The Witzard

"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...

SUNDAY NO. 1 by defprez First time I had heard Defcee rhyme was on "Angel Dust (Leak Brothers 2)" from Zilla Rocca & Small Professor 's 2017 URBNET debut, Good Luck With That , as Career Crooks . I've since delved deep into Adam Levin —no, not Maroon 5 's shirtless frontman!—AKA Defcee 's catalog, which now spans six albums and EP's dating as far back as 2007's One Eye Open . We recently featured Defcee 's December 2018 project, A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. 1 right here, across the pages of The Witzard . It's my first newly-released album-length exposure to Defcee 's music, as released on Chicago -based Machine Wash Music ; a phenomenal 20-minute display of what Defcee has to offer displayed across one single track, which features an array of well-known beats originally used by Drake , Rick Ross, Nipsey Hussle , 6LACK, The Alchemist , Goodie Mob, Group Home , and Nasty Nas. A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. 1 , also, feature...

Domestic Bliss by Luxury Mane Last month, I received a mysterious cold-sent email from St. Petersburg, Florida -based artist and multi-instrumentalist William "Billy" Summer . Summer is, actually "the devastatingly handsome" frontman of a hit-making band of merry Rock "N" Roll misfits called Luxury Mane . In my "humble" opinion, Luxury Mane appear to painstakingly create a unique blend of Dream Pop/Psych Rock reminiscent of The Shins , Broken Bells, The Flaming Lips , T.Rex, The Kinks , Pavement, and The Beach Boys . Billy Summer graciously sent me a care package containing 3 Luxury Mane albums on colored vinyl: Gold Standard (2014,) Lux Runnin' Out (2016,) and their latest creation, Domestic Bliss . Lux Mane are part of Florida UK , a local scene/collective, and were, actually, birthed out of another one of Billy Summer 's now-defunct bands, The Semis . Luxury Mane admittedly, don't tour very often because their one-time b...

Landfill Crew is a fictional animated Punk Rock band set during the mid-80's heyday of the formative East/West Coast Punk & Hardcore scenes. Landfill Crew AKA LFC 's self-titled debut 2x7-inch EP was originally recorded on March 12, 1987 in Bagga's Basement , although, it was just properly released earlier this week on Pirates Press & Hellcat Records . According to the record's inserts, Landfill Crew consists of frontman Anthony "Hux" Campbell , guitarist & vocalist Bagger "Bagga Bullets" Russell , drummer Jennifer "Jenny" Arellano , guitarist Cliff "Pakman" Esmond , and bassist Horace "Baby" Harringtton . Its reverse sleeve denotates the 2x7-inch EP was produced by Tim "Timebomb" Armstrong , with artwork & layout by J Bonner , and sends a very "special thanks to Clarence for bringing the donuts." However, much in the same vein as like-minded animated Alternative Rock/Hip-Hop b...

INTRODUCTION: Maybe, it's in the gray hairs that I've started finding in my thinning hair. Maybe, it's that dreaded third decade of life that seems to have been rearing it's ugly face around every corner. Maybe, it's a quarter life crisis, but something has been keeping me up at night. I sometimes, stay awake into the early hours of the morning spinning records and fumbling with CD jackets from high school, grasping hold of my youth for dear life. I search out elusive first presses of albums I'd somehow, lost to time, hoping that they'll somehow, tighten the thread leading from middle school to adulthood. To be clear, I'm not fishing my torn band T-shirts or bondage pants from the depths of my closet, but as I make the transition into my 30's, shedding roommates and getting oil changes at regularly scheduled intervals, I can't help ruminating on where these albums came from and how they've shaped me. I can't help begging the question,...

"So, my background is rooted in touring Hardcore/Punk and guitar music: Bastions , [Portrait of A Lifetime,] and My Project Ghost . Grew up listening to everything I could get my hands on at Our Price & Woolworths. Did you guys have those stores? I discovered independent record stores in my teens and just absorbed EVERYTHING I could get my hands on. Loved the immediacy of Punk & Hardcore; saw that style of music sharing the same fire that Hip-Hop & Electronica have, [ie:] Doormouse, Wu-Tang Clan, Venetian Snares, etc." - Jamie Burne (@sleepbeggar) I. Big Daddy Kane - Long Live The Kane (1988) "Just floored by the flawless delivery and syncopation of the rhyming couplets in this. I learnt you could create that same energy that a full band has with a lot less instrumentation." II. Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy EP (1997) "Less is more, textures, nerding out on a production level, imagining how that was created, and subtle synth tones (3:03 i...

While Port Arthur, Texas emcees Bun B & Pimp C were commonly referred to as Underground Kingz (U.G.K.) I would strongly attest that Broownsville emcee Sean Price AKA Sean P! AKA Ruckus/Ruck from Heltah Skeltah was, indeed, and "Underground" King in his own right. Sean P , unfortunately, only spent 43 years on this Green Earth, although, he had been rapping since 1995 after his crew, Boot Camp Clik , appeared on Smif-N-Wessun 's Wreck Records debut, Dah Shinin' . Honestly, my earliest personal memories of Sean P! date back to my 12 years spent stocking shelves at Shop Rite ; sometimes, at night, I used to help my buddy, Jared Jenkins , stock the bread shelves and he was always bumpin' and big uppin' Sean Price . I guess, what really stuck with me first, aside from his relentless rhymes, was Sean 's tendency to take his name and blatantly insert it into common Pop culture phenoms, movie titles, etc. which was a great promotional tool in the...