The Witzard

For starters: above, you will see a rather striking image pulled from Claude "Paradise" Gray & Giuseppe "u.net" Pipitone 's 2016 Wax Poetics photo-book, No Half Steppin' - An Oral & Pictorial History of New York City Club The Latin Quarter & The Birth of Hip-Hop's Golden Era . It's indeed, a photo Gray & Pipitone's book featuring Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five sharp-spitter Grandmaster Melle Mel, Afrika Islam & Ice-T taken sometime in 1986 either in or around New York 's infamous club, The Latin Quarter . Afrika Islam kick-started his musical career at the tender age of 10, as he joined The Bronx -bred Hip-Hop /breakin' group, Rock Steady Crew in 1977. Islam would go on to cut his teeth acting as an apprentice under Afrika Bambaataa and was an early member of Bambaataa's international cultural awareness group, The Universal Zulu Nation . Throughout his decades-long career, Afrika Islam has repeat...

"This music makes me wanna make more children. It makes me feel like things are gonna be alright," Atmosphere emcee Slug once proclaimed concerning Minneapolis-based duo Bones & Beeker. Consisting of Anthony "Tony" Newes (vocals, guitar, keys, and other sounds) and Brendan Kelly AKA BK-One (production, drum programming, keys, glockenspiel, kalimba) Bones & Beeker released a self-titled 2015 album on Wax Poetics Records . While it's hard to peg Bones & Beeker's output as one distinct genre label, they draw influence from Jazz, Funk/Soul, Indie Pop, Hip-Hop, and a multitude of genre-eschewing sounds; however, the most fitting descriptions of Bones & Beeker's overall sound I've found comes directly from the band themselves—Tony describing it as "The Toys meet Hip-Hop" and BK-One likening their sound to "a sample-based Paul Simon"—during a 2015 video interview with THEOREMATIC . Bones & Beeker also features inst...

(1) I really dig the high concept, mysterious/vagueness & Frank Ocean cameo behind "Thinking About You!" But the video might be a little hard for some viewers to follow... Can you please walk us through it's perceived concept? No way... The video is how it is, the intention is for the viewer to pull the meaning that they want from the video. To us, explaining it would sort of ruin the concept and self relate-able emotion that is evoked in most people. (2) I remember when "Thinking About You" was originally uploaded to Vimeo & then Def Jam soon yanked it. What made then now decide to adopt it as the track's Official Music Video? No idea, we were just as surprised yesterday when we saw it popping up all over the internet. (3) How did you guys initially get in touch with Frank Ocean to film his cameo? While small, his role as a nurse seems pretty pivotal to the video's overall concept. How much input did he really have in "Thinking About You...

"Concrete Waves" is just one of those songs that's wildly catchy right off the bat! You know that you like it. But also know that you'd really be hard-pressed when asked "Why?" Kendra Morris is poised to become the next short-term Queen of Soul Pop Music; A genre initially spearheaded by the late-great, Amy Winehouse . Since "Throwback Soul" 's early-mid 2000's inception, many young songstresses have decided to jump aboard: Lily Allen, Duffy , Ke$ha, Sharon Jones, Janelle Monáe , Adele, Miss Jack Davey, Lana del Rey ... and now, Wax Poetics' very own Kendra Morris . Kendra Morris was born and raised along the coast of Florida to 2 musically-inclined parents. So, it was frankly no surprise to anyone that she grew up to be a Soulful -voiced little young lady. Morris made "The BIG Move" to New York City around 2003, where she proceeded to record bedroom [closet] recordings onto an 8-track . Those very recordings would re...