The Witzard

earlytwothousands by Drew Scott Baltimore -based producer and beat-maker Drew Scott had quite a big year in 2018: first and foremost, he got married to his long-time partner and frequent collaborator, Pale Spring . Congrats to Drew & Emily ! Musically, Drew unleashed CRITTER from his "Basement" Pop alter-ego, Giddeon Gallows , as well as remixes from Butch Dawson , HI$TO, and Infinity Knives . Now, Drew Scott has effectively returned with his first proper release of 2019—something I've been hearing about for a while now— earlytwothousands ; just as it sounds, is an 8-track collection of early 2000's Hip-Hop remixes "featuring" Snoop Dogg , 50 Cent, Juelz Santana , Clipse & Pharrell, Ghostface Killah , T.I. Lil' Wayne , and JAY-Z. "It was just something I've been wanting to do. I was a teenager when these songs came out, which was around the same time I first started making beats," Drew Scott told The Witzard , via email. ...

Late Thursday night into early Friday morning, while everyone else was listening to the livestream of Nas' Kanye -produced NASIR EP from G.O.O.D. Music 's Queens Listening Session/Party , I was listening to alt-J on Repeat, instead. Right around 12:10am, I got an email from Atlantic Records titled "New Version of "In Cold Blood" Released Today;" when I opened up said alt-J Fan Club email, I learned it was actually, a Twin Shadow re-work of RELAXER single "In Cold Blood" with a guest verse from G.O.O.D. Music Prez. Pusha-T himself. It wasn't until a little later, I realized alt-J had actually, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Thursday night with Twin Shadow frontman George Lewis, Jr. and Pusha-T in tow to perform the world premiere of "In Cold Blood" (Twin Shadow Version.) Now, let me just say this: I'm a fan of all three artists' bodies of work, especially, alt-J 's RELAXER , Pusha-T's My ...

"I'm Zilla Rocca. I rap, produce, and write articles. I have my own Indie label, Three Dollar Pistol Music and put out music with my friends Curly Castro, Small Professor, and PremRock as our posse, Wrecking Crew. Me and Small Pro put out a group album as Career Crooks [last] year called Good Luck with That , where he did all of the beats, but I've been a producer, as well for 15 years. So, here's some of the most important albums to me, when I'm "behind the boards.'" I. Handsome Boy Modeling School - So... How's Your Girl? (1999) "I remember buying this album in 1999 and having no clue how any of these songs were made. I didn't start making beats for another three years or so, but this album never left my conciousness. [Dan The] Automator is one of my all-time favorite producers because he bounces between genres effortlessly, from Serge Gainsbourg stuff with Lovage, to Sci-Fi Fantasy Robot sh*t with Deltron [3030], to the first Go...

"How many times, Pusha T , did producers say to you, "come to the studio right now or we're gonna give this beat to Jay Z ?" Nardwuar The Human Serviette politely asked Pusha T during a 2013 post- Canadian show interview. "Well, one time.. and that was for the "Grindin'" beat and that was Pharrell Williams ... and he's supposed to be my best friend. Right? But this guy actually threatened to give the "Grindin'" beat to Jay Z , if I did not come to the studio right then and right there. I actually came, and I'm glad he did because that record was groundbreakin' for me, Pusha T exuberantly quipped. One 1/2 of early 2000's Virginia Beach -bred Coke Rap phenoms, Clipse , Pusha T – otherwise known as the newly-elected President of Kanye 's re-launched label, G.O.O.D. Music – is gearing up to unleash his long-rumored 2-part King Push album; part one, titled Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude features productio...

"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...

"Jesus Christ, #LunchMoney make me wanna sucker-punch 14 Elk in the nose. Might be my fav @PUSHA_T backdrop since #Trill or #RideAroundShinin ," Tonight Show bandleader @questlove exuberantly Tweeted. Former Clipse emcee Pusha T is supposedly holed up in the studio with Pharrell/The Neptunes , Kanye, and rookie producer Hudson Mohawke , earnestly working on the follow-up to his impeccable solo debut, My Name Is My Name (2013), tentatively titled "King Push." Early Tuesday morning without any prior rhyme or reason, a new thumping Kanye -produced track appeared on Google Play all of a sudden, which quickly disappeared; it was later premiered on Funkmaster Flex 's radio show and soon thereafter, spread like wildfire across The Internet. " Kanye 's best for ["Lunch Money"] is a gurgling, lurching soup of confusing, disorienting sounds, but all those sounds are built around a very basic, very funky pulse," Stereogum's very o...

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...

Light years before unveiling his nearly flawless magnum opus, My Name Is My Name , Pusha T unleashed his unofficial 2-part G.O.O.D. Music debut, Fear of God and it's companion commercial re-boot, Fear of God II: Let Us Pray (2011). Not long after, LuckyMe & Decon Records commissioned Rustie , S-Type, Machinedrum , Lunice, and Hudson Mohawk [TNGHT] to produce a lost remix project dubbed "Lucky-T." Although LuckyMe further specified that "it never surfaced though, as Hud Mo started working with G.O.O.D. Music in an official capacity;" likely referring to his production contract, signed with Kanye 's in-house Very G.O.O.D. Beats micro-label in January 2013. While Lucky-T never really managed to fully materialize, Rustie quietly uploaded his "Trouble On My Mind" remix to Soundcloud late Tuesday afternoon. It's a terribly awesome glitched-out re-work that upon an initial trunk-rattling listen, kinda reminds me of a Trap -heavy ...

