The Witzard

I'll keep this intro rather short and sweet, as this one's pretty self-explanatory and cut and dry... while watching the Atlanta Falcons honorable attempt at a Super Bowl LI Champion trophy last night, I saw this rather intriguing @2DopeBoyz-premiered DJ Manipulator (@dustymanip) mix prop up within my Twitter timeline. Its Herbie Hancock & The Headhunters Head Hunters re-appropriating cover artwork is the first thing that caught my eye (I've been obsessed with "Watermelon Man" ever since RS500 ). After a brief, yet highly informative listen, I decided to write a quick email to the self-proclaimed "DJ/Producer/NERD Contact'"s Twitter -listed email contact, which ended up being his manager, Derek "Kas" Kastal . Long story short... Kas quickly got me in touch with DJ Manipulator himself and we decided the best form of "attack" might be some sort of playlist of "Jazz Is Everything" mix breakdown; by around 1:0...

"Yeah, we had worked multiple times in the past on some of my projects and other songs that never gotten released. We had just finished working on the original "Cosmophobia" on a project I did with a guy named Arella Rocket (we have a continuation of that song, "Cosmophobia (Revisited)" on this project.) He really dug the vibe and type of instrumental, so we talked about a doing and project and here we are now," Blu collaborator Fa†e recently told The Witzard within an exclusive emailed statement; Fa†e had previously hand-crafted productions for Blu including "The Last Stop," "Summer/Winter," "3 Feet Higher," an unofficial "The Clean Hand" Remix, and the aforementioned "Cosmophobia." Fa†e seemingly alluded to the project, then titled Blu & Fa†e Present: Open Your Optics to Optimism , as early as February 2016 during a published interview with San Diego CityBeat . Blu 's proper follow-u...

"Hit the HASH [button] at retrohash.com to uncover secret raps over @black_milk madness..." @asherroth somewhat cryptically Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon, accented by a "#hashwednesday" hashtag; a trend which can be attributed to the bulk of Roth's recent post- RetroHash activity, consisting of fully fleshed out non-album tracks haphazardly uploaded to his Asher Paul Roth Soundcloud account. Hash Wednesdays roll call additionally includes Chuck Inglish -produced "That's Cute," "Oren's Not Sure," Fat Tony -assisted "Sushi," "Taking My Time," and Nottz -produced "Blow Yr Head" amongst other questionable non-album loosies. Although many of Asher Roth 's one-time fans and detractors might have quickly written him off as a mere "one-hit wonder" during the five years between "I Love College" -featuring Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his nearly flawless second album Retro...

"It's been four months since Jonwayne graced our pages with "Good Samaritans." And if you ask me, it's been four months too long. Seemingly disappearing off the face of the Earth (see: he deleted his Twitter posts), fans were left in the dark when it came to the talented emcee's next move – if there was one to begin with," 2dopeboyz post-master Shake lamented in a recent piece published early Wednesday morning. Jonwayne has essentially emitted nothing but radio silence from his assorted social media feeds since around January 2014, following the abrupt end of his 8-part Wayniac Mondays freestyle series and his apparent separation from estranged long-time label, Stones Throw Records . However, @jonwayne abruptly re-surfaced from his self-imposed exile late Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning to compose and share the following, rather cryptic, ALL CAPS Tweet: " YOUTUBE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c47SAMqCalQ SOUNDCLOUD : ...

It seems as though veteran TDE emcee Ab-Soul has ripped a page right out of one-time "label-mate" Action Bronson 's book of tricks, essentially rapping over an untouched Jackson Browne track, "These Days," once recorded by both Nico and Gregg Allman . While Browne's track shares it's title with Ab-Soul 's recent third album, These Days... "W.W.S.D." is actually an apparent non-album left-over; "What Would Soul Do" doesn't really even sample Jackson Browne 's original recording, Ab-Soul more or less manages to rap in-between or along with "These Days," which was included on Browne's second album, For Everyman (1973). "Yo, how the f*ck my new girl got me jealous of other girls / I think I live in another world," Ab-Soul ruthless raps as he fades in and out of Jackson Browne's subdued crooning, "And I had a lover / But it's so hard to risk another / These days," a clev...

