The Witzard

Biz Markie rendering on cardboard - CREDIT: Andrew "Andy" Katz (@ajkatzart) Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with eve...

Australian DJ, producer, and turntablist Scott Barker , better known as DJ Bacon , is a well-documented Beastie Boys super-fan. Barker has previously released remixes of Beasties fan favorites "Egg Man," "Sure Shot," and "Shake Your Rump," as well as an infamous Run-D.M.C./Beastie Boys mega-mix fittingly titled "RUN-BST." We conducted a comprehensive 2018 interview with DJ Bacon himself, in fact, coinciding with the 7-inch/digital re-releases of both "Back In Hell" (Run-D.M.C. vs. AD/DC) B/W "Sure Shot" Rock Steady Remix and the aforementioned "RUN-BST" mega-mix. So, of course, when it came time to coordinate our full-album 3-part Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique 30th Anniversary All-around Breakdown AKA PB30 , DJ Bacon was amongst the first people we reached out for contributions. He ended up penning a deeply personal blurb for "A Year & A Day" (Suite d.) from "B-Boy Bouillabaisse...

Honestly, at this point in time, Run The Jewels (RTJ) should require absolutely no introduction... but, just to be safe, here's a brief/obligatory introduction: RTJ consists of rapper/producer and Definitive "Def" Jux co-founder El-P and emcee and OutKast affiliate Killer Mike . Legend has it, El & Mike first met on the set of Mr. Muthaf**kin' eXquire's "The Last Huzzah" (Remix) music video shoot. Soon after, [adult swim] Senior Vice President/Creative Director Jason DeMarco—then, at Williams Street Records—connected Killer Mike with El-P , who would produce his phenomenal 2012 album, R.A.P. Music. Mike , additionally, appeared alongside El on his own 2012 Fat Possum Records album, Cancer 4 Cure, on stand-out track, "Tougher Colder Killer." R.A.P. Music & Cancer 4 Cure were released weeks apart, so fast friends Killer Mike & El-P decided to tour together behind their then-new albums. After the widespread success of said tou...

It is now widely known that Tuxedo is a Nu-Funk/R&B duo consisting of one-time Stones Throw crooner Mayer Hawthorne and super-producer Jake One ; however, at one point in time, surrounding the release of their 2013 Tuxedo EP , Tuexedo 's members' identities were largely shrouded in mystery. I personally believe, that Tuxedo's nom de plume was, initially, a bit of a lighthearted tongue-in-cheek jab at Justin Timberlake's similarly-titled/sounding "Suit & Tie" single with JAY-Z. Tuxedo have since released three full-length albums: Tuxedo , Tuxedo II, and most recently, III AKA Tuxedo III , as well as a slew of Funk-tastic remixes, stand-alone singles, and Yuletide nuggets. For their latest single from III , "Toast 2 Us," Mayer Hawthorne & Jake One have enlisted frequent Stones Throw collaborator and multi-talented director / photographer / editor / creative / VFX artist Ross Harris . Tuxedo & Ross Harris previously collaborated ...

Dinked Records (@dinkedrecords) was established as recently as 2015 and according to Discogs , "aims to put out high-quality 7-inch records with big holes (dinked centres) all 100% officially licensed and re-mastered for vinyl." Around 2016, Dinked launched a sister/sub-label called Random Rap Records to fittingly release "random rap records," such as Souls of Mischief , Boogie Down Productions, and KRS-One . Dinked Records is actively re-issuing and releasing top-notch 7-inches and are currently working on launching The Dinked 45 Club . For their latest archival release, for the first time ever on 45, Dink Records have re-released Run-D.M.C. 's 1993 single, "Down with The King" featuring Rev Run, D.M.C. & Jam Master Jay , as well as Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth . First and foremost, Dinked Records' "Down with The King" 45 re-issue cover art was designed by acclaimed graffiti artist and graphic designer Ricky Also from Paintsh...

Jason Furlow is a Brooklyn -based emcee, producer, and musician also known as Nature Boy Jim Kelly and Nosaj The Great . Although, Furlow is likely, best known as Nosaj , 1/3 of Psychedelic Hip-Hop/Rap-Rock group, New Kingdom . I, actually, only very recently learned about Nosaj & New Kingdom after publishing UK beat-maker/producer LongDistanceDan 's Beat-maker Bedrock column, which highlighted their 1993 debut, Heavy Load . Since New Kingdom 's 1996 disbandment, Jason Furlow has worked with everyone from Tricky to The Freak Brothers , David Byrne (Talking Heads) to Morcheeba , Lyricist Lounge to Bill Laswell/Material , Buckethead to CX KiDTRONiK , and more. Furlow released a limited edition 2-track cassingle last year under his government name called "Last Man Standing" B/W "Modern Man" on Canadian cassette/CD imprint Dub Ditch Picnic , which is still currently available to stream or download on the label's Bandcamp . In recent years, ...

