The Witzard

Lor Shaman by URBN SHMN URBN SHMN (pronounced "Urban Shaman" ) AKA KendalL Ca$h is a Baltimore -based producer/beat-maker originally hailing from DMV —otherwise known as District (DC)/Maryland/Virginia —who was formerly a B-more area DJ. I actually, first heard about URBN SHMN earlier this morning, after long-time The Witzard affiliate and collaborator John "Jumbled" Bachman FWD'ed me an email from The Urban Shaman himself; fittingly titled " Urbn Shmn is taking lofi to Datpiff ," it contained URBN SHMN 's latest mixtape, Lor Shaman . It's been widely referred to as a " summer '18 mixtape" by URBN SHMN himself and contains remixes of chart-topping hits by Childish Gambino , Desiigner, Drake , Future, Gucci Mane , Lil Yachty, Migos , Rihanna, and more. While showcased on a recent episode of Baltimore FLIPS. URBN SHMN readily shared his sources of inspiration and influence, which includes Flying Lotus , Madlib, J Dill...

"What I love about [STEAL] THIS MIXTAPE is that it's a bridge from the mash-ups that we all loved 10 years ago to the modern style of production. Josh [Young] basically grabbed ANY genre of music an threw it all into his blender and what came out is all consistent," Fool's Gold Records founder @atrak ecstatically wrote about self-described "beast known as @yehme2 " during a lengthy Monday afternoon Instagram post. One half of Chicago -based Hip-Hop and EDM -influenced DJ duo FLOSSTRADAMUS supposedly challenged himself to staggering "beat-a-day challenge that would quickly morph into Me2 ," which eventually morphed into the 33-track of a genre-less mega-album that is his System of a Down -referencing STEAL THIS MIXTAPE ; Young's 50-minute debut mixtape somehow manages to effortlessly harvest and re-purpose samples "stolen" from the likes of FLOSSTRADAMUS , newly-freed Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj & Beyoncé , Paul Wall, Missy E...

The Internet really is a never-ending Twilight Zone -esque worm hole of a place sometimes; case in point, just last night, after returning home from rollicking Sweat N Soul -filled a Har Mar Superstar concert in the depths of Philly around 1-1:30am, I wasted nearly an hour aimlessly Googling covers from Sean Tillmann 's one-time touring mate and fellow Tillman(n) , Father John Misty ... starting with two unabashedly ironic Taylor Swift in the vein of Ryan Adam 's 1989 covers and ultimately, ending up at a sparse SiriusXM cover of Nirvana 's "Heart-Shaped Box." Somewhere down the seemingly endless sonic worm hole I created, I stumbled upon @fatherjohnmisty 's sprawling, wonderfully executed renditions of widely-known Leonard Cohen , The Arcade Fire, John Lennon , Rihanna, and most recently, Nine Inch Nails classics. Former Fleet Foxes drummer and ironic "rockstar" Josh Tillman unexpectedly covered NIN 's breakout anti-pop hit, "Cl...

Despite the fact that London -based Electro-Dubstep producer "Jamie xx" Smith is just now getting around to putting out his "debut" album, In Colour , on Young Turks , he's already managed to release countless [read: "three"] non-album stand-alone 12" singles, produced a nearly flawless remix album for Gil Scott-Heron , and has worked with everyone from Florence + The Machine to Drake & Rihanna ; believe it or not, Florence Welch 's stripped down Drake cover, "Take Care" actually flipped Smith's own production work from Scott-Heron's We're New Here (2011), a full-length remix of his first album in some 16 years. One of the first times I ever heard Jamie xx 's music was actually on his string and marimba-laden xx -assisted "You've Got The Love" re-work from Florence + The Machine 's critically acclaimed debut, Lungs . " Young Thug did a whole version of the song and Popcaan did a w...

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 ...

"It's our summer jam, so we figured we should put it out, cuz I am very bored of waiting to finish my album [before] releasing new music haha," Grimes (real name Claire Boucher ) said in a recent press release. Last winter, Boucher signed what some might call a mildly head-scratching management deal with Jay Z 's own Roc-Nation off-shoot company — alongside previous signees HAIM , M.I.A. Santigold , Mark Ronson, Shakira , Wale, and The Ting Tings . Grimes and her fellow Canadian comrade/frequent collaborator Blood Diamonds were reportedly commissioned by Roc-Nation to produce and original track for R&B super-star Rihanna . While it was ultimately rejected by the Roc-Nation team, Grimes & Blood Diamonds recently recorded their own version of the track, now re-titled "Go." Blood Diamonds' 2010-12 reminiscent Dubstep/Electro -leaning production work seems to have been influenced by Grimes' former Full Flex Express touring mates, ...

