The Witzard

Short Fuze is an Uncommon Records affiliate, who I've personally been listening to and conversing with online since, at least, 2016. It was then when Short Fuze released Autonomy Music with Uncommon Nasa AKA NASA . Short Fuze & Nasa previously collaborated together on a 2010 album, Lobotomy Music, and 2011 follow-up/remix EP, Toxicology Music. In fact, earlier this year, Uncommon Nasa & Short Fuze debuted their official/re-branded collaboration as Guillotine Crowns on "Champions" on Last Sons' Nasa-produced album, CHEKHOV'S GUN. It appears as though, this whole time, since about 2009, Short Fuze has been on an indefinite hiatus from his main group, W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. , which was initially formed in 2000; in its earliest incarnation, W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. consisted of Short Fuze & Augury , while third emcee, Taiyamo Denku joined later in 2001. During their initial 10-year run, W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S. released four albums, Seasons Change , Rule...

Chekhov's Gun by Last Sons For at least a few years now, I've been speaking with UK emcee Duke01 (@DukeBinary) effectively one 1/2 of Last Sons , about their long-rumored full-length debut to be produced by Uncommon Nasa . Merely separated by an ocean, Staten Island, NY -based producer/emcee, Uncommon Nasa , has been working with Nottingham, UK -bred Duke01 and his in-house DJ/turntablist, Furious P , since about 2014. Duke01 's Steroid Stereo (Orange Edition) EP was released in collaboration with Nasa 's Uncommon Records and features cuts throughout from Furious P . Now, nearly five years later, Last Sons & Uncommon Nasa have reunited for their aforementioned Steroid Stereo follow-up that's now being billed as Chekhov's Gun ; a couple weeks ago, I received an early press advance of Last Sons' Chekhov's Gun and trust me, it's well worth the wait! Still about a month ahead of Chekhov's Gun's March 15th world-wide "street da...

As many of you may remember, a few months ago, we here at The Witzard hosted, assembled, and compiled a 7-track remix contest/compilation dubbed The Witzard's Andy Cooper "COMPANION PLAN" Remix Comp. playlist . It included a selection of original genre-eschewing submissions from Places & Spaces' Naturetone , Djar One, Broken Machine Films Presents... (Illuminated Paths) Australian beat-maker Dros, Mike East , UncleRussie, and Three Tree Posse AKA 3TP 's Getro . After receiving a moderate amount of praise from The Witzard 's trusty readership, the participating producers, and Andy Cooper and his label, Rocafort Records , I decided to start planning for The Witzard 's second remix contest. I soon reached out to my friend, frequent collaborator, and Baltimore -based producer John "Jumbled" Bachman . Together, we collectively agreed to field an instrumental composition to be flipped, sampled, re-constructed, etc. for this second remix ...

"I could easily talk about how loud I blasted [ Public Enemy 's] Fear of a Black Planet (1990) daily from my Yorx Entertainment System in junior high or pumped [ Company Flow 's] "8 Steps to Perfection" (1996) and everything else recorded from my Stretch & Bobbito tapes in the Burger King kitchen, after closing time during my shifts or dip into how DJ Premier made beats that were completely abstract, but made them instant norms by nature of his talent. But, in truth, when I sit and make a beat, I don't feel the influence of other Hip-Hop producers too heavily anymore, even less than I feel when I write rhymes. I've settled into something pretty original, not without influence, but kind of it's own thing, for better or worse. So, what I'd rather talk about is my relationship with Progressive Rock music and how it spurned my definition and coining of the term "Progressive Hip-Hop." I still love some good old Prog-Rock ,...