The Witzard

Lil' Fame is effectively, one half of infamous Brownville, Brooklyn -based Hip-Hop duo, M.O.P. (Mash Out Posse) along with partner-in-rhyme Billy Danze ... but I believe, the first time I ever heard Fame was on "Make 'em NV" from J Dilla 's Ruff Draft EP (2003) wherein he repeatedly rhymes: "THEM JEWELS YOU ROCK, MAKE 'EM NV!" However, Dilla himself actually, sampled Lil' Fame 's voice from M.O.P. 's world-renown party-starting anthem, "Ante Up (Robbing-Hoodz Theory.)" Since their last collaborative release as M.O.P. 2015's Nature Sounds EP, Street Certified , Billy Danze & Lil' Fame have been focusing more on their solo efforts; Danze working on an album to either be titled simply The Billy Danze Project or Behind Gates , as well as a corresponding 8-track EP and Fame , actively working on his debut solo album, Walk of Fame —previously known as The Fame & The Glory . Over the years, Lil' Fame ...

"It's very eerily current because of the horrible things that have been going on with gun violence and various shootings... We're still in process even as we speak and I don't want to really talk too much about who's in 'cause that's still kind of fluid. But it's going to happen in 2016 for sure and there's a couple of folks who have approached us, so we're going to see what the final tally's going to be. But the things I've heard so far are really, really powerful, really fiery verses, and some of the writers are responding directly [to] what happened in St. Paul, what's happening in Baton Rouge . There's a bit of that in the mix, as well as other conversations" long-time Living Colour guitarist and bandleader Vernon Reid candidly revealed to Billboard last month, in light of this year's all-too frequent police and civilian shooting epidemic. Living Colour have since recruited producer Andre Betts , Prophets of Rag...

Needless to say, "Bitter Bug" (Pyramid Vritra Remix) isn't exactly rapper-producer Hal Williams' first time re-imagining a track by fellow Stones Throw labelmates The Stepkids ; Williams previously remixed Troubadour album track "Desert In The Dark" with Odd Future shoot-off, The Jet Age of Tomorrow . While working on his upcoming 2014 Stones Throw debut, Pyramid Vritra managed to conjure up a heavily Funk -laden, Hip-Hop -infused remix of "Bitter Bug," which was originally released as a play-able postcard 45. North of the 4-minute mark, as the track slowly draws to a close, Williams effectively chops-n-screws the Hell out of "Bitter Bug." The Stepkids seem to have already been flirting with the idea of a semi- Hip-Hop crossover; previously working with Pharoahe Monch , Homeboy Sandman , and now one of Stones Throw 's newest signees, Pyramid Vritra . That's one area in which Stones Throw seems to be consistently la...

The Stepkids are kinda like a Hip-Hop -infused modern day version of Steely Dan ; equal parts sleaze, cheese, and white-bred Funk-Soul ! In-between The Stepkids (2011) and it's upcoming follow-up, Troubadour the band leaked a string of Jazzed up cover tunes: Daft Punk , Rihanna, and Justin Timberlake . Last year, Stones Throw even teamed them up with sharp-tongued emcees Homeboy Sandman , Percee P, and Pharoahe Monch for an all too short-lived remix project. The Stepkids' latest Funk -drenched concoction is "The Lottery" a freshly tracked video-single preceding Troubadour , which hits shelves nation-wide Sept. 10th. Guitarist Jeff Gitelman described the album's creation as "deep musically, there are whole sides to us [that] we haven't really explored yet." Gitelman further laments that The Stepkids haven't even discovered some of their "most exciting stuff" thusfar. "The Lottery" co-stars trombone dancer Jonathan...

Sean Price is kinda like a one-man Run-D.M.C. , when you really think about it; a no bullshit, low gimmick guy with outta-this-world rapping abilities! Price could easily out-rap your favourite Ringtone Rapper on an off day, while hooking up with your mom (Yeah, he's THAT kinda dude) ha. Long-time label, Duck Down have invested a good-sized chunk of change into producing 4-6 simplistic music videos for Mic Tyson and some of it's bonus cuts: "The Genesis of The Omega," "Haraam," "STFU (Part 2)," "I See," and "BBQ Sauce." Now, we're talkin' about videos that re-cast Sean Price as a crazed lumberjack, jet-setting humanitarian, cartoon robot ape fighter, ruthless drug dealer, and a sharp-tongued emcee. Duck Down unleashed the gritty Isaac Aguirre -directed "Bar-Barian" video just in time for the weekend; It's a short and sweet snow-covered clip that features Sean Price spitting cold hard rhymes and ...

