The Witzard

Ben Merlis in a BOLD T-shirt pictured with Mr. T (CREDIT: Wyatt Lavasseur) I think about the intersection of Punk & Hip-Hop quite often. Both are street-level genres that were initially rejected by the mainstream, chided for not being "real music." Punks had to book shows at VFW halls and DJ crews set up in public parks well before most of the performers or audience was of drinking age. Both fostered fanatical devotees, who argue that these are, actually, all-encompassing cultures, rather than radio formats or sections in record stores. Being that Punk & Hip-Hop have so much in common, it shouldn't be a surprise that some of the first people outside The Bronx to be bit by "The Rap Bug" were Punks. Dante Ross, who grew up on The Lower East Side of Manhattan going to see bands like Sham 69 wound up doing A&R for Tommy Boy and Elektra, signing groups like Brand Nubian, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, and K.M.D. One of his bosses back then, Tommy Boy ...

[adult swim] Festival 2020 held virtually this past weekend, Novemeber 13-14th, was billed as "MUSIC, COMEDY, AND MAYHEM FROM YOUR COUCH!" and was streamed exclusively on YouTube in real-time. Broken down into separate categories such as Music, Watch Party, Live, and Giveaway, [as] Fest's performers included D∆WN, J.I.D. KAYTRANADA, Mastodon, Open Mike Eagle, Robyn, Run The Jewels, Colin Stetson (Bon Iver,) Thundercat & Ariana Grande , Tycho, and Kamasi Washington. With said performances, appearances, DJ sets, premieres, and specials being streaming online from about 2:00pm-12:20am Friday and 10:00am-11:50 Saturday, we decided to set some Reminders for specific performances that interested us most. Although, now, both full-day live sets are streaming on YouTube in their entirety, as well as separate segments for each respective artist, performer, or special. So, for purposes of this specific feature, we decided to focus on a number of particular performances tha...

Nate Patrin Author Photo (CREDIT: Craig VanDerSchaegen) "So, I put together a [playlist] that comprises my favorite moments of Hip-Hop & Punk intersecting, intentionally or otherwise, from the old school to the current moment. It ranges from Downtown NYC Crossover efforts to sample flips to all-out collabos, and spans a broad range of both genres—so, it's more of a historical overview, than a cohesive snapshot of a particular sound. That said, I f**k with each and every one of these songs, 100%." With The Quickness #7: Nate Patrin's Adidas In The Pit/Punk Meets Hip-Hop Playlist 01. The Clash - "This Is Radio Clash" Samples: J. Bodewalt Lampe - "Mysterioso Pizzicato" 02. ESG - "UFO" Sampled By: The Notorious B.I.G. J Dilla, Big Daddy Kane, MF DOOM, Q-Tip, Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails, and more 03. Liquid Liquid - "Cavern" Sampled By: Grand Master Melle Mel, Guru, Doug E. Fresh, The Notorious B.I.G. 2 Live Cr...

Honestly, at this point in time, Run The Jewels (RTJ) should require absolutely no introduction... but, just to be safe, here's a brief/obligatory introduction: RTJ consists of rapper/producer and Definitive "Def" Jux co-founder El-P and emcee and OutKast affiliate Killer Mike . Legend has it, El & Mike first met on the set of Mr. Muthaf**kin' eXquire's "The Last Huzzah" (Remix) music video shoot. Soon after, [adult swim] Senior Vice President/Creative Director Jason DeMarco—then, at Williams Street Records—connected Killer Mike with El-P , who would produce his phenomenal 2012 album, R.A.P. Music. Mike , additionally, appeared alongside El on his own 2012 Fat Possum Records album, Cancer 4 Cure, on stand-out track, "Tougher Colder Killer." R.A.P. Music & Cancer 4 Cure were released weeks apart, so fast friends Killer Mike & El-P decided to tour together behind their then-new albums. After the widespread success of said tou...

Just The Tip by DJ T-Rock and Mr. Dibbs Mr. Dibbs is a producer, circuit-bending artist, and long-time touring DJ for Atmosphere , El-P, Run The Jewels , and Eyedea. DJ T-Rock is a modern-day "cowboy," aspiring actor, and experienced turntablist with recent releases on Cold Busted . Mr. Dibbs & DJ T-Rock have known each other for at least 16 years with one of their earliest appearances on-record together being "Porntablist" from Side F of Dibbs' acclaimed 2003 Rhymesayers Ent. 3xLP, The 30th Song . DJ T-Rock & Mr. Dibbs have since collaborated countless times, including: "Dibbs (Outro)" from RAP ON ME? THE ORFANZ EP , "Rock Out" from DJ T-Rock & Squashy Nice Present: OUTLOUD , A.P.S.O.'s single "The Isle" with @E_makes_music, and a mysterious project called Travel Lodge 305 . Now, Mr. Dibbs & DJ T-Rock have once again reunited as Porntablists to collectively display "the art of manipulating po...

A couple months ago, Eminem surprise released his tenth studio album, Kamikaze , overnight between Thursday, August 30th into the early morning hours of Friday, August 31st with no prior announcement whatsoever. Kamikaze first caught my attention because of its front and back album artwork, an obvious homage to the Beastie Boys' genre-shaping 1986 debut, License to Ill , complete with cleverly scrawled "TIKCU5" and "FU-2" fighter jet tags. An obvious rebuttal to Eminem 's widely-loathed and seemingly half-a$$ed 2017 album, Revival , Kamikaze , however, made headlines for homophobic slurs on Justin Vernon -assisted "Fall" allegedly, aimed towards controversial rapper/producer Tyler, The Creator . While, yes, this is unfortunate Em is still using such homophobic slurs in 2018, honestly, is anyone really all that surprised? Not that it makes it right, but Eminem has, unfortunately, been using racial, homophobic, misogynistic, and hateful speec...

