The Witzard

The Roots 1994: B.R.O.THER ?, HUB, Malik B. & Black Thought (SOURCE: Hip Hop Nostalgia) As tight and insular a unit as The Roots can be, a great deal of their identity is rooted in their open and experimental approach to collaboration. Throughout the band's life, they've brought in a revolving cast of vocalists, poets, emcees, singers, and DJ's [who] laid down their own unique contributions to The Roots' sound. Like each of the band's albums that followed it, Do You Want More?!!!??! (DYM?!!!??!) is packed with outstanding performances from guests. Here are five great guest spots on Do You Want More?!!!??! Rufus Harley North Carolina-born bagpiper, Rufus Harley spent most of his life in Philadelphia's Germantown and North Philly sections. An unsung innovator, Harley would spend the 60's and 70's carving out a space for the bagpipes in Jazz with his delightful, Soul-Jazz records for the Atlantic label, as well as his highly spiritual Jazz cla...

Red Dillicious by Free Tillman "This project came together organically. I had just bought some new equipment and wasn't really comfortable with my drum sounds, so I decided to loop someone else's... and who has better drums than J Dilla ? I was looking for samples from my music collection and came across Fiona Apple 's Tidal ," beat-maker, writer, and social media personality Free (Lee) Tillman wrote within a recent email. "Throughout my life, I have been a recording engineer, a journalist, a rapper, a stand-up comedian, and a music video director. And I have had recognizable success in exactly zero of those things," Tillman writes within the Amazon description to his 2016 Kindle book, How to Fail at Everything: A Practical Guide for Coasting Through Life . On his Soundcloud page, Lee Tillman simply proclaims: "I make videos, I take pictures, I write Tweets , I write books," complete with links to his various platforms. Red Dillicious ...

"#ItWas50YearsAgoToday This LP was always in my dad's collection (Dad was a vocalist who LOVED Pop . Yeah, he looked like a member of the #BlackPanthers. Ran the house like he was #JamesEvans . But his go-to zone was some of the best dentist office music ever—feed your kids equal [Barbra Streisand] #StoneyEnd & [Rufus] #Rufusized & see what happens? lol)—I ignored #SgtPeppers because I never liked the 60's @capitolrecords logo (see how everyone is going #FigitSpinner mad? My version of that was taking records out the sleeve, & spinning them on my finger watchin' the logo rotate. Seriously, I was obsessed with all spinning rotating objects—hence, my record obsession)—If the logo was dope? I'd give the record a chance. I'd love to revision a story of singing "Within You Without You" in my 2nd grade class—but the truth is, it didn't hit me 'til 22 years AFTER its release. Sgt. Pepper's was the 4th CD I ever purchased for my...

"Dark bodies, bright crest, the kings grew nervous. A boy drew a gun, and then sold the portrait. And then used the cash to heat the stove at the palace. Soon. Very soon," Yasiin Bey & Ferrari Sheppard (collectively known as Dec. 99th ) wrote within a mysterious statement concerning the recent delay of their self-titled debut album; Dec. 99th —one of three final albums Bey has planned before his 2017 retirement from music and acting—was scheduled for a December 9th release exclusively on TIDAL , however, it never dropped, as expected and was finally unleashed earlier this week nearly two weeks late on December 21st. The Artist Formerly Known As Mos Def and writer turned producer Ferrari Sheppard have slowly been leaking out music as Dec. 99th for the past year or so... but I first remember seeing Sheppard's name attached to Yasiin Bey 's A Country Called Earth -released Electric Wire Hustle remix "Marigolds (Chaser)" back in Summer 2015 when ...

"Thank God I can finally say publicly HERE'S A ZACK DE LA ROCHA SONG I PRODUCED... and shout out to my friends @nickhook and [Matt Sweeney] . They are both playing on the jam, as well... the [Zack de la Rocha] the album is happening. 2017... and that's all the info I'm authorized to give out... and yes, this is new material made this year and yes, there is more where that came from," @therealelp revealed on Twitter early Thursday morning, concerning one-time(?) Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha 's first solo single in over a decade. "Been keeping my mouth shut about my work with Zack since January when we did it. It hurt. Now, I'll commence keeping my mouth shut about the rest," an exuberant El-P gushingly continued. Aside from his short-lived 2008-11 group formed with The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore and The Locust keyboardist and organ player Joey Karam , which produced a single 5-track One Day As a Lion EP , d...