It's about damn time that Jerry Seinfeld (AKA "Jerry Seinfeld" of Seinfeld fame) linked up with DC emcee and self-proclaimed super-fan Wale , who's already released 2 Seinfeld -themed projects, The Mixtape About Nothing and More About Nothing (2008-10). Propelled by Mrs. Seinfeld 's love for Hip-Hop , the comedian-rapper team are supposedly working on a full-length collaboration that's been ingeniously dubbed, "The Album About Nothing." While that one's presumably still in-the-works, Wale 's new Rick Rubin/Maybach Music Group -backed album, The Gifted , is in stores today, June 25th; some footage culled from the recording sessions for it's closing track, "Outro About Nothing," leaked mid-Monday afternoon. Filmed in stark black-and-white, it's essentially just an average conversation between Wale & Jerry Seinfeld recorded between takes, which employs Seinfeld's dry sense of humor. The Gifted houses a wide a...

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...

Let me just start by pointing out that my old Loyal Lanes bowling crew and I were into world-renown DJ David Guetta [light]years before 1/2 the free world even knew who he was! Now, I'm talkin' about EPIC strikes/spares soundtracked by "The World Is Mine" (2004), which was practically eons before Fergie & will.i.am , Flo Rida, Kid Cudi , LMFAO, Rihanna , or Usher even knew how to pronounce Guet-ta . His latest video-single, "Play Hard" samples an already infectious Alice DeeJay Dutch-Eurodance track, "Better Off Alone." It's ridiculously zany companion music video plays out like some sort of twisted gangster flick... complete with pointy toed Mexican cowboys, unibrow-sporting pageant queens, heavily tattooed cholos, a fake Tron dancer, Les Twins , a pint-sized prize champion dancer, and disjointed cameos from David Guetta along with guest singers Akon & Ne-Yo . But general weirdness isn't always a bad thing; Although, I...

This Is The End , the movie formerly known as The End of The World/The Apocalypse , is quickly nearing it's June 12th nation-wide release. First time directors, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg just unveiled it's second Red Band trailer this past Monday, which follows one that was released on "the dawn of the apocalypse" (just in case). Thinly veiled behind a Pineapple Express 2 / Sony -backed April Fool's prank, This Is The End 's new trailer naturally reveals a lot more of the film's plot than it's predecessor; Mishka Bloglin laments that "the movie plays out an end of the world scenario at a party hosted by James Franco -- including everyone who's ever been in a Judd Apatow comedy," plus Rihanna , Emma Watson, Mindy Kaling , Martin Starr (Bill) from Freaks & Geeks , and maybe even a semi-misplaced Backstreet Boys cameo ha. Franco's RAGER is soon interrupted by the impending apocalypse, pesky Earth quakes, etc... as soo...

Justin Timberlake makes the kind of music that's supposed to help you get laid; Let's call it "baby-making music," for lack of a better term. But JT has spent the bulk of last 6-7 years since his last album, Future Sex/Love Sounds (2006) doing damn-near everything besides writing/recording music: re-launching MySpace , sharpening his acting chops, launched a designer clothing line, recorded a few seriously good comedy tracks, and just being charming in general. During his time off, Justin Timberlake managed to record vocals for a gaggle of hits and misses for his musical friends' albums, too... 50 Cent , Jimmy Fallon, [The] Game , Ciara, The Lonely Island , T.I. Madonna , Timbaland, Duran Duran , Diddy-Dirty Money, Talib Kweli , Rihanna, and Chris Cornell ? Timberlake finally took the plunge and "wifed up" his long-time on-again-off-again girlfriend, Jessica Biel @ a private ceremony back in October 2012. Following nearly a solid week's-wor...

Having re-listened to it over the past few months, I must admit, Tom Breihan was right... Take Care is hands down, Drake 's strongest [full-length] effort since So Far Gone (2009). My personal favourite track and quite arguably the album's shining moment, "Take Care" has a deeply-rooted history. Originally penned by Blues singer-songwriter Bobby "Blue" Bland way back in 1966, Gil Scott-Heron re-appropriated "I'll Take Care of You" on his thirteenth record (2010). I'm New Here was liberated through XL Recordings , produced by labelhead Richard Russell , and features a wide array of newly-adopted musical stylings. Roughly a year later, Jamie xx was commissioned to produce a Dubstep -inspired remix album, We're New Here . Drake 's Boom-Bap version of "Take Care" is essentially a refurbished edit that beefs up the Tribal drums and subs in Rihanna for Gil Scott-Heron on the hook. Nearly 6 months after it's or...

