The Witzard

"I go by the name King Ani Mal. I'm out of South Philly and originally from Gulf Port, Mississippi. SPP GSF AFFILIATE. I am currently working on a "so-far" untitled 5-track EP produced entirely by Look! It's Aidan AKA Aidan Douglas AKA A.I.D. (@look_itsaidan.) It should be out very soon! To keep up with my music and shows, Follow my Instagram, @turbocrunch . Also, check out my latest album, Skinny God out on EVERY streaming platform. Here's my Beat-maker Bedrock:" I. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (2008) "I think, Dear Science was one of the first albums that made me want to dip into production. I just remember thinking how good the album was and telling myself that if they could do it, so could I. Then, I downloaded LMMS (Linux MultiMedia Studio) and started playing around on my laptop. At the time, I was playing guitar in a Punk band and no one wanted to hear what I was making, except my homie Scress. I didn't rap or even plan on becomi...

NOGAF by Felipe Pupo Genre-eschewing Philly rapper, producer, and graphic designer Erik "E." Grizzly has returned with the latest single from his self-described "Synth-Calypso-Punk" experiment-turned-band, Felipe Pupo . "NOGAF" seamlessly blends Afrobeat , Punk, Hip-Hop , Calypso, Hardcore , and other miscellaneous genres that don't generally, belong together, much like E. Grizzly 's 2016 Felipe Pupo full-length. First, started out as a Scott Labenski -produced solo project from E. Grizzly , Felipe Pupo has now, morphed into a proper genre-less quartet featuring E. Grizzly on vocals and keys, along with Labenski on guitar, bassist Aaron Gross , and drummer Carl "Sha'ron" Scott . E. Grizzly 's A-Ha! Records has joined forces with Darko The Super 's U DONT DESERVE THIS BEAUTIFUL ART (UDDTBA) imprint to release Felipe Pupo 's new EP and first as a full-fledged band, ORISHAS . "NOGAF," which stands for ...

Not as They Do by Manikineter It's a little tough to pinpoint all these years later, but I honestly think my first exposure to Hip-Hop was House of Pain 's "Jump Around" playing in one of the opening "party scenes" in Robin Williams' 1993 blockbuster hit, Mrs. Doubtfire , which would have made me about six. Although, a number of years later, my older cousin Josh gifted me a stack of CD's and a shoe box-full of cassettes containing Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science (1999) 2-CD set, as well as the Beasties' 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill and its follow-up, Paul's Boutique (1989.) Around the same time, I was just starting to get into Punk/Hardcore and cut my teeth listening to Henry Rollins -era Black Flag , Minor Threat, Fugazi , The Misfits, Samhain , and a slew of additional staple 1980-90's Punk albums—soon, discovering two Punk -minded Beastie Boys releases: Some Old Bullsh*t and Aglio e Olio EP . Ever since, I...

TBA by Manikineter Carl Kavorkian makes some of the most ferocious, experimental Noise-Rap music I've ever heard and (not) surprisingly, he's one of the nicest, most hospitable people I've ever met working in "the music industry." Case in point: my buddy Omarey and I went into South Philly one Friday night back in June for The Sh*thawks , Felipe Pupo, MANIK|NETER , Planet 88, and King Ani Mal 's show at The Pharmacy . We grabbed a pizza back in Jersey and were pretty much on time for the show, although, Felipe Pupo frontman and show organizer Erik "E." Grizzly was messaging me on the way in; Erik mentioned he thought the set times were running a bit earlier than expected and Carl Kavorkian 's MANIK|NETER was likely going on early. Now, while I was excited for all five bands on the bill, I was most excited to see MANIK|NETER and was looking forward to seeing his infamous executioner's mask-covered set! Once Omarey and I got into Sou...

"When you're a DIY musician/producer, you do everything; you write the songs, you record, you compose, produce, and mix. I look at production as a finished product, not just a beat to sell to an emcee. And really, I don't sell beats. I produce my own albums and EP's . It's so time-consuming that it's hard to do it for someone else, unless I'm a huge fan. But when I first started making music back when I was a wee-lad, I had these cliché ideas of how an album is produced. I was an emcee, so I needed beats and I started sampling. It was pretty simple stuff. Mostly, a couple samples chopped and Copied together as a few loops on Reason . Then, I would put a drum beat on it; either Reason drum sounds or drums I sampled, chopped, and Copied together. There's certain albums that helped change my whole perspective about production, though. These aren't my favorite albums, but they definitely influenced how I make music." Mannequin Eater by MANIK|NE...

Felipe Pupo by E. Grizzly " E. Grizzly is a progressive Hip-Hop artist from Philadelphia, PA specializing in a philosophical, poetic flow similar to Mos Def , Kendrick Lamar, Anderson.Paak , and Zach de la Rocha. The point of E. Grizzly 's brand of music is to share new perspectives and challenge social standards accepted by the majority of society," reads the intro to E. Grizzly 's press BIO fittingly titled, The Synth Calypso Punk Experiment . Now, many of you may recognize Erik "E." Grizzly 's name from a few recent posts published right here within the pages of The Witzard : he designed an impressive zombified Breakfast Club show flyer for The Punk Rap Show held on May 6th, which I used as artwork for a recent MANIK|NETER EP write-up (as well as my lock screen background!) E. Grizzly was also included within a photo of what's very recently been dubbed the "Philly Squad," which includes—in addition to Grizzly himself— Darko Th...