The Witzard

Anthony "Nantee" Abbinanti AKA King Tony is the CEO & Co-Founder of Chicago -based Reggae label Happy As a Lark (HAAL) and moonlights as drummer and producer for the label's flagship band, The Drastics . Abbinanti and a few like-minded friends initially formed HAAL around 2009 to quietly issue two MC Zulu -assisted Drastics 7-inches and recently re-formed early in 2017 as a more fully-formed label; Happy As a Lark has since released a brand new Drastics album, Noir —accompanied by a feverish remix album, Noir Dub —each digital album packaged with an exclusive 7-inch from the imprint's artists and affiliates. The Drastics quite fittingly describe themselves as channeling " Roots Reggae from 1982's future of 2187" and in addition to a slew of original material, have released not one, but two EP's-worth of Reggae -fied Michael Jackson covers, dubbed MJ a Rocker and MJ a Rocker No.2 . Now, Anthony Abbinanti has teamed back up with The ...

"#ItWas50YearsAgoToday This LP was always in my dad's collection (Dad was a vocalist who LOVED Pop . Yeah, he looked like a member of the #BlackPanthers. Ran the house like he was #JamesEvans . But his go-to zone was some of the best dentist office music ever—feed your kids equal [Barbra Streisand] #StoneyEnd & [Rufus] #Rufusized & see what happens? lol)—I ignored #SgtPeppers because I never liked the 60's @capitolrecords logo (see how everyone is going #FigitSpinner mad? My version of that was taking records out the sleeve, & spinning them on my finger watchin' the logo rotate. Seriously, I was obsessed with all spinning rotating objects—hence, my record obsession)—If the logo was dope? I'd give the record a chance. I'd love to revision a story of singing "Within You Without You" in my 2nd grade class—but the truth is, it didn't hit me 'til 22 years AFTER its release. Sgt. Pepper's was the 4th CD I ever purchased for my...

"The "Wolves" song came from a conversation that me and Drake had, where we was going to do an album together and the album was called Wolves ... me and Jay [started] talking about Watch The Throne , then Drake went and did all the records with [Lil'] Wayne and did the tour," Kanye unexpectedly revealed to The Breakfast Club radio host and one-time Catfish co-detective Charlamagne The God last February on the heels of his spirited SNL 40 medley. Lest we forget that Kanye once produced Drake 's 808's & Heartbreak -reminiscent "Find Your Love;" making Kanye 's recent " Yeezy , Yeezy, Yeezy, just jumped over Jumpman " What a Time to Be Alive interpolation and apparent Drake diss all the more perplexing. Not entirely unlike Paul McCartney -assisted "Only One" released over New Year's Eve 2014-15 , "FACTS" was quietly uploaded to Soundcloud mere hours ahead of this year's annual New Yea...

" Happy Holidays , everyone. All the best Christmas songs were written by Jews , and Chanukah songs suck. This is my favorite Christmas tune, sung over the Vincent Guaraldi instrumental," New-Wop crooner Andrew Mayer "Hawthorne" Cohen wrote in a particularly tongue-in-cheek gentile-slamming 2010 mini- Stones Throw press release accompanying his sparse "Christmas Time Is Here" Peanuts -assisted cover. Just a few mere years later, Hawthorne and his Disco-Funkateer partner-in-crime, Jake-One quietly unveiled their first slice of post- Tuxedo Funk EP era material; a jittery groove-soaked rendition of Paul McCartney & Wings' 1979 Synth-Rock yuletide favorite, "Wonderful Christmastime." Now, just days ahead of the soon forthcoming 2015-16 holiday season, Tuxedo have unwrapped a completely original, retro-futuristic holiday standard titled "Holiday Love." It appears exclusively within Amazon Music 's recent holi...

"I was in my hotel room in Paris , and we were just chillin' and I just f*cked around and was like, 'We need to do the video while we're in Paris,'" G.O.O.D. Music -affiliated Grand Hustle emcee Travi$ Scott recently told Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe during a phone interview while boarding a plane Friday afternoon. "Piss On Your Grave" is anchored by a fuzzed out guitar riff lifted from Jimi Hendrix -fronted Band of Gypsys' blistering Vietnam War protest jam "Machine Gun," which feels like it could have easily been a left-over from Kanye 's 2013 Aggro-Rap magnum opus, Yeezus ; funnily enough, Scott is amongst the gaggle of greenhorn beatsmiths who collectively helped produce frantic album tracks "New Slaves," "I Am a God," and "Guilt Trip." Long-time Kanye -affiliated director and photographer Nabil Elderkin was recruited to helm "Piss On Your Grave"' s ghoulish pre- Halloween visua...

Not only did he appear within a self-satirical SNL 40 Wayne's World sketch dealing with last weekend's Album of The Year winner Beck 's near GRAMMY's acceptance speech-shattering events, Kanye additionally performed an emotional three-song medley towards the end of last night's 40th anniversary primetime special; Kanye appeared on stage, laying sprawled out across the stage floor under a dimly lit/low-hanging ceiling set-up performing "Jesus Walks" into a microphone dangling above his head. West slowly arose for the second segment of his medley — a fragmented chunk of his recent genre-blending collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney , "Only One" (suspiciously sans McCartney). For the third and final portion of his SNL 40 performance, Kanye was joined on stage by former Kids These Days emcee Vic Mensa and mysterious "Chandelier" songstress and in-demand producer, Sia for a dark, brooding animalistic performance of "Wol...

