The Witzard

"Peep my bro @LupeFiasco 's new FREE mixtape!!! The track "Valleys" is my Dillalude #2, " Robert Glasper Experiment/Trio frontman and founder @robertglasper exuberantly Tweeted late Saturday evening. Glasper is of course referring to Chicago emcee Lupe Fiasco 's latest 6-track mixtape EP, Pharaoh Height 2/30 ; a clever allusion and quasi-sequel to his own 3-volume career-boosting Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series (2006). When arranged in descending order from #1-6, Pharaoh Height 2/30 's tracklist cryptically reads: "IN... VALLEYS... OF... KINGS... PYRAMID... SCHEMES." Not entirely unlike his Thanksgiving 2011 mixtape freebie, Friend of The People: I Fight Evil , Pharaoh Height 2/30 showcases an eclectic sampling of production work culled from the likes of Glasper, J Dilla , The Weeknd affiliate Daheala, Flying Lotus , and even a Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain E3 commercial . Pharaoh Height EP 's Grade A choice cuts include ...

" ["Suede"] featured the LA -based vocalist's signature rasp and slick talk over a chopped up sample of Gil Scott-Heron 's "The Bottle" courtesy of buzzing beatmaker Knxwledge , his partner in the duo collectively known as Nxworries ," NPR diligently reported late Tuesday afternoon. Nxworries is Stones Throw 's latest Jaylib -style rapper-producer concoction, consisting of Dr. Dre 's R&B crooning Compton -assisant, Anderson.Paak and prolific New Jersey/Philly -bred LA beatsmith Knxwledge . Their lone February-released single, "Suede" is an undisputed Snoop & Dre -influenced creation that's almost reminiscent of George Clinton 's own unique G-Funk -inspiring Parliament-Funkadelic sound. Stones Throw founder and label-head, Peanut Butter Wolf actually briefly appears within Nxworries' newly-minted "Suede" video as his Alyssa Milano -obsessed, Prince -esque alter ego, Folerio . Like-minded ...

"Hit the HASH [button] at retrohash.com to uncover secret raps over @black_milk madness..." @asherroth somewhat cryptically Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon, accented by a "#hashwednesday" hashtag; a trend which can be attributed to the bulk of Roth's recent post- RetroHash activity, consisting of fully fleshed out non-album tracks haphazardly uploaded to his Asher Paul Roth Soundcloud account. Hash Wednesdays roll call additionally includes Chuck Inglish -produced "That's Cute," "Oren's Not Sure," Fat Tony -assisted "Sushi," "Taking My Time," and Nottz -produced "Blow Yr Head" amongst other questionable non-album loosies. Although many of Asher Roth 's one-time fans and detractors might have quickly written him off as a mere "one-hit wonder" during the five years between "I Love College" -featuring Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his nearly flawless second album Retro...

"After dropping "Trunk of My Computer" video from the #STSxRJD2 album, STS , Black Thought , and Truck North put [their] MMJB twist on RJD2 's classic Mad Men theme song, "Beautiful [Mine]." Produced by The Wurxs for [their] Wurxs of Art project coming soon," Philly emcee Sugar Tongue Slim (STS) wrote Tuesday afternoon on his Soundcloud accompanying "Mad Men Jam Boys." The Wurxs -produced remix of RJD2 's Mad Men theme, "A Beautiful Mine," is the unofficial return to form of Roots affiliated crew, Money Making Jam Boys , which consists of Roots emcee Black Thought , STS , Truck North , Greg P.O.R.N. and Dice Raw (who are noticeably absent here). MMJB 's first and only release thus far was their Denzel Washington -approved 18-track debut, The Prestige: Jam Boy Magic way back in 2010. Its members have remained far from silent in the five years since The Prestige : Black Thought & The Roots have ...

"Worked with Guilty on Quakers through [Stones Throw] . Then we met when he was here in [Australia] on tour. Hung out with [him] and Phat Kat in the studio. Those guys were digging the new beats I had, and when Guilty went to LA to do the video for "Fitta Happier," he mentioned that we were vibing in the studio and he was into the beats and working together," Katalyst recently wrote within an emailed conversation. "We recorded "War Drums" while Phat Kat and Guilty were in town for that tour. Stones Throw thought it could be a great fit for his next album and hit us up and I was into it," Australian -based producer Ashley Anderson then continued, concerning his relationship with collaborator Guilty Simpson . Katalyst produced the entirety of Simpson's Psych-Rock -tinged DETROIT'S SON at Quakers band-mate and Portishead founder Geoff Barrow 's local Invada Studios . Stones Throw unexpectedly dropped DETROIT'S SO...

