The Witzard

Late Thursday night into early Friday morning, while everyone else was listening to the livestream of Nas' Kanye -produced NASIR EP from G.O.O.D. Music 's Queens Listening Session/Party , I was listening to alt-J on Repeat, instead. Right around 12:10am, I got an email from Atlantic Records titled "New Version of "In Cold Blood" Released Today;" when I opened up said alt-J Fan Club email, I learned it was actually, a Twin Shadow re-work of RELAXER single "In Cold Blood" with a guest verse from G.O.O.D. Music Prez. Pusha-T himself. It wasn't until a little later, I realized alt-J had actually, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Thursday night with Twin Shadow frontman George Lewis, Jr. and Pusha-T in tow to perform the world premiere of "In Cold Blood" (Twin Shadow Version.) Now, let me just say this: I'm a fan of all three artists' bodies of work, especially, alt-J 's RELAXER , Pusha-T's My ...

"Peep my bro @LupeFiasco 's new FREE mixtape!!! The track "Valleys" is my Dillalude #2, " Robert Glasper Experiment/Trio frontman and founder @robertglasper exuberantly Tweeted late Saturday evening. Glasper is of course referring to Chicago emcee Lupe Fiasco 's latest 6-track mixtape EP, Pharaoh Height 2/30 ; a clever allusion and quasi-sequel to his own 3-volume career-boosting Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series (2006). When arranged in descending order from #1-6, Pharaoh Height 2/30 's tracklist cryptically reads: "IN... VALLEYS... OF... KINGS... PYRAMID... SCHEMES." Not entirely unlike his Thanksgiving 2011 mixtape freebie, Friend of The People: I Fight Evil , Pharaoh Height 2/30 showcases an eclectic sampling of production work culled from the likes of Glasper, J Dilla , The Weeknd affiliate Daheala, Flying Lotus , and even a Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain E3 commercial . Pharaoh Height EP 's Grade A choice cuts include ...

Just about one month ahead of his VICE Records "debut" MR. WONDERFUL , Action Bronson has unleashed a fourth track from the album; "'TERRY" PRODUCED BY @Alchemist , [ PtHILLY 'S OWN] CURT CHAMBERS ON GUITAR, @ChauncySherod WITH THE SOUL AT THE END = PERFECTION." It's the latest pre-release single VICE has strategically "leaked" from MR. WONDERFUL , which was preceded by "Easy Rider," Party Supplies duet "A Light In The Addict," and "Actin' Crazy," as well as non-album track, "Big League Chew." "Terry" reunites Action Bronson with his Rare Chandeliers (2012) producer buddy, The Alchemist , who hand-crafted a "jazzy, diminished chord walk with a prime boom-bap shuffle" as okayplayer poetically puts it. "Life's ironic and it's simple / Smoke good, f*ck, eat, drink, / Drive a nice car, wear all green mink," which has been forever embodied on ...

" ACTiON BRONSON JUST JUMPED TO THE TOP OF THE RAP GAME FOOD CHAiN WiTH THiS MOViE-QUALiTY ViDEO, "EASY RiDER" FT SLASH ," Tweeted oddball rapper and supposed Galaxy Gladiators collaborator, @JODYHiGHROLLER aka RiFF RAFF . "DON'T LET ME DIIIEEEE!!!" Action Bronson proclaims in a black-and-white red bandana-accented clip whilst pummeling bullets out of a machine gun, which appears to be a war flashback; as "Easy Rider"'s hymn-like intro starts, we see our bed-ridden hero approached by a lieutenant, "Soldier, tell me what happened..." to which Action Bronson achingly grunts, "Where's my guitaarrr!!?" It's largely unclear what happens next, but we see Bronson, still in a hospital gown, and his red bandana speeding down a barren desert highway as "EASY RIDER" and "DIRECTED BY TOM GOULD " scroll across the trailer-esque screen. RiFF RAFF is generally non-sensical, but he's 100% righ...

"And I say, "Gee [whiz]," which I'm not sure is a phrase I've ever uttered before. I can imagine it appealing to American truckers with Good Riddance to Bin Laden stickers," alt-J frontman Joe Newman recently told British publication The Guardian in a rather scathing band interview; Newman is of course referring to alt-J 's latest single, "Left Hand Free," which the band said was only written to appease their American label because they didn't exactly feel teaser single, "Hunger of The Pine" was a "big single." alt-J 's critically-acclaimed first album, An Awesome Wave (2012) was essentially heralded as the second coming of Radiohead , while "Left Hand Free" is more so along the lines of Black Keys or Jack White -ian Modern Blues-Rock . "I tried to make the drums as cliched as possible, there's none of my personality in it... I'm doing some kind of organ solo. I don't know wher...

"The album is sounding incredible. The whole album is a standout. I don't care about individual songs, I'm trying to make a complete, classic project. I just do my music uninfluenced by anybody else, or current trends, and it comes together at the end," Action Bronson recently told online publication NME about his approach to recording his long-rumored VICE Records debut, Mr. Wonderful . "Nothing needs to have a f*cking theme all the time. This is just rap. I'm not trying to make people think I'm some sort of scientific wizard or inspirational poet. F*ck that! It's just happy, funny, rugged, rough rap," which almost perfectly describes Bronson's care-free aesthetic to his chef-turned jet-setting rapper Hip-Hop career. While he's been playing it live for a month or so now, Action Bronson 's major label single, "Easy Rider" leaked online Monday afternoon; he previously performed the track at Peter Rosenberg 's Peterp...

While you patiently await SAAAB STORIES' June 11th release and contemplate what the Hell could be happening on it's highly amusing, head-scratching cover... Here's a neck-snapping Boom-Bap remix while you wait! Action Bronson expertly recruited 2 veteran Queens emcees, LL Cool J & Lloyd Banks for his official "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Remix) , which debuted on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 radio show late last night. Chopping the bulk of his previous verses and then adding on a newly-written one the track order now seamlessly flows between Bronson, LL Cool J , and Lloyd Banks . Granted, I still haven't heard Authentic , LL Cool J 's verse seems like a return to form since the slight MASSIVE fall from grace that is "Accidental Racist" with Country super-star Brad Paisley . I'm actually kinda glad Harry Fraud didn't really do anything to re-tweak the beat, cause "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" is almost tailor-fit for LL C...

Lupe Fiasco is a lot like that boy who cried "Wolf!" You know, the one from the children's story who was always talking about impending wolf attack(s) and then when it finally did happen, no one really believed him until it was too late. Well, Lupe Fiasco seems to haphazardly announce a lot of premature "release dates," which 9 times out of 10, don't ever seem to pan out. But even with such a scattered track record [discography]. Fiasco still remains one of this generation's most utterly prolific lyricists. Lupe Fiasco's latest career move is that of a gradual shift towards DJ'ing . Under the collective musical moniker, "The SNDCLSH" Fiasco has teamed up with manager-friend, Sky Gellatly to liberate "Letting Go" (Remix) . The first official taste of his non- Hip-Hop Electro side-project The SNDCLSH , the collaborative music duo of DJ Lupe Fiasco and DJ Sky Gellatly , have dropped their first official track, the collab...