I guess you could say that I'm a modern-day musical "purist" in a sense because I don't usually like to hear a whole bunch of pre-release teaser singles before hearing an artist's entire new album. Take My Name Is My Name , for example: I only heard "Numbers On The Board" and "Who Am I?" before picking up a hard copy of Pusha T 's debut solo album on October 8th. G.O.O.D. Music recruited a handful of completely unnecessary guest features , which are now strewn across Pusha T 's 12-track record including Kendrick Lamar , Big Sean, Rick Ross , Kelly Rowland, and former Drake tour-mate Future . Pusha T & DONDA rapidly unleashed music videos for "King Push," "Sweet Serenade," "Nosetalgia," and "Pain" right around or leading up to My Name Is My Name 's eventual wide-release. Recent BET Cypher all-star Kendrick Lamar appears right alongside Pusha T in the black-and-white NPR -assist...

It's pretty damn awesome that Kanye & Joaquin Phoenix even hang out, let alone co-produced a track for Pusha T together; "King Push" is most likely culled from Phoenix's I'm Still Here era (2009-10), when he may or may not have quit acting to become a Hip-Hop producer/rapper. Pusha T previously lamented to Pitchfork back in August, "as soon as I heard it, I was like, 'Listen. I hope you're not playing this for me just to show me how good this beat is [Kanye] !'" It's a surprisingly Boom-Bap -rooted, Clipse -ready rattling beat, which it seems is now being pushed slightly ahead of My Name Is My Name 's previous semi-questionable Chris Brown -featuring "Sweet Salvation" single. Taking some much needed time off from Kanye 's recent "I Don't Like" ranting spree(s), G.O.O.D. Music & DONDA unleashed "King Push'" companion music video mid-Friday afternoon. Directed by Nathanie...

Although he doesn't even make an appearance until about 2:35 into "Shame The Devil," No Malice 's new track marks the long-awaited reunion with his brother and former Clipse partner in crime, Pusha T ; It's the first unofficial Clipse track since Gene & Terrence Thornton parted ways some 3-4 years ago to embark on separate solo careers. Since signing to Kanye 's sprawling G.O.O.D. Music (DONDA) label/art-haus, Pusha T has largely kept in the same Coke Rap lane that Clipse pioneered back in the mid-90's; while Malice reportedly found religious solace, became a slightly more socially-conscious rapper, and for whatever reason, changed his emcee handle to "No Malice." These inner-band issues or creative differences are dually addressed on "Shame The Devil:" " Gene [Malice] found God, they thinking we at odds / Must ain't know my father, he ain't never spared a rod / Yuugh! It's two sides to a card / Just ...

Asher Roth is hands down one of the most talented rappers in the game. But I feel like I always have to defend him because of his well-known semi-shitty single, "I Love College" and his scattered album release schedule or lack thereof. Roth is currently working on his long-awaited follow-up to Asleep In The Bread Aisle (2009), although I personally feel that his mixtape game is generally stronger. Not too long after Bread Aisle , I saw Asher Roth put on a show @ Club Roxxy (Philly); I'd somehow lost track of my friends by the time he got on stage, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself nonetheless. The second time I saw Asher Roth was yet another hometown show @ Milkboy on the tour behind Def Jam -backed mixtape, Pabst & Jazz (2011). My buddies Pat, Pauly, and I were essentially FLOORED when Roth came on stage with a full, Roots -esque Jazz band and effortlessly ripped through choice selections from Pabst & Jazz . Since signing with Def Jam a couple years ag...

I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that "Numbers On The Board" is my favourite Hip-Hop track of 2013 [so far], although Pusha T is quite honestly far from my favourite rapper. I mean, Wrath of Caine is great and so were/are Clipse . But Pusha T never really had that one stand out, defining moment for me and I think "Numbers On The Board" is finally it! Parisian director/graphic artist So Me filmed it's companion music video during a break in recording sessions for Kanye 's top secret new album; Rumored to feature Daft Punk , Chief Keef, Odd Future , Skrillex, John Legend , and 2 Chainz and could be out as early as June 18th. Kanye & Chief Keef both make brief cameo appearances towards "Numbers On The Board"' s end, pulled from Pusha T 's forthcoming G.O.O.D. Music debut, My Name Is My Name (July 16th). Whilst spitting rapid-fire verses over a gritty Don Cannon co-produced instrumental, Pusha T struts through ...

Released just a few mere hours after "Open Letter" [below] and Tweeted along with a Kanye -fied message, "Our family HOV brought that real Hip-Hop shit this morning, so me and Pusha T wanna keep that feeling going." G.O.O.D. Music approved, Kanye/Don Cannon co-produced, and DONDA -commissioned artwork... "Numbers on The Boards" pulls a Jay-Z vocal sample from "Intro/A Million & One Questions/Rhyme No More" (1997). I'm pretty white and I still caught the whole "Ballers, I put numbers on the boards" basketball reference utilized on the track's hook. "Numbers on The Boards" is Pusha T 's first major release since his critically-acclaimed Wrath of Caine mixtape @ the top of the year; It might re-appear on My Name Is My Name , his long-rumored solo debut, which should be out sometime this upcoming May. Not unlike "Open Letter," from a sonic perspective, "Numbers on The Boards" ...

Pusha T is 1/2 of Clipse , which was basically 2 drug fiends-turned-rappers poetically bragging about their assorted exploits over The Neptunes' glitched out production work. Malice changed his name to No Malice last year, found religion, published a book called "Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind & Naked," and decided to peruse a solo career... Right around the same time that his brother, Pusha T inked a deal with G.O.O.D. Music (2010-11). Under Kanye 's frantic direction, he soon released Fear of God [mixtape] and it's re-packaged companion EP, Fear of God II: Let Us Pray . I must admit, while I had a Neptunes phase and really got into Hell Hath No Fury/Til The Casket Drops , I haven't delved too far into Pusha T 's solo material. He's also been featured prominently on Kanye's recent projects, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) and label comp. Cruel Summer (2012). Serving as an audio palate cleanser/teaser for his upcoming d...