While it's unclear to exactly what capacity at this point, but it seems as though Dirty Projectors frontman and guitarist Dave Longstreth was somehow involved in the writing/recording of Rihanna, Kanye & Paul McCartney 's new single, "FourFiveSeconds;" according to a currently unsubstantiated report from Kanye 's friend and long-time barber, Ibn Jasper , " Kanye 's whole new album is co-produced with Paul McCartney ... He decided to put Rihanna on ["FourFiveSeconds"] and put it on BOTH of their albums because they are both Roc-Nation " (reports which Rolling Stone have since shot down). In addition to Longstreth, "FourFiveSeconds" additionally features as-yet-unknown contributions from Mike Dean , Dalllas Austin, Elon Rutburg , and Noah Goldstein, as well as Ty Dolla $ign and Kirby Lauryen , both of whom previously worked with West-McCartney on "Only One." It's without a doubt the track Ty Dolla $ign ...

"In early 2014, Paul McCartney and Kanye West first began working together in a small bungalow in Los Angeles . The process that would result in "Only One" began with a simple brainstorming session between the two: with McCartney improvising on the keyboards and Kanye vocally sketching and shaping ideas in a stream-of-consciousness riff," laments a recent press release marking the 12 midnight New Year's Eve release of Kanye & Paul McCartney 's abrupt new single. Although a collaboration between the two men who recorded such drastically different world-renown songs as "Hey Jude" and "Gold Digger," "Only One" could be likened to the unknown middle ground that might exist between 808's & Heartbreak and Let It Be ; further accented by background vocals from Taylor Gang signee Ty Dollar $ign , co-writer Kirby Lauryen , and a beat concocted by in-house producer Mike Dean , McCartney adds in a beautifully sparse ...

While they've released 2 quick-strike 12" EP's together, there's always been an underlying promise of a larger Madlib & Freddie Gibbs project: "Cocaine Piñata." Even though it still has a "due later this year" loose release date, we now have a tentative guest list: Raekwon , Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown , Domo Genesis, Joey Bada$$ , Ab-Soul, BJ The Chicago Kid , Meech (Flatbush Zombies), Casey Veggies , Mac Miller, Polyester The Saint , and G-Wiz. Adult Swim 's own Williams Street Records imprint has unleashed a non-album (or possible Cocaine Piñata ) track, "City" with Karriem Riggins , which they uploaded to Soundcloud earlier today, slightly ahead of it's Monday Internet -wide release. For what it's worth, "City" also kinda duals as an unofficial Supreme Team reunion; Madlib & Karriem Riggins' long-defunct golden era Hip-Hop revival crew that's only ever put out a few stellar hard-to...

Madison Square Garden held a benefit concert for Hurricane Sandy last night, appropriately dubbed "12-12-12." I didn't get a chance to watch the concert, but I guess it was on TV from about 7:30-1am; Rock "N" Roll greats like The Rolling Stones , Billy Joel, The Who , Roger Waters & Eddie Vedder, Eric Clapton , Chris Martin, and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performed colorful sets. It looks like The Who ripped through damn-near a full album, while everyone else just plated 2-3 quick tracks. Adam Sandler covered "Hallelujah," Kanye , Alicia Keys, Michael Stipe , Bon Jovi, and Paul Schaffer (Letterman) managed to roll through, too. But arguably the most buzzed about moment of the night was when Paul McCartney performed with Nirvana 's surviving members: Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic , and touring guitarist Pat Smear . "So recently, some guys asked me to go and jam with them. So I showed up, like you do, ready to jam...

Dave Grohl is quite arguably the hardest working man in Rock "N" Roll , having laid down drum tracks for everyone from Paul McCartney to Nine Inch Nails . Grohl is a self-taught drummer/guitar player and high school drop-out who's most notable work includes playing with Nirvana, Foo Fighters , and DC Hardcore band Scream . He really isn't your average drugged-out, middle-aged Rockstar . Since Foo Fighters went on a hiatus in October 2012, Dave Grohl has been hard @ work on a number of interesting side projects; He'll be filling in as Queens of The Stone Age 's temporary drummer on their upcoming album, might "get back together and do stuff" with Them Crooked Vultures , has been tirelessly working on his directorial debut... centered around infamous Sound City [studio], recorded a Rick Springfield/Foo Fighters track, playing that 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy relief concert, and recently filled in for buddy Chelsea Handler on her talk show, Che...

Having laid down drumwork for everyone from Paul McCartney to Madlib , Karriem Riggins is finally ready to unleash his proper solo debut full-length. Alone Together is being pressed up through Stones Throw and is slated for an October 23rd release date; While members of their "Digital Subscription Club" will supposedly get an early pre-release sometime this Summer in 2 separate parts - Alone/Together . Even though it's still nearly 3-4 months away, Peanut Butter Wolf decided to premier the first taste of Riggins' Hip-Hop Beat CD a couple days ago, "Moogy Foog It." Fresh off the heels of "The Brick," Alone Together plays out like a Hip-Hip Beat CD-R ... Karriem Riggins himself labeling it as the "right intersection of Hip-Hop and Jazz ." In addition, Stones Throw also labels it as a "34-track instrumental odyssey" that's ultimately influenced by nearly every aspect of Riggins' musical career thus far. Sel...