fruition. Egon worked closely with J Dilla during his final years and shacked up at the infamous Stones Throw home/studio with Madlib, MF DOOM, Jeff Jank, and Peanut Butter Wolf during the making of MADVILLAINY. Available here in its complete unedited long-form, out full emailed conversation touches on Alapatt's tenure at Stones Throw, Dilla's unreleased food-themed beat CD's, the incomplete "MADVILLAINY 2" sessions, Madlib & Yasiin Bey (Mos Def)'s rumored "Zamrock" project, Biz Markie's notorious record fibbs, and his independent publishing house, Sinecure Books. Feel free to read and repeatedly enjoy our t...

"I just emailed [Peanut Butter Wolf] : "Would you like to go record shopping?" And I couldn't believe it, but he wrote back and said: "Sure." So, his show [in Austin ] happened to be the night of my prom, so I took my date to his show, her name was Cindy Huckabee . I took her to the show and I met Wolf and was still wearing my tux and we just kind of hung out for the next few days," James Pants lamented to Red Bull Music Academy concerning his first chance meeting with Stones Throw label-head, Peanut Butter Wolf . Pants' debut album, Welcome (2008), which garnered famous fans such as Tyler, The Creator , Gary Wilson, and Mayer Hawthorne , more or less helped spearhead what I'd loosely refer to as Stones Throw 's post- Jaylib "outsider artists" movement. James Pants' first album in four years, Savage , was reportedly "inspired by Martin Denny flourishes, royalty-free breakbeats, Gary Wilson , and Hamburg 's ...

"This new batch of tunes came straight from the heart on all fronts. With everything that's going on today we wanted to make an album that speaks to peoples emotions and frustrations while also giving them a chance to dance and release some stress," lamented Lions producer, guitarist, and master-mind Dan Ubick. His LA-based 12-member+ Reggae revival group, The Lions, are gearing up to unleash their third genre-blending album, Soul Riot on Stones Throw this upcoming February 10th. While I previously conducted an in-depth interview with Ubick a couple years back to coincide with This Generation, I couldn't resist the opportunity to publish yet another all-inclusive 12-part Q&A. The Lions' 2LP Soul Riot album is currently available for pre-order over at the Stones Throw Store weeks ahead of its proper release; I must admit, I've been spinnin' an advance copy for a week or so now, and it's definitely something worth picking up for seasoned and new-fo...