The Witzard

It's almost a bit hard to believe that in 2020, The Alchemist & MF DOOM haven't released a full-length project together. Although, it appears as though they have a few mutual friends/collaborators in Earl Sweatshirt , WestsideGunn, Madlib 's brother Oh No , and Egon from Now-Again Records. So, it doesn't seem entirely unlikely or 100% out of the question. However, the average fan may not be aware, DOOM & Alchemist have, in fact, worked together on a number of occasions on a couple lesser-known one-off tracks: "DOOMSAYER" was briefly released as part of DOOM 's mysteriously scrapped THE MISSING NOTEBOOK RHYMES series for [adult swim] in 2017 (a Young Guru -producer version was released in 2012) also, in 2017, Alchemist produced "2STRINGS" from WestsideGunn & MF DOOM 's super-limited edition WESTSIDE DOOM Griselda Records/Daupe! 12-inch. Then, without much prior notice, Alchemist jumped on Instagram Live this past Mon...

Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def once said, "Three key steps to leading a rewarding and enriched life: (1) Wake up, (2) be awesome, (3) LISTEN TO PRESERVATION." Preservation , otherwise known as Dj Preservation , Dj Jun, and Jun TME is/was part of Dr. Yen Lo with Brownsville emcee KA , Sonic Sum along with Rob Sonic, Fred Ones & Eric M.O. and TME PRO. Preservation has long operated as the touring DJ for both Yasiin Bey & KA and has produced music for Mach-Hommy , RZA, GZA , Raekwon, U-God , Sean Price, Roc Marciano , Ed O.G. KRS-One , Jean Grae, Aesop Rock , billy woods, and Your Old Droog . I can, personally, recall knowingly hearing Preservation 's work across the official 2013 re-worked companion to Mos Def 's The Ecstatic entitled The REcstatic ; although, Preservation previously contributed production work to Mighty Mos' 2006 album, True Magic , as well as the original aforementioned project, his "last" album as Mos Def , The Ecstatic (20...

"Three key steps to leading a rewarding and enriched life: (1) wake up, (2) be awesome, (3) LISTEN TO PRESERVATION ," as charismatically explained by Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def himself. Preservation is, in fact, a native New York DJ and producer, as well as a photographer and cinematographer, who actively records and releases music and was formerly known as Dj Jun . Preservation used to run and operate New Jersey -based Cloud City Studios and currently runs his own label imprint, Mon Dieu Music , which prides itself on "presenting a variety of cross-genre projects." Preservation has been part of a variety of groups and crews, over the years, including Dr. Yen Lo with Brownsville emcee Ka , Sonic Sum with Rob Sonic, Fred Ones & Eric M.O. and T.M.E. PRO with Fred Ones & Omar Agurto . As many of you may already well now, Mos Def is my all-time favorite emcee and for many years (maybe, even still?) Preservation functioned as Mos' in-house/tourin...

Death By Misadventure by Conway X Sonnyjim Conway is a Buffalo -bred emcee, Wrestle-Rap enthusiast, and one half of Hall N' Nash with his rapping brother Westside Gunn . Last year, both Conway FKA Conway The Machine & Westside Gunn and their Griselda Records (GxFR) imprint/roster signed an exclusive deal with Eminem 's Shady Records/Universal Music Group . Following a string of critically-acclaimed releases and Wrestle/Rap -inflected guest appearances, Westside Gunn & Conway have temporarily "split" to issue a number of solo and collaborative releases: most recently, Westside Gunn 's March-released, Mr. Green -produced FLYGOD Is God... All The Time EP and Conway 's just-released, SONNYJIM -helmed Death By Misadventure EP . SONNYJIM is, of course, a UK -based emcee and producer whose name you may very well recognize from his recent collaborative outing with Chicago sharp-spitter Vic Spencer , Spencer FOR HIGHER . " Death By Misadventur...

Lunch Meat EP by The Alchemist Action Bronson and long-time friend, collaborator, and food travel cohort The Alchemist have once again teamed up for 2 minutes and 47 seconds-worth of Jazz -inflected Boom-Bap bliss; previously having worked together a number of times since Blaxploitation -like Rare Chandeliers (2012) but not on a proper collaborative full-length project since, Bronson & Alchemist have reunited for "The Hopeless Romantic" from the latter's Lunch Meat EP . The Alchemist also drafted sharp-tongued emcees Roc Marciano , Westside Gunn & Conway (Hall N' Nash,) Styles P , and Benny The Butcher for his Lunch Meat EP , which features instrumentals for all four emcee-assisted tracks on Side B . To coincide with the release of Alchemist 's Lunch Meat EP this past Friday, Action Bronson & Alan The Chemist recruited artist E Money (@theedollarsign) AKA E$ to create a series of original illustrations and pieces of artwork inspired by Bro...