Los Angeles by way of Philly Hip-Hop group NAC (formerly The NAC ) have previously written, produced, and recorded music alongside the likes of The Roots , RJD2, John Legend & Ludacis , Ciara, Miguel , TLC, The Money-Makin' Jam Boys , and Ne-Yo; NAC "is musically, somewhere [in] between Hip-Hop , Electronic Soul, and good time Southern Crunk " and consists of Roots -affiliated emcee Sugar Tongue Slim (STS) and producers-musicians Butta , Bizkit , and DJ Schoolie V . NAC 's self-released 7-track debut EP, Let's Make Some Music , was unleashed upon the unsuspecting world this past Friday, August 5th and was preceded by dance floor-ready singles "I Ain't Got It," "On The Floor," and Mass Appeal -premiered "Flashlight." When asked, what's your main mission aimed at newfound fans with your Let's Make Some Music EP ? NAC members Bizkit , STS , and Butta respectively replied: " NAC is here to bring the fun an...

Let's face it, nearly any avid supporter of either basketball or Hip-Hop can likely attest to the beloved genre and stadium-filling sport's frequent cross-sectional analogies and often unexpected collaborations; be it Skee-Lo 's 1995 Buffalo Springfield -interpolating "I Wish," Action Bronson 's sprawling genre-defying Blue Chips series, Jurassic 5 's trunk-rattling "What's Golden," or somewhat less favorable Michael Jordan & Bugs Bunny -helmed Space Jam soundtrack, Shaq 's head-scratching Kazaam soundtrack, or Kobe Bryant 's short-lived rap "career." Hip-Hop 's latest rhyme-laden page added to the NBA 's ever-growing playbook is brought to you by none other than Philly 's finest Legendary Hard-working Roots Crew and Jimmy Fallon 's long-time Tonight Show Band . The Roots seemingly penned "Champion" specifically for inclusion as the official 2016 NBA Finals Theme Song and in retrospe...

"Oh well, since it leaked... here's a better quality version," @JayElectronica exuberantly Tweeted early Friday morning, upon the unexpected leak of a low-quality version of his track, "Road to Perdition" 'guest starring' mentor and Roc-Nation label boss, Jay Z . It's the latest track Electronica's recorded and released 'with' Jay Z (behind "We Made It" and "Shiny Suit Theory" ) - 'with' in quotation marks because Jay Z 's feature in question on "Road to Perdition" is more or less composed of lines sampled from his American Gangster -centric track, "Success" (2007). "Road to Perdition" in fact, first appeared on Jay Electronica 's 2012 screen-grabbed 15-track Act II: Patents of Nobility (the turn) rough tracklist. Electronica's notoriously shelved album will reportedly also showcase the varied talents of Kanye , Serge Gainsbourg, Erykah Badu , Jay Z, Charlo...

Aside from a series of pretty lackluster mismatched performances and Kanye 's attempted hi-jacking of Album of The Year winner Beck 's spotlight, the only legitimate stroke of "real artistry" at this year's GRAMMY Awards came from Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, ?uestlove , and legendary bassist Adam Blackstone . Sheeran's GRAMMY -assembled super-group performed a spirited live rendition of his latest x single, "Thinking Out Loud;" making best use of recent Late Late Show hosts guitar playing-talents, The Roots drummer/bandleader's "chops," and the classically-trained Jazz pianist's gentle stroke of the ivory keys. It seems as though Ed Sheeran and John Mayer (both reported exes of Taylor Swift ) have put aside whatever differences they might have had, effectively becoming "the weirdest friends ever," to paraphrase Leslie Mann from The Other Woman . I, for one, would definitely not mind hearing a John Ma...

