The Witzard

Beastie Boys "Sure Shot" 12-inch UK promo, 1994 (SOURCE: Discogs) "Sabrosa pays tribute to the Beastie Boys with two instro-mental cuts that borrow elements from "Sure Shot" out of their classic album, Ill Communication. "Sure Pow" is a great fuzzy, wah-wah guitar Grant Green-on-steroids soundtrack approach to "Pow" from Check Your Head, while "Tangerine Shot' is a cover of "Suco de Tangerina," an instrumental track out of their The Mix-Up LP that takes a twist into Dub [territory]... pure fiyah!" explains a press release. Recorded at Croak Studio (Madrid) by Joaquín Rodriguez. Mixed by Santi Martín and produced by Sabrosa. Mastering by Doug Krebs. Sabrosa's current line-up includes Javi Skunk on drums, Joako Rodriguez on percussion, Santi "Sweetfingers" Martín on bass, Lucas de Mulder on guitar, and Gabri Casanova on Hammond organ and clavinet. "Sure Pow" b/w "Tangerine Shot" ...

You can do it, if you put your back into it: The Allergies and frequent collaborator Andy Cooper are back at it once again with yet another prime slice of funky Hip-Hop, topping off a fine 2021 with a final chance to get "stoopid fresh" from their recent 6 Music Album of The Day, Promised Land. Riding a super-slick double-bass groove and neck-snapping drums, LA Hip-Hop legend Cooper flips fearsome Rap styles, pitching his case as the ultimate go-to gun-for-hire emcee. It clinches B-side banger status as the flipside to "Going to The Party" featuring Lyrics Born, available as a 7-inch sureshot purchase in early 2022. On their latest full-length, producers Rackabeat & DJ Moneyshot dig deep into their souls, as well as their record collections. Promised Land by The Allergies Today, The Allergies are serving up a Day-Glo blast of super-positive sampledelia that'll have you smiling from ear-to-ear. Built from scratch during Lockdown, each song offers up a...

Biz Markie rendering on cardboard - CREDIT: Andrew "Andy" Katz (@ajkatzart) Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with eve...

Andy "The Undertaker" Cooper (CREDIT: Miff Morris) Andy Cooper is an actual factual skilled (never) ill-willed hyper-fast rhyming emcee originally hailing from North Carolina, who now calls Long Beach, California home. Although, it appears as though Cooper has an extremely dedicated following Overseas, rather than here in The States; known primarily for his work with European artists The Allergies, DJ Format, Baronski, Shawn Lee, DJ Yoda, Marc Hype & DJ Suspect, The Funk League, Djar One, Smoove (Smoove & Turrell,) and more. However, Andy Cooper is, likely, best know amongst Underground Hip-Hop heads for his work with Rap troupe Ugly Duckling formed in 1993 with friends "Dizzy" Dustin McFarland & Rodney Pleasant AKA DJ Young Einstein. Trusty fans of The Witzard may be familiar with Cooper's solo work, more specifically, "The Perfect Definition" from his 2018 album, The Layered Effect, released on Rocafort Records. As you may recall, we ...

2018 YEAR IN REVIEW <MIXTAPE> by Illuminated Paths and Broken Machine Films presents... Joshua Rogers (@pathilluminated) otherwise known as Broken Machine Films Presents... has been creating and banking samples since 2002. He's created over 30 albums utilizing only vintage equipment and medium and practicing the art of cassette-to-cassette manipulation. Broken Machine Films Presents... was recently featured on Memories Overloaded: A Tribute to The Caretaker , Godless America Mixtape Vol. 4, Gorgeous Lights' Latenight , and Bedroom Cassette Masters 1980-89 Volume Nine. Rogers himself attests his "creations have been most associated with like going to a late 70's lo-fi drive-in Grindhouse B-movie double-feature with your main squeeze; putting the listening device on your [car] door and continuing on with your date. Not paying so much attention to what is transpiring on the screen anymore... you have more pressing matters to attend to." Broken Machine Fil...