Let's just say, for argument's sake, that Kanye 's recent Aggro-Hip-Hop meltdown of an album Yeezus is a 10 on a scale of mid-career re-defining albums, which would then put Asher Roth 's long-delayed and well-matured second album, RetroHash at a solid five. It's technically a "Hip-Hop" album at it's beat-centric core, but Blended Babies' genre-blending production work ultimately helps Roth effortlessly bob and weave throughout a gaggle of assorted musical styles; "It's a classy little nugget — very unique — a little Prince , little Jazz , all Asher. You should be proud regardless of what happens commercially. You've created something distinctly you. Almost a concept album. Really good," as Asher Roth 's father David wrote in a praise-filled April 22nd text message. It's been a fairly long tumultuous road for RetroHash , which has been about 3-5 years in-the-making and was tentatively titled both The Spaghetti Tree ...

While a rough, largely unfinished version was leaked a week or 2 ago and then re-upped in a more interactive/customizable form over the weekend, "BLKKK SKKKNHEAD" (Black Skinhead) was finally [officially] uploaded to YouTube mid-Tuesday afternoon. Painstakingly developed by Kanye and director Nick Knight over the past 5+ months, "BLKKK SKKKN HEAD" is really more so an anti-hit, even though it's been used in Martin Scorses 's new trailer, The Wolf of Wall Street; The same squeaky clean edit has been released to urban radio stations nation-wide, which is slowly starting to pick up steam as a chart-topping "single." I think the only way I can possibly even begin to describe "Black Skinhead"' s special effects are those janky late 90's Tony Hawk , Grand Theft Auto, WWF , etc. video game build-a-player featurettes. Tech-savvy Hip-Hop fans can head on over to Mr. West 's personal website , where you're actually able ...

"I wasn't gonna send this to 2dopeboyz because the video is super low-budget and admittedly kinda shitty... Then I started seeing other "4th of July videos" coming out today, literally with motherfuckers draped in American Flags and I couldn't resist... I just started writing this shit last night... got kinda drunk and started editing a video together after... [Some] other "all style/no substance" rappers would lie and call it a "freestyle" ... This song was written and recorded in an hour in one take. It's an honor to have my videos posted here on 2dopeboyz and for those who take the time to listen, much respect. If you don't resonate with the message in the song, that's your right. It's also my right to say Capitalism is genocidal and it must be stopped. There is a class war going on, which side are you on?" - Tim Holland (sole) comment

Simply Having by Black Milk & Melanie Rutherford " Black Milk chops up one of his favorite Christmas songs and links up with Melanie Rutherford for the re-make. Check the artwork, I guess Charlie Brown & company's fighting skills are on point as they each have a pair of [Jordan] Concords . *shrugs... I never understood this shoe fetish people have. Dah well? [Here's a Merry Christmas to all you 2dopeboyz & girls out there!!"] - Shake

The News: " Dallas -based producer and new Mello Music Group signee... Gensu Dean has just dismantled and reassembled Roc Marciano 's new classic, "Scarface N*gga" off of Marcberg ( FatBeats , 2010). 2dopeboyz was good enough to debut the track today as well. The Remix is another taste of Dean's style and what he has in store on his upcoming debut album, Standard Life due out in February 2012 on MMG ." - Mello Press Release

I'd personally like to believe that the nickname "Reallionaire Jream" alludes to the intertwining of real life & The American Dream (millionaire). When I first heard tell of Jerime Shelton's music, I instantly knew it was something that HAD to be shared with the masses... Yet @ that point in time, I was lacking the appropriate means to do so. If I remember correctly, it was back in May of 2010, during The Witzard 's formative stages; I recall reading and thoroughly enjoying an introductory post penned by Shake @ 2dopeboyz . It should be noted that in addition to Shake 's contained mp3's, above I have included "I Ain't Ready YET!" one of the stronger cuts... from Jream's 2008 effort - Fresh Cutz: The First Impression . While media-lly in-active over the course of the last year or so, I am now pleased to bring you a Reallioanire Jream update: Long-rumored "The Jraft" (mixtape) is quickly nearing completion, as Jream is...