The Witzard

Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint by Griff/Scorcese Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint is a project that's long been in-the-works from Chicago-based producer Jason Griff and Philly emcee Scorcese Lorde Jones , here, known together as Griff/Scorcese . Dream Team... was originally pitched as a mixtape in celebration of the independent wrestling circuit, as well as Hathaway's unique, Hip-Hop indebted approach to the artform. However, it eventually evolved into a full-fledged album based around the ideals and inspiration of the esteemed 1996 Source Award Winner, publicist, and manager, Stokely Hathaway —now signed to WWE/NXT as Malcolm Bivens . Dream Team... is entirely produced by Jason Griff (Alex Ludovico, Zilla Rocca) and primarily performed by Scorcese Lorde Jones AKA Scorcese FKA Scorcese Shells (2-Man Power Trip... Gods Know) with cinematic interludes and embellishments from Stokely Hathaway AKA Malcolm Bivens himself. Dream Team... is, indeed, Wrestle/Wra...

"I first met Zilla, barely out of college, downing bottles of malt liquor and idiotically, drunkenly throwing them into darkened stairwells at his old Catholic high school in South Philly. He was aligned his former crew then, one half of a Rap group called Clean Guns , attempting to start a fledgling label in an underground climate that seemed inhospitable and rebarbative to anyone trying to figure out what Boom-Bap would sound like 20 years in the future. Zilla could always rap and produce, but he hadn't found a voice or character that allowed him to channel what eventually reached its (27-inch) zenith on Future Former Rapper—believe it! Starting with the 5 O'Clock Shadowboxers project, he's refined an aesthetic akin to Raymond Chandler raised on Raekwon, splitting the difference between James Ellroy and Guru sneering at rivals that they're paranoid because they're sons like Elroy. One of the reasons why I started POW was to offer a wayward station for the ...

I Had An Accident Records (IHAA) is a Spokane -based tape label we've grown particularly fond of in recent months, if you haven't yet already noticed. IHAA is owned and operated by one Damien Miller (@damienbtc74) - yes, that's in fact, the same "Damien" from Luke Sick & Damien 's phenomenal, yet incredibly too short EP, Strike The Clutch . First recommended to me by John "Jumbled" Bachman , I unfortunately, wasn't able to score one of Luke Sick & Damien 's extremely limited edition tapes, but Strike The Clutch was highlighted within The Witzard 's Rap EP Wrap-up this past March. Damien was actually, gifted the label from former I Had An Accident owner and founder Justin Bieler with his first "official" IHAA release being Mathias Kruse x Brenky 's Eustress / Wormhole from May 2016. I Had An Accident has released tapes and digital albums featuring the likes of Noise/Hip-Hop 's finest beat-makers, emce...

"I'm Zilla Rocca. I rap, produce, and write articles. I have my own Indie label, Three Dollar Pistol Music and put out music with my friends Curly Castro, Small Professor, and PremRock as our posse, Wrecking Crew. Me and Small Pro put out a group album as Career Crooks [last] year called Good Luck with That , where he did all of the beats, but I've been a producer, as well for 15 years. So, here's some of the most important albums to me, when I'm "behind the boards.'" I. Handsome Boy Modeling School - So... How's Your Girl? (1999) "I remember buying this album in 1999 and having no clue how any of these songs were made. I didn't start making beats for another three years or so, but this album never left my conciousness. [Dan The] Automator is one of my all-time favorite producers because he bounces between genres effortlessly, from Serge Gainsbourg stuff with Lovage, to Sci-Fi Fantasy Robot sh*t with Deltron [3030], to the first Go...

Calendar by Alex Ludovico Alex Ludovico is a bartender/mixologist by night and emcee by day. Currently hailing from Los Angeles , Ludovico was born and raised in The Midwest — Gary, IN & Chicago, IL , specifically—and has spent time in Atlanta , but now, calls LA home. He's been rapping for 12 years, has been going by "Alex Ludovico" for about nine, and took a 6-year long hiatus in-between. Alex Ludovico explains his unique brand of Hip-Hop as " Rap for a new generation: diverse, irreverent, and real without pretention, yet honest and humorous." Ludovico makes music intended to be utilized as "the soundtrack of life, sometimes serious, sometimes fun, always memorable." He's previously worked alongside and collaborated with the likes of Blurry Drones , Gzu​-​Tek, The Dutchmaster, Young Live , and Zilla Rocca, as well as a multitude of Hip-Hop/Electro producers. Alex & Zilla have worked together on a number of occasions, since first...