"We are excited to announce that a new Joanna Newsom song was released this morning! Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson ," read an uncharacteristically serious Tweet from GRAMMY -winning Comedy-Rap triumvirate @thelonelyisland , which just so happens to showcase the rhymin' talents of Newsom's husband, Andy Samburg . While I'm vaguely familiar with Joanna Newsom 's beautifully fragile harp-assisted melodies, I'm gonna be completely honest here: the only time I've ever actually "heard" her music was on Asher Roth & Nottz Raw 's reflective "Sprout & The Bean" -sampling RAWTH EP cut, "Break Bread." Newsom's first album in nearly five years, Divers , features lush string arrangement composed by "a total murders' row: Newsom [herself], Nico Muhly , Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth , and Ryan Francesconi ," as Stereogum reports. Divers' string arrangements were additionally record...

It seemed lie a pretty blatant, clear-cut call to arms to me when Brooklyn rapper-turned-actor-turned-stand-up comic Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def suddenly challenged any brave three-man posse up for the challenge to a battle rap-style cypher between himself, King Los , and Roots emcee Black Thought this past weekend; "me, Black Thought , and King Los vs. anybody e'erybody... battle anybody. [...] I'm tired of these dudes pretendin' like they dope. You alright, but relax. The dope n***as that think they dope — you ain't as dope as you think. You cool, but you ain't that deal. And we don't have to make no back-and-forth corny records about it." Although, for reasons unknown, Bey has since reneged his previously-incited battle rap challenge, which happened to fit right in, in light of Drake & Meek Mill 's recent well-publicized beef. He's more of less accusing YouTube user and apparent affiliate rrvid718 of uploading said call to arms vi...

"Nothin' leftover so I came back to the land with my homie Lil B and half of my bands... No sleep, stayin' up real late with my mans and out in Chicago droppin' sh*t off the top. They thought after Surf this sh*t would just stop. What's their problem? What's, what's their problem?" former Kids These Days affiliate and Kanye -influenced Chi-town emcee Chance The Rapper ferociously rhymes on "Last Dance"'s introductory bars; having previously described his 6-track Free (Based Freestyles Mixtape) recorded with eccentric Internet personality/rapper and motivational speaker Lil B as a "full-fledged album... it's a classic... it's a masterpiece." Free was supposedly recorded in one marathon day-long session, prior to Chance 's performance at last month's Pitchfork Music Festival , with completely off the dome bars and absolutely no pre-written verses "made the moment [they] met." " @chancether...

While tough-as-nails emcees Guilty Simpson & Danny Brown don't seemingly have much in common (aside from mutual collaborator Black Milk ), the two like-minded lyrical wordsmiths are surprisingly cut from the same battle-worn "cloth." Simpson & Brown both just so happen to have unleashed newly-minted material yesterday, August 3rd: "Animal" produced by Quakers beatsmith Katalyst and "Worth It" produced by Lil B affiliate, Clams Casino , respectively. Late Monday afternoon, I curiously Tweeted @guiltysimpson , whom I recently had the opportunity to interview for this very site , inquiring if he and Mr. Brown had ever worked together; to which he quickly replied with a video still of Elzhi 's "Fire" Remix featuring Black Milk , GUILTY SIMPSON, Fatt Father , DANNY BROWN, and Fat Ray . Lest we forget, Guilty & Danny additionally teamed up way back in 2010 on Quelle -produced Detroit State of Mind 4 mixtape cut, "Mu...

"Buy Lantern here... s.warp.net/lantern. Support King Push . Happy anniversary to Jeezy . And get tickets for all live dates with The-Dream here: hudsonmohawke.com/live," reads the description accompany G.O.O.D. Music producer Hudson Mohawke 's latest Soundcloud upload; an apparent allusion to the recent 10th anniversary of Young Jeezy 's critically-acclaimed major label "debut," Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 . While low-quality live rips have supposedly been floating around for a number of years, the Scotsman 's newly-unleashed G.O.O.D. Music sanctioned CD-Q cut is in fact, "Amen" RMX 's first official release. "The album's second single, the follow-up to [ Pusha T 's] Tyler, The Creator collaboration "Trouble On My Mind," was the Kanye & Young Jeezy -assisted "Amen" — a scripture-nodding exploration of many of [Fear of God II: Let Us Pray] 's recurring themes," reads Complex...