" Black Messiah is a Hell of a name for an album. It can easily be misunderstood. Many will think it's about religion. Some will jump to the conclusion that I'm calling myself a Black Messiah ," illusive Neo-Soul/Funk singer D'Angelo explained in a statement at his Sunday night Red Bull Music Academy & Afropunk -hosted listening party. "For me, the title is about all of us. It's about the world. It's about an idea we can all aspire to. We should all aspire to be a Black Messiah ... Black Messiah is not one man. It's a feeling that, collectively, we are all that leader," he powerfully continued. Black Messiah , once tentatively titled "James River," has been in-the-works for nearly 15 years; imminent release details suddenly began to trickle out over the course of this past weekend. While a brief 16-second Black Messiah teaser trailer first surfaced Friday afternoon, 1,000 downloads of piano-laden comeback single "S...

Even though I've been an avid Stones Throw record collector for about 10 or so years now, I still managed to learn a lot of interesting facts and tidbits from their Kickstarter -funded, Jonah Hill -approved documentary, Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton . For example: Aloe Blacc 's HBO -backed "I Need a Dollar" nearly saved the label, Peanut Butter Wolf was childhood friends with Stones Throw employees Jeff Jank and Steve Helmer (aka Baron Zen), Kanye and Roots bandleader ?uestlove are fervent supporters of the prolific label, the years following J Dilla 's untimely death are generally regarded as Stones Throw 's "post-Hip-Hop" phase, etc. It's funny because while I'm pretty familiar with Stones Throw 's ever-growing label roster, I noticed a few names through out Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton that even I didn't recognize; Royal Kush , extraterrestrial songstress Diva , and righteous Punk band The Cliftons in particular. This past Tues...

Whether or not you're a fan of The White Stripes , The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather , or his recent work with Neil Young , you really can't deny the sheer impact that Jack White 's own Nashville -based Third Man Records has had on the vinyl record industry or the modern day Blues-Rock revival in recent years. Entirely intentional or not, White has single-handedly helped usher in the 21st century resurgence of the age-old waxed medium; the former Record Store Day ambassador has gotten involved in a number of unique record-centric projects including producing Young's latest covers album, A Letter Home from inside a 1940's Voice-o-Graph portable recording studio and somehow managed to record, press, and sell the world's fastest record in record-breaking time this past Record Store Day . While Jack White's second solo album, Lazaretto was released last Tuesday, June 10th, I was lucky enough to receive my pre-ordered "ULTRA LP" the weekend prior ...

"The way to my heart: the Vanity 6 shuffle, @HAIMtheband ," Tonight Show bandleader and Roots drummer Questlove Tweeted mere hours after "If I Could Change Your Mind"' s late night release. Multi-instrumentalist sisters Alana, Danielle & Este Haim did in fact work alongside esteemed choreographer Fatima Robinson and director Warren Fu . For those of you who have been living under a rock these last few years, HAIM could essentially be likened to a Hip-Hop & R&B -infused all-female version of Fleetwood Mac ; they've previously collaborated with A$AP Rocky , Childish Gambino, and Kid Cudi on wax [record]. The fifth commercial single pulled from their debut Days Are Gone , "If I Could Change Your Mind" is a moody oftentimes dimly-lit affair, which kinda resembles an old Soul Train sound stage. Inter-splicing back and forth between synchronized dance sequences and two separate performance clips, Warren Fu has effectively created ...

The self-proclaimed "Greatest Band In Late Night," The Roots have really come a long way since busking for pocket change on South Philly street corners back in the late 1980's; now in their sixth year with Jimmy Fallon as his show changes hands from Late Night to The Tonight Show , the on-screen band has been augmented to include two horn players borrowed from The Dap-Kings . What initially started as a brief behind-the-scenes vignette, okayplayer in-house videographer Jake Remington ended up filming a 2-part mini-documentary. Part 1 effectively shadows ?uestlove , who'll soon appear as a crusty afro-corpse on Law & Order: SVU , as he goes through his pre-show rituals and morning routine before Fallon #970 ; Hashtag-savvy fans get an inside look into ?uestlove 's New York high-rise apartment, his coveted sneaker and T-shirt collection, his breakfast-scented cologne cabinet, boxing with a personal trainer, and 20 minutes of electric relaxation on the ...