Mr. Dibbs is a world-renown DJ, turntablist, and producer hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. Dibbs is the founder of ever-evolving DJ crew 1200 Hobos, is the co-founder of "America's Largest Hip-Hop Festival," Scribble Jam , and has had a career-long allegiance to Atmosphere's Slug & Ant, Sab The Artist & Siddiq's Rhymesayers Ent. For years, Mr. Dibbs served as the touring DJ for Atmosphere, El-P, Run The Jewels, and Eyedea. Dibbs' music has appeared on countless soundtracks and compilations, including, but not limited to Alien Workshop's Photosynthesis, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground (THUG,) and Peanut Butter Wolf's My Vinyl Weighs a Ton , as well as numerous Warped Tour comps. Over the course of his storied career, Mr. Dibbs has worked with the likes of The Black Keys, Buck 65, cLOUDDEAD, doseone & Jel (as Presage,) DJ Mayonnaise, El-P, Felt, Gym Class Heroes, MURS, Playdough, Sage Francis, Terror, Themselves, and...

"someone did a mash up album of @qotsa vocals over various music i've made and it's kind of awesome. thanks for this weird gift @boototom," el-p (@therealelp) wrote within an enthusiastic April 3, 2018 Tweet. To be honest, I hadn't heard about ToToM's El-Q album either, until El-P Tweeted about it, but once I delved in and started listening, I thoroughly enjoyed it! ToToM is the production alias of Paris-based "bastard pirate producer" Thomas Boivin; after a bit of investigative journalism, I was able to get in direct contact with the mysterious producer himself. ToToM has been constructing genre-eschewing mash-ups AKA bootlegs AKA "Bastard Pop" since about 2005-06 and readily lists DJ Zebra, Nine Inch Nails, La Phaze, and LCD Soundsystem amongst his greatest sources of influence. He's released collaborative mash-up albums with SpareElbowSkin, Fissunix & Colatron (B.I.M.A.) MichMash, Shoefiti, MsMiep, and La Phaze, as well as on...

Not only will 2018 be my 30th year atop this, as Tears for Fears put it, "very, very mad world," it's poised to me my most successful and plentiful year yet, both personally and professionally: it will be my lovely fiance, Caroline and I's first full year in our new home and we're planning our wedding for this upcoming Fall . This year, I'm planning to re-launch The Witzard with my own site at TheWitzard.com with an original logo designed by graphic artist John Wong . I'm also, planning to launch a number of recurring columns and initiatives here, in addition to 3 Feet High & Rising , Beat-maker Bedrock , Run It Back , Wax Watchers , and The Witzard's Top 5 . One of which including a tentatively-titled track-by-track breakdown column, wherein I plan to have a select group of artists literally, breakdown their latest of upcoming releases; this including, but not limited to, UK emcee Charles Edison , DJ Chong Wizard, Reggae revivalists Super H...

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 ...

"Thank God I can finally say publicly HERE'S A ZACK DE LA ROCHA SONG I PRODUCED... and shout out to my friends @nickhook and [Matt Sweeney] . They are both playing on the jam, as well... the [Zack de la Rocha] the album is happening. 2017... and that's all the info I'm authorized to give out... and yes, this is new material made this year and yes, there is more where that came from," @therealelp revealed on Twitter early Thursday morning, concerning one-time(?) Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha 's first solo single in over a decade. "Been keeping my mouth shut about my work with Zack since January when we did it. It hurt. Now, I'll commence keeping my mouth shut about the rest," an exuberant El-P gushingly continued. Aside from his short-lived 2008-11 group formed with The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore and The Locust keyboardist and organ player Joey Karam , which produced a single 5-track One Day As a Lion EP , d...

Let me just preface this week's slightly abridged edition of The Witzard's Week In Rap by first explaining that while I could be covering Kanye 's "newly updated, remixed, and remastered version" of haphazardly-assembled steaming pile of s*it The Life of Pablo , I'm not even going to be giving his second of what could likely end up being umpteenth mixes, recently dubbed a "continuous process" by Def Jam , the sheer satisfaction of even buying into and covering it; however, with that said, his Sampha -assisted "Saint Pablo" (formerly titled "Closest Thing to Einstein" ) from his second of three rumored in-the-works albums, Turbo Grafx 16 , is likely as strong, lyrically verbose, and dare I say, self-reflective as Kanye 's sounded since Jay Z -helmed Watch The Throne or even 808's & Heartbreak . For what it's worth, a couple contenders for "honorable mentions" released sporadically throughout the week s...

"When we heard that [Run The Jewels] were fans and down to get on this beat, I was super excited... but cautiously so. I knew this was the type of beat that they could just eat for breakfast; but I was hoping that the whole thing wouldn't come off sounding too retro. I was at Emile Haynie 's house when the email with the mix came through and so, we stopped what we were doing to throw it up on the speakers," 1/3 of self-described "three-headed band with one man name" Andrew Wyatt recently wrote in an email sent to The FADER . Miike Snow is a world-renown Swedish-American Indie/Synthpop band consisting of Wyatt along with Christian Karlsson & Pontus Winnberg , who together function as songwriting and production duo Bloodshy & Avant ; they've collectively produced chart-topping hits for everyone from Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas to Britney Spears (including "Toxic" and "Piece of Me" ). Although, Hip-Hop isn't ...