My Man Shafe (@MyManShafe) is a South Philly Soul magnate, Funk buster, crowd rocker, and self-proclaimed " Street Funk/Soul rapper." Shafe self-released a FREE mixtape/street album entitled "Who's That?!" recorded and mixed by Zilla Rocca and has since unveiled material with Nex Millen , Wrecking Crew on Wu-Tang Pulp, Curly Castro , Zilla Rocca & Has-Lo, Small Professor for World Around Records , Son Raw, and most recently, Career Crooks' "Mike Milligan (Kitchen Brothers)" with Curly Castro & ALASKA . "I make Soul music. Even though I rap and came up as an emcee, my music is Soul . It's Soul because of the place that it comes from," My Man Shafe profoundly writes within his on-site Bio . " Soul music comes from the gut; the bottom, the pit of your stomach. It's a feeling. It's a vibe. It's the notion that we've all been through things and together, we can overcome," he continues. Si...

Sonic Truth/Flex Pistols by Bouquet of Bones Bouquet of Bones (@wearebouquet) are a Portland -bred rapper/producer duo in the same vein as Jaylib , Run The Jewels, Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman , Career Crooks, and their like-minded peers; consisting of the tag-team lyrical assault that is Bloodmoney Perez & B!LLY WH?T , Bouquet of Bones recently unveiled their inaugural release, "Sonic Truth" B/W "Flex Pistols." " @wearebouquet is a new group aiming to deliver gritty, sonically thick Hip-Hop throughout the remainder of the foreseeable future," Bouquet of Bones wrote Instagram post teasing their 4/20 debut release on Damn That Noise Music . Bloodmoney Perez (@DrBloodmoney) & B!LLY WH?T (@_murn_) list their collective interests as beat-making, writing rhymes, and drinkin' beer. "Sonic Truth" has been billed as both a mini-EP and 1990's-evoking maxi-single backed with "Flex Pistols" on Side B. Bouquet of...

Billy Batts (prod by Zilla Rocca) by Curly Castro & Zilla Rocca "Zilla Rocca" is, at this point in time, a name even casual readers of the pages here at The Witzard should almost instantly recognize and readily associate with dope output. I think it's safe to say, I've covered nearly every Zilla/Zilla -related release since 2016's Anything I Touch, I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca , as well as a gaggle of Bandcamp loosies and Soundcloud stand-alone singles. To my knowledge, Zilla Rocca has at least three (announced) projects currently planned to be released throughout 2018: Thieving As Long As I'm Breathing - a Career Crooks Remix EP with S mall Professor , his '90's Hip-Hop -flavored mixtape/"street album" '96 Mentality , and a proper solo album quite cleverly entitled Future Former Rapper ; all of these, featuring a who's-who of friends, affiliates, and fellow Underground Hip-Hop rappers and producers...

"I could easily talk about how loud I blasted [ Public Enemy 's] Fear of a Black Planet (1990) daily from my Yorx Entertainment System in junior high or pumped [ Company Flow 's] "8 Steps to Perfection" (1996) and everything else recorded from my Stretch & Bobbito tapes in the Burger King kitchen, after closing time during my shifts or dip into how DJ Premier made beats that were completely abstract, but made them instant norms by nature of his talent. But, in truth, when I sit and make a beat, I don't feel the influence of other Hip-Hop producers too heavily anymore, even less than I feel when I write rhymes. I've settled into something pretty original, not without influence, but kind of it's own thing, for better or worse. So, what I'd rather talk about is my relationship with Progressive Rock music and how it spurned my definition and coining of the term "Progressive Hip-Hop." I still love some good old Prog-Rock ,...

Steve Martin 's long-standing and storied relationship with Hip-Hop goes back nearly 30 years. It seems to have all started with "The Steve Martin" from EPMD's critically-acclaimed and genre-shaping debut Strictly Business (1988) which goes a little something like this: "Well, I have a new dance, that you all must learn You may have seen the Pee-Wee Herman , but it's had it's turn Now, this brand new dance, I know you not with it You might break your neck, to really try to get it If you seen the clumsy movie it was called The Jerk You had to check out Steve Martin , as he started to work He was doin' freaky moves with his feet and head With his blue farmer suit and his big Pro-Keds ." Good Luck With That by Career Crooks It appears as though, according to YouTube 's Learn Hip Hop Dance instructor MahaloDance , "The Steve Martin" is also "an old school Hip-Hop move," which I would assume was likely inspire...

I'm currently working on ironing out the fine details for a premier of a Zilla Rocca remix of CURTA's "Rap Trope Questionnaire" (or CURTA ZR remix), which should be making its digital debut here at The Witzard shortly. While emailing back and forth with Zilla, Jake & Brent, Zilla nonchalantly mentioned he had a track on a compilation released by "the guys from this label I rocked with for a while, World Around Records;" said compilation was uploaded just one day prior on Valentine's Day and was fittingly titled, We Are World Around Vol. 6. Zilla further detailed that "World Around was based out of New England and put out some good, spacey East Coast Art-House records over the years, if you're not familiar with them" within his initial email. As a matter of fact, the deeper I dug into We Are World Around Vol. 6 (WAWA V6, for short), I realized that while I hadn't previously heard of the label, I previously had worked with a number ...