Anything I Touch I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca by Zilla Rocca "Grab my remixes of every dope-a** rapper I've met in the past eight years at threedollarpistol.com ... I remix songs for the challenge; to outdo the original or make something new out of the established piece of art," @ZillaRocca wrote on his rather lively Twitter page upon the release of his latest, and might I add, wonderfully-titled, Anything I Touch, I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca . However, oddly enough, I first stumbled upon Rocca about two weeks ago, whilst searching for a little background information concerning one of my all-time favorite Hip-Hop albums, Mos Def & Black Jack Johnson 's genre-rattling The New Danger (2004). I eventually unearthed a March 2015 ZILLA -penned Passion of The Weiss piece titled, Rework The Angles: Mos Def The New Danger ; " The New Danger was dark, scattered, and bizarre. It was also 75 minutes long [and showcases] ...

"What's goin' on? My friend Alex Belth referred me to you. I'm releasing an album on Tuesday, [July 19th] on Hip-Hop Indie label Worldwyde Recordings . I'm lookin' to submit to magazines and blogs who write about or review Hip-Hop . Let me know, if that fits what you do," read a rather interesting cold-submitted email I received Friday afternoon; low and behold, Ras Beats is a Queens by way of Denmark Hip-Hop producer and DJ who used to work alongside Esquire Classic Editor Alex Belth at DJ Premier , Q-Tip, Pete Rock , The Beatnuts producer JuJu, Lord Finesse , and Large Professor's favorite late 90's East Village record store, The Sound Library . Rasmus “Ras Beats” Jensen has been "a Hip-Hop head since discovering turntables and records, raised on the greats of the golden era, Ras' production stays true to the original sound of Hip-Hop . Dusty records, drum breaks, chopped up, and re-arranged samples" reads a fragmented c...

Roc Marciano makes what a Hip-Hop purist would best describe as "real Rap;" It doesn't take long to realize that Marciano & Cormega are highly-skilled wordsmiths, who could easily out-rap most guys without use of a proper beat (a cappella). We're kinda talkin' about the Thin Lizzies of Underground Hip-Hop ... often referenced, admired, and copied by your favourite run-of-the-mill rappers. It's almost crazy to call something as immaculate-sounding as "Ruff Town" a mere loosie, but it really doesn't seem like a whole lot more than just that. Effectively 1/2 of a NOT super-group [M.A.R.S.] along with Action Bronson & Saigon , "Ruff Town" may or may not end up re-appearing on Roc Marciano 's forth-coming third full-length, Marci Beaucoup . It's rumored to be a 100% Marciano-produced affair with nothing less than top-notch guest features from Freeway , Ka, Guilty Simpson , Boldy James, Knowledge The Pirate , M.A.R....

I was gonna write up something about Lil B & Joey Bada$$ 's Twitter -fueled Rap beef that went down last night. But after a quick 1-2 punch/mediocre track release, that one had already fizzled out by daybreak Wednesday morning. Man, Hip-Hop sure as Hell isn't what it used to be; So, it's a good thing there are still groups like CZARFACE that manage to keep 90's Boom-Bap traditions alive! Inspectah Deck, 7L & Esoteric first linked up for the "Speaking Real Words" 12" (1999) and finally ended up reuniting now, some 14 years later. "We are CZARFACE because they know our faces and they know us for being dope rhyme suppliers, like Tony Montana we are known for our balls and our word; Lyrically we will conquer the world and everything in it," Inspectah Deck began to vividly detail in a press release ... "CZARFACE is a vigilante. He's and anti-hero character who serves as the face of the project and his focus is on annihil...

Action Bronson is kinda like the weirdly AWESOME love-child of Beastie Boys, Ghostface Killah , and Rick Ross . The Albanian-American rapper hails from Flushing, Queens and cut his teeth as a Top Chef before converting over to rhymin' roughly 2 years ago. In a true testament to his sheer prolific brilliance, Bronson has linked up with one sole producer @ a time for each project: Dr. Lecter/Tommy Mas , Well-Done/Statik Selektah, and Blue Chips/Party Supplies - Plus Mr. Wonderful, Saab Stories , "Blue Chips 2," and his VICE Records debut are ALL expected to materialize fairly soon, too. Action Bronson has already had a chance to work with everyone from Asher Roth to Wu-Tang Clan and was the undoubted MVP of Meyhem Lauren 's hotel suite-recorded mixtape, Respect The Fly Shit . Bronson inked a deal with Warner Bros. back in mid-August and it seems like he has their full support to "spread his wings" a little bit on Rare Chandeliers , which was releas...

