The Witzard

"Honestly, it's a very chaotic little commentary on a very chaotic time. Some of the sound bites come from campaign ads from 50 years ago; [it's] always a bit of a tightrope between serious and ridiculous," mix master maestro graciously Alan "illchemist" Friedman told me within a brief, yet self-explanatory Facebook DM'ed statement sent Thursday night. Now, take it with a grain of salt, but in my eyes, throughout the course of "A Story of Power," Friedman is essentially commenting on the current state of the nation and better yet, the world: social injustices, our comedy show of a 2016 Presidential "race," this ungodly wet, hot American summer, and general state of unrest—"it's a very, very mad world, mad world," as a wise man once said. "A Story of Power" has supposedly been sitting dormant on the back burner... or more so, the back of illchemist 's hard drive for a few months and as he put it him...

Esquire Classic 's nearly 4-minute "Tribute to The Greatest" mash-up was quietly shared by @EsquireClassic this past Sunday morning, June 5th, along with a striking image of recently deceased three-time World Champion Muhammad Ali sorting through a collection of dusty 45's in a 1960-70's car along with the caption, "Ali spins the platters that matter;" Esquire 's digital archival curator and editor Alex Belth composed the mix along with frequent collaborator Alan Friedman (aka illchemist ). "I see it as an extension of the curation I do with print on the [Esquire Classic] site," Belth wrote within an email, which contained a 20-song tracklist from which he and illchemist meticulously composed a Soul-Funk -evoking soundbed to underlay beneath an array of Ali's finest spoken word material and fight commentary. Miles Davis , The Temptations, Bob & Earl 's House of Pain-sampled "Harlem Shuffle," Bill Deal & ...