"Movin' On Slackers Like They Know No Joke:" Career Crooks Emcee Zilla Rocca Channels Raekwon On "Faster Blade Redux" from Ghostface Killah's Ironman (The Witzard Premier)

"Ghostface [Killah]'s Ironman is still my favorite album in all of music. And Raekwon is one of my favorite rappers ever, so I wanted to take a stab at his solo cut off Ironman and pay direct homage, since Raekwon has had a big influence on me as a writer of visual Crime Raps [over] the past 3-4 years," Philly emcee Zilla Rocca wrote within a recent email sent to The Witzard. Zilla's "Faster Blade" (Redux) expertly flips RZA's Persuaders-sampling Raekwon cut from Ghostface's 1996 debut, Ironman. Not entirely unlike Zilla Rocca's recent Son Raw-produced "98 Avirex Flow," "Faster Blade" was uploaded to Wrecking Crew's Soundcloud—Zilla's Philly-based collective formed with fellow rapper-producers Small Professor and Curly Castro. Like much of Wu-Tang Clan's discography, "Faster Blade" takes its name from 1982-83 Hong Kong Martial Arts Action film Faster Blade, Poisonous Darts, which is referenced within Raekwon's original lyrics and furthered referenced by Zilla's own Soundcloud artwork. Zilla Rocca really manged to squeeze a staggering amount of bars into "Faster Blade"'s roughly 2-minute run time and delivers some hard-hitting, multi-layered rhyme schemes like:

"Movin' on slackers like they know no joke / You know how we do, we do ski masks never seem to find (evoking Raekwon) / Proteges wanna reach out and try to kill me... check them movies from Guyana like Paperboy Atlanta—a local rapper sittin' in the slammer... sittin' still just like a Buddha out in Bermuda pushin' Pusha T and Future continuous slammin' lentils in my mental... and all the workin' folks love us, like Trump loves Russia / Resisters, the repercussion / Fake chiefs spot 'em like Cascade, their sh*t is masquerader. Faster blade!"

It's currently unclear where "Faster Blade" and it's 90's-referencing counterpart "98 Avirex Flow" may ultimately end up, but they might end up being re-released on some sort of mixtape compilation in the near future. Zilla Rocca and his fellow beat-making Philly cohort Small Professor are gearing up to unleash their proper full-length debut as Career Crooks, tentatively titled Good Luck with That; Career Crooks' past works can be previewed on their recent pre-album mixtape, Sin Will Find You: The Collected Works. Anything I Touch, I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca, a collection of remixes over a bunch of tracks from his fellow rapping friends, who "appear courtesy of friendship, good booze, and mutual respect" is currently available on Zilla's Bandcamp page on an extremely generous name-your-price basis. Zilla Rocca's frequent partner-in-crime's latest 31-track appropriately-titled Prince Jawns is currently available for your unlimited streaming, FREE downloading, and non-rapping pleasure from Small Professor's Bandcamp page, along with 20 additional like-minded releases.

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel...

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