Just about a year ago, John "Jumbled" Bachman helped link me up with a fellow Baltimore-based producer buddy of his, Timothy "Tim" Chester AKA UncleRussie (@PeaceRussie.) Right around the time Tim. & I first met, he was preparing to release his next project, Trunks EP. which was a 14-track audiophonic examination of Trunks Brief - Past, Present, & Future (?) from Dragon Ball Z . Now, while I'll readily admit, I'm far from a die-hard Dragon Ball Z fan, it's been pretty interesting to learn about the series through a medium I'm extremely familiar with: Hip-Hop ! For Trunks EP. UncleRussie recruited a who's-who of The East Coast/Baltimore 's finest emcees, singers, and producers to help convey his vision, such as: Benjamin Banger , Dot-Com Intelligence, Swellthy , Action Bastard, TEK.LUN , ONLY, Jumbled , and Drew Scott. Many of you may recognize UncleRussie 's name from his submission(s) to The Witzard's Andy Cooper ...

"Hey, do you wanna get down today? Well, c'mon, Otis & Arlo are beginning to play They've been around for a while and their show is the bomb Because the boys only spin those top-notch songs They play Funky stuff and the classic Soul Mixed with Hip-Hop and some good Disco A little bit of Boogie and Brazilian vibes So you gotta check 'em out, when the show goes live They started out in Brighton, then, they moved it to France Arlo loves to do the record digging - Otis can dance And when their dad, Badj, educated them on the groove Their mommy, Mu, went: "oooo, merci beaucoup!" So, have a blast; let's groove and react You got to move real fast, like Wrigley The Rat The boys play a new tune every few minutes You love when they spin it... On The Sunday Get Down (Repeat) You got to get down!" 'F oreword' Expertly Rapped By: Andy Cooper "Sunday Get Down Theme" Beat By: Djar One Turntable Wizardry/DJ Cuts By...

"I asked AndyPuppet to appear in the "Rock Rock" video and to be honest, I found him far more entertaining than myself," Long Beach rapper-producer Andy Cooper replied when The Witzard asked where his inspiration for "Do The AndyPuppet" came from. "Since that point, I've featured him in a few other videos and it's pretty obvious that he's a natural super-star, so I decided it would be smart to acknowledge his greatness with a track. If you listen to "layers upon layers" (the LP mega-mix) you can hear AP make his microphone debut, as he and I cover [ Masta Ace 's] Rap classic, "Me & The Biz"' Cooper enthusiastically continued. I first got acquainted with Andy 's music late last year, when Flea Market Funk premiered BlabberMouf -assisted "Here Comes Another One" from his then-unreleased album, the layered effect . Many of you might recognize Andy Cooper 's name from his criticall...

"DEDICATED TO LOVERS OF MAXI-SINGLES AND EVERY JAZZY, ACOUSTIC BASS-DRIVEN HIP-HOP SONG, WHICH PROVIDED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR A PRETENTIOUS, UNNECESSARY ARTSY RAP VIDEO DURING THE EARLY 90'S..." reads the reverse side of Long Beach rapper-producer Andy Cooper's latest "Here Comes Another One" 12-inch. If pressed, I would likely equate Andy Cooper's second solo album, the layered effect to something along the lines of Homeboy Sandman's First of a Living Breed or Beastie Boys' 1989 cult favorite, Paul's Boutique; an increasingly fun, charismatic Golden Age Hip-Hop-reminiscent album chock-full with an insane amount of genre-eschewing samples. the layered effect is entirely self-produced by Andy Cooper himself—particularly, note-worthy for his past work with Ugly Duckling and The Allergies—and plays out like a care-free, fun-loving Hip-Hop album of days past. After seeing Andy's "Here Comes Another One" video on Flea Market Funk ...

Rocafort Records is an independent record label formed by cousins Ivan Muench & Philippe Rocafort in 2013 and is currently, based between Lausanne, Switzerland and Barcelona, Spain. Specializing in a particular brand of Funk, Soul, R&B, Afrobeat, and Latin Boogaloo, Rocafort Records has been "dedicated to editing and re-releasing songs that had previously gone unnoticed or simply, never seen the light of day;" such gently dusted off and re-issued artists include The Nitty Gritty Sextet, Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako, The Slingshots, Cross Bronx Expressway, DJ Format & Abdominal, Phat Fred, and AFRICA GONE FUNKEE: A Collection of Rare & Funky Tracks from The Motherland. Flea Market Funk recently premiered the first video-single from Ugly Duckling & The Allergies emcee and producer Andy Cooper's upcoming Rocafort Records album, the layered effect. "The video follows the Jazz theme of ["Here Comes Another One"] with a 1920's Par...