Sean Price is a former member of 90's Underground Rap crews, Heltah Skeltah/Boot Camp Clik (who supposedly worked on 2pac 's last project ). My old Shop Rite buddy, Jarrad Jenkins first turned me onto Sean Price around like 2005-06, who had only released Monkey Barz and Donkey Sean, Jr. [mixtape] @ that point. Price's third solo album, Mic Tyson has been in-the-works since 2009 and after numerous delays and pushed back dates, Duck Down finally unleashed the album back in October '12. Evidence & DJ Babu produced the latest video-single pulled from Mic Tyson 's 15-song tracklist, "BBQ Sauce." It does a pretty damn great job @ showcasing the Brownsville, BKLYN native's criminally under-rated sharp tongue, un-matched cadence, and witty rhyme schemes. Pharoahe Monch co-stars in it's companion Todd Angkasuwan -directed music video, which super-imposes Sean Mandela into a number of historical events, TV shows, school sports, etc: ...

On some REAL levels, the only emcees that could/should even attempt to lyrically out-rap Sean Price are Action Bronson, Raekwon , and Ghostface . After while, they'd probably have to somehow channel and combine their skills into one MASSIVE "sonic punch," which still wouldn't even make a dent! What I'm trying to say is that Sean Price is a FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC, criminally under-rated rapper, who's well-respected by Hip-Hop heads, Illuminati and critics alike. Price spreads a thick layer of clever, buttery smooth rapid-fire verses across his latest full-length, Mic Tyson . Honestly, it's a surprisingly short 15-track Hip-Hop album that clocks in @ just under 38 minutes. But even in a 2-3 minute time frame/track, 40-year-old Sean Mandela still manages to conjure up aggressive rhyme schemes that would easily knock out [scare away] almost any run-of-the-mill rapper. Eccentric hood rich Hip-Hop blogger BIG GHOST fittingly describes your typical Mic Ty...

The Black Keys & RZA first linked up for 2 tracks on their wildly successful Dame Dash -helmed Blues Rock/Rap fusion album, BlakRoc (2009). It seems like RZA might've called in a few favors when assembling the soundtrack to his upcoming film debut, Man with The Iron Fists : Kanye , Flatbush Zombies, Raekwon , Freddie Gibbs, Corrine Bailey Rae , Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli , and Pharoahe Monch. Following a steady stream of leaks, the opening track from it's soundtrack album, which is out nation-wide Oct. 23rd, "The Baddest Man Alive" was unveiled Thurs. afternoon. Seemingly co-produced by both Dan Auerbach & RZA himself, "Baddest Man" is a Blues -leaning romp, accented by boastful Hip-Hop bravado. FuseTV premiered the track and quite aptly described it as sounding a lot like "an Ennio Morricone track produced by B.B. King ." While he's been pretty heavily influenced by Kung-Fu [Shaolin] since the Wu-Tang Clan days, T...

The Chain Gang somehow managed to seamlessly splice together a bunch of stop-motion [animation] clips to construct Sean Price 's latest music video, "STFU (Part 2)." Before it's all said and done, we see Super-Price courageously fending off a pack of angry killer apes with a microphone... getting some calcium fortification, pilot a spaceship, re-enact a couple album covers, run through the jungle, etc. All of Sean Price's milk-fueled hi-jinx were animated by crafty illustrators, Haroon Gilian & Whitney Alexander ; "STFU (Part 2)" will appear on Price's long-awaited Mic Tyson album, along with previously-released tracks "Haraam" and "I See." Rome York directed and released a quick, 1:30-minute music video last week to go along with "I See," which was in fact pre-empted by "Sean Price Plays Tennis" back in early Sept. Duck Down Records are finally gearing up to liberate Mic Tyson on Oct. 3...

Pharoahe Monch , the guy behind "Simon Says," has unofficially announced the sheer existence of a new album; "Damage" is the first released track from his upcoming project, dubbed PTSD . It's actually just a quick sample/teaser of the full track, which will be released on Thursday, Sept. 27th . "Damage" is the final piece in a 3-part series of tracks that're being told from the perspective of a bullet. Pharoahe Monch has slowly issued parts 1-2 over the past 18+ years, "Stray Bullet" and "When The Gun Draws" ... articulately played out on Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994) with his old band, Organized Konfusion and his second album, Desire . Since Monch has always managed to remain a pretty [socially] "conscious rapper," I wouldn't be too surprised if PTSD was liberated just in time to co-align with the all-important Nov. 2012 Presidential Election ! Briefly taking to Twitter, he manged to adequately ...