Mahatma Crowley, a friend and frequent collaborator here at The Witzard, messaged me an MP3 of "KAYFABE" a few weeks ago from a then unnamed mystery artist he had recently taken under his wing and signed to his Akashic Vibrations Records. I guess the best way I could even begin to attempt to describe Doc Savior and in-house producer Heavy Rev's unique output would be to try to imagine what Kendrick Lamar might sound like, if he were rhyming over an album full of samples culled from Black Flag's first album with frontman Henry Rollins, 1981's Damaged. Crowley generally unleashes new musical projects on various seasonal solstices and Doc Savior & Heavy Rev's Never Sleep is no different—released today, march 20th on the Spring (Vernal) Equinox. Mahatma Crowley served as Creative Director on Doc & Rev's Never Sleep, which was assembled and recorded 100% independently with Crowley coming in after its completion to handle branding and promotion. It app...

While I've been an avid supporter of Girl Talk aka civilian engineer Gregg Gillis' hyper-disoriented (s)mash-up style since the initial media on-slaught of Night Ripper (2006), I never thought I'd see the day when he'd commit a full-fledged collaboration with a real-life rapper to wax, let alone former Roc-A-Fella affiliate and Philly native, Freeway ; to the best of my knowledge, Gillis hasn't worked alongside an emcee since his 2011 Pitchfork Selector -initiated Jim Jones track, "Believe In Magic." It seems as though Broken Ankles is just a small chunk of a recorded, albeit unreleased, body of work, the first of which will become available for FREE download this upcoming April 8th. "Tolerated"' s Allen Cordell -directed video treatment is loosely inspired by late 90's Brit -hit "Bittersweet Symphony." "I just thought it'd be cool to do a video where the premise is me and Freeway walking down the street and ...

While attempting to create a polar "opposite of Rock "N" Roll "-rooted music video, French director Simon Cahn arguably created the most Hip-Hop -inspired Rock video since "Walk This Way" (1986). "Pay No Mind" is the third single pulled from Rock "N" Roll revivalists Hanni el Khatib 's most recent album, Head In The Dirt ; Recorded down in Nashville at Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach 's backyard studio, Easy Eye Sound , the album has already birthed 2 gritty singles: "Family," "Penny," and 9 additional down and dirty Garage Rock jams. The NOWNESS premiered clip starts out with the cheerleading team passionately air drumming and singing along with "Family" in what looks like a late night car ride, which then segues into the absolute romper of a simplistic music video. Now, we're talking' about 6 scantily-clad HEK cheerleaders performing a rough-edged choreographed dance ro...

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 ...

First off, I have to give credit where credit is due: Thanks, Mishka Bloglin for turning me onto OG Dutch Master this weekend! (shouts to David C. ) Before even hearing a lick of his music, I was almost instantly reminded of Golden Age Hip-Hop household names like Grandmaster Flash , Biz Markie, Digital Underground , Puff Daddy, Run-D.M.C. etc. based solely off that goofy/AWESOME stage name. There's very little background info online to go along with OG Dutch Master's currently brief discography. But the East Baltimore native's roughly 19-20 and rolls with 7th Floor Villains [LL7FV]. It basically sounds like the "desert island" playlist for a recovering 90's Hip-Hop absorbed Hipster 20-something, ha. OG Dutch Master 's latest output, "Raw Dope" was released right around DOOMSDAY Dec. 21st and features a vocal riff pulled from Fiona Apple 's comeback single, "Every Single Night" (2012). Up-and-coming producer Mohlz ...

Claire Boucher seems to be flirting with the idea of becoming a "Hip-Hop producer," as of late. The Montreal -based Experimental artist who's alternatively known as "Grimes" is currently on a promotional jaunt for her third full-length and major label debut, Visions . It was liberated across North America just yesterday [Feb. 21st], self-recorded @ Claire Boucher 's apartment over a 3 week period, and then skillfully mixed/mastered along with her manager, Sebastian Cowan . Following a minor water-borne run in with the law (2009), Boucher's "street cred" was slightly boosted. Grimes' initial exploration into the world of Hip-Hop was released in conjunction with Visions : Cadence Weapon - "88." The 2 Canadian -bred artists struck up an Internet -based friendship a few months back and Claire Boucher willingly handed over a bare-bones beat version of "Eight." Cadence Weapon then morphed it into a tender ode to H...

In an effort to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Run-D.M.C 's seminal release: "My Adidas," surviving members Rev. Run and D.M.C. have now teamed up with the good people over @ Adidas . Unveiled just yesterday [11/11/11], Adidas Originals Superstar 80s are essentially the "shelltoes" that Run-D.M.C. forever immortalized some 25 odd years ago, in the Summer of 1986; Permanently cementing Hip-Hop 's residency in the vast world of music. While the companion album, Raising Hell , seemingly the band's commercial breakthrough, it was actually their third overall and first with super-producer Rick Rubin . To put it lightly, these are the mere sounds that forever changed the face of music, blew out and fuzzed genre guidelines... affixing Hip-Hop as more than just a here-today-gone-tomorrow fad, and officially crowned Run-D.M.C. & Jam Master Jay as the 3 reigning kings of Hip-Hop . In honor of the special occasion, Mick Boogie decided to gather u...