The Witzard

Digital Underground doesn't really get the respect it deserves, I'd say. They were wildly inventive, balancing silliness with musical chops, and were, arguably, instrumental in starting the wave of George Clinton/Funkadelic-inspired sound that would dominate mid-to-late 90's Hip-Hop. Of course, they, also, introduced us to 2pac and were an integral part of one of the craziest movies of all time, Nothing But Trouble. And Shock G took the Rap alter-ego to new extremes with the Humpty Hump persona, to the point where many people didn't realize they were the same person. We could assume this was inspirational for Kool Keith & MF DOOM, among many others. A lesser-known alter-ego of Shock's was The Piano Man, who was credited with much of the group's instrumentation and production. As Rackadelic, he created their iconic cover and liner [note] artwork. These alter-egos, also, including MC Blowfish, The Computer Woman, and more, all served to obscure the fact

Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band (BRSB) is a rather mysterious steel pan outfit hailing from Hamburg, Germany who have amassed a cult following around the globe. BRSB features Ben Greenslade-Stanton & Björn Wagner and anywhere from one to eight additional musicians. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's previous two efforts, 55 & The Serpent's Mouth , boasted a wide array of genre-spanning steel pan instrumental covers, including 50 Cent , John Holt, Mobb Deep, Dennis Coffey, Faith Evans, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Dr. Dre. Mary J. Blige, Gang Starr, and Amerie. Now, BRSB have returned once more with the announcement of their third proper album, Expansions, due out later this summer on Big Crown Records. Expansions by Bacao Rhythm and Steel Band "On their third album, aptly titled Expansions, BRSB are back with more of the same, but more of the same with them is inherently different," explains Big Crown within a press statement. Again, covering songs that span genres a

MF DOOM "Dead Bent #2" Still (SOURCE: @ABL) "MF DOOM is among the greatest artists of his time. This long-lost piece we made together in 2000 belongs in a proper gallery, so I'm putting it on auction today on @withFND! Globe with meridians *50% of proceeds to go to The DOOM Estate* Good luck. #MFDOOM #NFTart #NFT," ABL (@AdamBhalaLough) shared on Twitter earlier this week. For starters, "NFT" stands for a "non-fungible token," whatever that means... Adam Lough has directed music videos for everyone from El-P to Lil' B and notoriously created villainous clips for MF DOOM's "Dead Bent," "?" and "Benzoin Gum" AKA "Lemon Grass." Said unreleased version of "Dead Bent #2" was filmed on 1st Avenue in The East Village, New York, NY, November 2000—the same day as the original "Dead Bent" we all know and love. Lough explains it was shot on Kodak 7231 Plus-X negative black-and-white

Back in 2019, Los Angeles emcee Alex Ludovico continued his ongoing #MedicineMondays weekly singles series and last year, he did something similar with #RewindWednesdays. His Bandcamp page explains, "Drugs, sex, and Hip-Hop. Alex Ludovico, born in Gary, IN and created in Chicago, is the living embodiment of that credo." One of our personal favorite moments from 2019's #MedicineMondays roll-out was Ludovico's collaborative EP with fellow Chicagoan Jason Griff entitled Scarf Tissue. Upon returning from our honeymoon to Italy, we immediately linked up with Griff & Alex Ludovico, via email, to talk about their phenomenal Scarf Tissue EP. They were kind enough to help us assemble a comprehensive track-by-track (All-around) Breakdown for Scarf Tissue. Not long after, following a string of one-off singles, Alex Ludovico & Jason Griff returned with the first proper EP of #RewindWednesdays, THE RED MAN IS HERE. RUN. For THE RED MAN IS HERE. RUN. We got a chance to

Black Rob - The Black Rob Report CD (CREDIT: Jonathan Mannion) Son Raw is a freelance music writer and producer. A few decades removed from their peak, there are two things we can say for certain about Sean Combs and Bad Boy Records. First, they dropped some of the greatest, commercially-minded Hip-Hop and R&B records of the turn of The Millennium. Rap purists will exalt Biggie's two classics alone, but [Ma$e's] Harlem World is the one Jiggy album you need, Faith [Evans] & 112 birthed a generation of Hip-Hop/Soul (and soundtracked the conception of another) and after their late 90's peak, Diddy doggedly kept searching for his next great emcee, never finding him, but releasing great records in the process. Second, Bad Boy is a deeply cursed label and Sean Combs has a terrible track record of caring for his artists. Biggie was murdered in cold blood during a completely avoidable trip to Los Angeles after an over-hyped label feud. Ma$e was run out [of] the busi

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie "Prince" Billy (CREDIT: Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe) Matt Sweeney & Bonnie "Prince" Billy—otherwise known as Will Oldham—first collaborated on Superwolf way back in 2005. It's a phenomenal chilled-out Indie/Blues Rock hybrid that, I believe, was one of my first exposures to Indie Rock. Sweeney & Billy have been coyly teasing a proper Superwolf follow-up for quite a few years now and have worked togetehr on occasion; namely, their I Gave You EP, a 2010 single dubbed Must Be Blind / Life in Muscle, [adult swim] Singles Series submission "Love In The Hot Afternoon," a cover of "Storms" for Just Tell Me That You Want Me: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac, "You'll Get Eaten, Too" (billed as "Superwolf") in 2020, and "OD'd In Denver" as part of Bill Callahan & Bonnie "Prince" Billy's ongoing singles series. Back in February, Matt Sweeney & Bonnie "Pri