In our web-industry, citing TMZ as a source is basically the real-world journalist equivalent of using Wikipedia as a source on a high school or college senior term paper; it's just something you're better off NOT doing, if possible because sites like these aren't generally the most reliable or accurate sources. But with that said, I think I'm about to commit blogger treason and cite TMZ within this very post (please forgive me!)... Back in late August, Pitchfork reported that Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach supposedly lost an interesting asset which court papers described as "Bob Dylan hair" amidst his bitter divorce from ex-wife Stephanie Gonis . While it was then "unclear how the hair was obtained, when it was obtained, [or] if the hair [contained] any product," an updated TMZ report uploaded Friday morning specifies that Auerbach was never actually in possession of Dylan's curly locks. Dan Auerbach himself recently told a guerrilla...

Mr. Sexyback himself, Justin Timberlake , unleashed a surprisingly Boom-Bap -ified remix to his latest 20/20 Experience 2 single, "TKO" late Black Friday evening, which is slowly becoming a FREE music-giving holiday. Timberlake somehow managed to recruit J. Cole, A$AP Rocky , and his former "Like I Love You" collaborator, Pusha T (Clipse). While it might kinda seem like part of a larger label-contrived chart-topping master-palm, Justin Timberlake is actually an avid late 1980-90's Hip-Hop aficionado; case in point, The History of Rap (Parts 1-4) with Late Nite host-buddy Jimmy Fallon . Roots band leader/drummer Questlove [Jenkins] simply Tweeted, " #TKOremix so official! @JTimberlake, @PUSHA_T, @ASAPRockyTRILL & @JColeNC (w/ that post- "Control" flow) = COTDAMNY," which almost instantly piqued my interests enough to go check it out! It's very well-produced, which is rare for an after-the-fact remix of this calibe...

"Bound 2" is quite easily the most Kanye West -sounding track on Yeezus , an album which on-again Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor is indeed a fan (and obvious influence): " Yeezus , I really love it. I think the sound of it is cool. I can't endorse what he's saying lyrically, but I will say that in terms of the role of the dangerous entertainer in 2013, nobody is beating him at that game. It feels like he might implode. Even if it is calculated to some degree, it feels rough on the edges in a way that I can appreciate. I'm glad he's out there. Consistently he's put out ahead-of-the-curve shit. He's definitely a talented guy." The Roots drummer and de facto bandleader ?uestlove expressed his admiration for Track #10 pretty early on in 140 characters or less: "ok this #Bound2 on repeat all day is a problem. don't wanna hear anything else, but #Bound2 (including the 9 songs before it) #Yeezus." Meticulously construct...

Not incredibly unlike their previous collaborative efforts with John Legend , Jay Z, and Al Green , The Roots take the "big band backseat" role on their upcoming record with Elvis Costello , Wise Up Ghost . It's stark-looking, minimalistic cover was supposedly modeled after Allen Ginsberg 's Howl , more specifically it's infamous City Lights Pocket Poets Series rendition (1955). Questlove Jenkins defined Wise Up Ghost as a "document of music of 9 cats... Helmed by 2 music dweebs & their hero," which was reportedly released on a few as-yet-undiscovered Record Store Day white label 12-inches. "Walk Us Uptown" was unleashed mid-Monday afternoon in the form of a Soundcloud stream and Mariana Blanco -directed sparse lyric video. Legendary American Jazz imprint Blue Note Records plans to issue Elvis Costello & The Roots' long-rumored Wise Up Ghost on Tuesday, September 17th. The album first came to fruition after Costel...

So, it seems that D'Angelo is plotting one Hell of a Soulful comeback; After a self-imposed 12-year long [creative] exile, a new/old track has finally emerged - "Black Hole Sun." D'Angelo adds his signature honey-drenched vocal flourishes to the 90's Grunge Mega-Hit. There are minor audio send-ups to Michael Archer 's own go-to influences: Herbie Hancock , Jimi Hendrix , and Stevie Wonder . D'Angelo is no stranger to recorded covers... as he laid down a handful of soundtrack-appearing covers between his first sabbatical period (1996-2000): "Girl, You Need a Change of Mind," "She Always In My Hair," "Heaven Must Be Like This," and "Feel Like Makin' Love." This 2010 Soundgarden demo comes on the heels of the Occupy Music Tour (Europe) and nearly 97% complete album "announcement." ?uestlove recently said in an interview that "James River" is essentially the Funky , black step-brot...