The Witzard

"The WOKE project started about three years ago. I, myself, and some screenwriter friends of mine started writing a script for feature film called WOKE . It was something that we developed for quite a while. Initially, it was going to star Ishmael [Butler] from Shabazz Palaces and Jeremiah Jae . We worked on it for a while, started work-shopping, but there's always the financial issue — I haven't found anyone who is going to invest in the film," Flying Lotus recently revealed during a Pitchfork-prompted phone interview upon the release of his [adult swim] single, "The Lavishments of Light Looking." Despite the fact that he has yet to acquire adequate funding to produce a WOKE film, Flying Lotus aka multi-instrumentalist Steven Ellison decided to instead focus on the musical accompaniment for said unmade film first; "We started working earlier this year on music. We did a few songs. We have a few things. We're just going to let it build...

For his latest single, "Ego Death" LA -based rapper-producer Busdriver has essentially assembled an all-star team of Underground Hip-Hop MVP's; Busdriver, Aesop Rock & Danny Brown spit hot fire in succession over the course of Stones Throw affiliate Jeremiah Jae 's nearly 6-minute neck-snapping beat. While hailing from three separate corners of the Underground Hip-Hop spectrum, the three veteran emcees surprisingly mesh very well together (I believe Busdriver & Aesop have rapped together before). "Yeah, no... I understand what you're saying. But is is sexier than torture?" opens Jae's slightly off-kilter beat, which features multi-layered lines like: "And downtime is never met with an overjoyed grin / cause sleep and death have always been conjoined twins," "He shoots the whores, truly stupid troubadours," and Danny Brown 's fairly sound assertion that he's the "Rap Marilyn Manson." It's ...

"New singles off Dorner vs. Tookie by Hellfyre Club are up [at Soundcloud ]. There's "Qualifiers" with Open Mike Eagle ; Then "Manchester" with Milo , myself, and Nocando ; and today, "Elephant In The Pressroom" with Mike Eagle, myself, and our special guest, Jeremiah [Jae] on the beat and guest verse" read an impromptu Hellfyre Club web-update, via busdriverr 's Instagram feed. "Elephant In The Pressroom" is rumored to be included as a bonus track on Hellfyre Club 's upcoming label-wide compilation (November 5th) and it's almost like an über-relevant Hip-Hop track; making clever lyrical mention of Breaking Bad , Kendrick Lamar, human train-wreck Miley Cyrus , Mike Tyson, and somehow flawlessly compares game-changer "Control" to Pokemon . It's almost like Hellfyre's call-to-arms because big ticket "mainstream" rappers should really be terribly afraid of these guys! Founded by ...

I was pretty stoked to finally get a package from Stones Throw in my mailbox just the other day; It contained my Stones Throw "logo splatter" T-shirt and Jonwayne 's new CASSETTE project, which came along with a FREE Walkman since my order was one of the first 60 processed. In theory, it's actually a perfectly great/ludicrous idea... 100% leak-proof , but @ the same time, nearly 3/4's of the market probably has no means to play the tape. Jonwayne & Stones Throw have some serious balls for releasing an "album" that'll very likely never see a digital, CD, or vinyl re-issue package and it's 2012, baby! ha I've been playing CASSETTE while on-the-go over the weekend, took some notes, and here's a rough review of Side A (Raps) . Track #1 ("Gross") - chant-like vocal sample - Stones Throw shout-out(s) - eerily slowed down drums/keys - Pop Culture references - John Lennon, Flintstones - Hook: "Looking like a sperm eati...

Shit man, the name John Wayne is almost instantly BADASS ... Even when it's missing the all-important word-separating space and "h" for extra emphasis, of course. Depending on who you ask, I guess it could be said that Jonwayne is kinda a Hip-Hop Cowboy ; A rebel without a cause, and an un-worldly knack for producing a "darn tootin'" [perfect] beat! All the while, sharpening his Rap skills/chops, Jonwayne recently signed a deal with Stones Throw . Hard @ work compiling his debut LP for the Los Angeles -bred imprint, they've released a handful of FREE and re-packaged material over the past few months: Jonwayne F*cks Disney EP , Oodles of Doodles , This Is False (mixtape), a flexi-disc, and a $7.00 CASSETTE tape. "Night School" was quietly mastered and uploaded to Jonwayne 's personal Soundcloud page late July 30th, just a few days after Stones Throw outlined CASSETTE's rudimentary release. Wayne skillfully assembled a 5-man ...

" Jonwayne is an MC. He's on Stones Throw . He's making a Rap album for Stones Throw . He also makes beats. That's all we're saying for now. More later. OK?" ... Jonwayne 's new release is a Rap cassette. That is to say, a Hip-Hop album called Cassette , released only on cassette, playable only a cassette player. We're not posting the track list, and we're not releasing this on anything but a cassette. Side A is beats and raps by Jonwayne with Brainfeeder 's Jeremiah Jae . Side B is beats and no raps by Jonwayne . Total running time: 23:39. The MC/producer/ Low End Theory DJ offered no explanation as to why he wanted to release his album on cassette. Ask if he wished to expand on the idea he said, "not particularly." First 60 orders come with a new, fully-functioning portable cassette player with headphones, plus Jonwayne stickers. Check out a track called "Bukowski" from Side A , below. - Peanut Butter Wolf (...