Almost effortlessly cruisin' down the same nautical, boatshoed lane as Yacht Rock pioneers like Christopher Cross , Steely Dan, Beach Boys , and Hall & Oates, The Alchemist quietly released one long 12-minute track [EP] appropriately dubbed "YACHT ROCK (Side A-B)" late Wednesday afternoon. It's pretty much the perfect soundtrack for throwing back a few boat-side brews, which might've been partially inspired by The Alchemist 's fruitful shades/readers partnership with 9FIVE Eyewear ; Hypebeast eloquently describes the glasses as " 9FIVE Watson frames [with] a custom black and grey pattern added to the outer portions with red leather wrapped around the temple tips. The sunglasses variant receives polarized black lenses, while the reader model features clear CR-39 lenses." Now, while that all sounds pretty TIGHT, $150's a little steep for 2 pairs of glasses, a fancy striped box, and a RARE 7-inch record... So, The Alchemist has libera...

Respect The Fly Shit was written/recorded in one fall swoop @ Embassy Suites during SXSW (March 2012) in just 24 hours. Harry Fraud and Tommy Mas mounted a mic on top of an ice bucket and somehow managed to morph a hotel room into a make-shift recording studio... Meyhem Lauren quickly invited everyone who was anywhere nearby Austin, TX to roll through Room #426 over a 2-day period and record a verse: Action Bronson , Heems, Sean Price , RiFF RAFF, Roc Marciano , AG Da Coroner , and a few more rapping friends. Beat-wise, Fraud and Mas somehow managed to conjure up 12 Jazzy , Boom-Bap -filled originals, ready to be fully laced up and punchline accented. Re-mastered @ SXSW' s end, Respect The Fly Shit is a collection of 12 care-free tracks that were loosely laid down over a long weekend [vacation]. Meyhem Lauren then managed to forge a solid enough relationship with clothing company LRG and Heems' record label, Greedhead that they both agreed to sponsor/fund his FRES...

Haphazardly constructed around an old Rudy Ray Moore vocal sample, "3 Dollars" features MF DOOM 's triumphant return to the mic... Rapping over a beat produced by the younger brother of his long-time friend/collaborator, Oh No [Madlib] . Over time, Michael Jackson has somehow managed to tediously de-construct and re-assemble a collection of tracks, which were generously inspired [sample] by 1970's Blaxopolitan film series, Dolomite . Oh No's previous albums were exclusively built around samples culled from Middle Eastern Psych Rock , Galt MacDermot, Ethiopian Funk-Jazz , and video games. Five Day Weekend is prepping to release Oh No 's latest album, cleverly titled "Ohnomite," this upcoming June 5th in conjunction with Stones Throw . Graphic artist Charles "Ques" Munka designed the colorful album cover, which showcases the rappers featured within: Guilty Simpson , MF DOOM, Phife Dawg , Erick Sermon , Rapper Big Pooh , Frank Nitt, M....

"Blue Chips" is an off-the-cuff, spontaneous project that started as a vibe session one Winter afternoon... and spiraled into a 17-song dusted journey through the warped comedic minds of Action Bronson and the prodigy producer/artist known simply as Party Supplies . This journey includes appearances by Roc Marci, Meyhem Lauren , and Das Racist and was recorded in the confines of Party Supplies' Williamsburg, [Brooklyn] chalet. It's a "project," as opposed to a mixtape or an album and sits in a nether world somewhere between the two. Most of all, it's a moment in time made [during] a 3-week period of hanging out at Party Supplies' house. In between cheese plates, snaps and spliffs the 2 artists came up with this testament of creativity and spontaneity! #March12th - Reebok Classics

The News: " Dallas -based producer and new Mello Music Group signee... Gensu Dean has just dismantled and reassembled Roc Marciano 's new classic, "Scarface N*gga" off of Marcberg ( FatBeats , 2010). 2dopeboyz was good enough to debut the track today as well. The Remix is another taste of Dean's style and what he has in store on his upcoming debut album, Standard Life due out in February 2012 on MMG ." - Mello Press Release