Not long after the initial onslaught of 2012, essentially during the first minutes of this New Year ... my email inbox was graced with a message from one "Thomas Defferson" @ ILLAV8R . Labeled, "HAPPY NEW ∂eƒ Sound!! "A Song Called Anything" featuring Alex Isley " said email contained a BRAND NEW mp3 track from eclectic artist, Def Sound. One of my [early] favorite lyrical fragments from the track alternatively stylized and accented as "▲.song.called.åny†hing." has to be "If plan A fails - 25 letters left." Produced-recorded by equally eclectic artists, ®C & Brook D'Leau , "anything" really is a pretty solid blend of genres: Rock, Hip-Hop , Funk-Soul, Jazz , Dance, R&B, Electronic . Def Sounds. 's long-rumored sophomore album, "Anything: The Idea Machine" is coming soon(er) - This coming Spring. If you like what you hear, surf on over to Def Sound.'s Bandcamp page and check out his dense...

When Matthew Arnold penned "The Buried Life" (98-line poem) way back in 1852, I'm sure he never imagined that his compiled works words would still be inspiring young people some 160 years later, in 2012. The present-day incarnation of "The Buried Life" is made up of 4 Canadian -bred friends [brothers]: Ben, Jonnie , Duncan & Dave . Armed with nothing more than a rudimentary cam-corder, a purple bus named "Penelope," and a grandiose vision - The guys set forth on a mission to help the hard-working people of the nation. The crux of Ben, Jonnie, Duncan & Dave's companion MTV series, which originally ran for the length of two 2010 seasons... was to assemble a lengthy bucketlist of "100 things to do before you die." This would, of course, warrant the assistance of many good-hearted, helpful people along the way. For every item crossed off "The Buried Life" crew's list, they promised to assist a newly-befriended st...

Romy xx, Jamie xx & Oliver Sim are currently isolated - hard @ work on the untitled follow-up to their highly successful debut album, "xx" (2009). The xx plan to release the set ahead of a string of Summer 2012 festival appearances. Jamie xx has said that his production style is now inspired by Club music and is "party-motivated." Since bursting onto the UK music scene, Jamie xx has worked with [remixed] the likes of Florence + The Machine , Drake-Rihanna, Gil Scott-Heron, Adele ... Shakira, Kwes , and Gorillaz . Later on in 2009, second guitarist-keyboardist Baria Qureshi parted ways with The xx due to "personal differences;" Qureshi was one of the band's 4 founding members - All of whom met in 2005, while studying @ Elliott School (London) . The first demo from "xx2," "Open Eyes" was released over Christmas Holiday . A sparse, feedback-drenched piano/guitar-based piece, you can tell that "Open Eyes" is a...

The pursuit of "Peace, Love & Happiness" is a pretty basic, universally echoed sentiment... one quite often further solidified and paired up with musical accompaniment. Admittedly not exactly the most "genuine" public figure, Drake has never seemed so real and unguarded as of late; Well, @ least not since the early days of "Best I Ever Had" (So Far Gone) . Now, this may just be a premature evaluation of sorts... But I strongly believe that "Take Care" will serve has the Magnum Opus of Drake's similarly-named sophomore album. This, due in part to an appearance from the reigning Queen of Electro-tinged Smooth R&B and Hip-Hop, Rihanna . If you like what you hear, show your support and pick up a copy of Take Care when it's [widely] released this coming Nov. 15th. "Listen, enjoy it, buy it if you like it... and take care until next time," Tweeted Drake Monday morning, after the imminent album leak-age. For all inte...

For nearly as long as I can remember, I've been an aficionado of any and all things Pop Culture : music, fashion, cinema, comic books, food, art, travel, etc. Rihanna has without a doubt been a Pop Culture mainstay since first assaulting the Billboard charts with "Pon de Replay" (2005). Since then, the Barbadian [Bajan] beauty has somehow managed to record and release 5 studio albums, 25 solo singles, and countless chart-topping features. A few of my personal favourites include: "Shut Up and Drive," "Disturbia," "Man Down," "Hard" and "Live Your Life." Gradually evolving and growing with each collection, Rihanna is now a mature Hard Rocking club hopper; She has surely seen her fair share of adversity, but always manages to prevail! With "We Found Love," Rihanna bravely explores the previously untouched genre destinations of Electro-House and Dance-Pop . The simple, Calvin Harris -produced tune is a h...

Let's face it... It's almost 2012 and by now, most of us have heard of Stargate , weather we're aware of it or not. Since their 1997 inception, the Norwegian production team, consisting of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen , has managed to fine-tune a number of Grammy-winning hit for artists like: Rihanna , Katy Perry , Beyoncé , Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa , and Marina & The Diamonds . I have to admit, I'm a [casual] fan of many of their radio singles - Not even knowing who was behind the creation of these lush, layered tracks. One could even go as far as to say that Stargate was [partially] responsible for honing the genre-bending sounds of Popular albums: Rated R - Loud , Rolling Papers , and Teenage Dream . Kassa Overall , it seems, is a fan of Hermansen & Eriksen 's varied array of works, as well. For all intensive purposes, the Harlem -based drummer/rapper-producer's latest aptly-titled mixtape is based around nothing but Stargate ...