The Witzard

"Yoooooo! Back in 2011, @monkmiyagi [Hodgy] and I connected and put out some music. When we dropped "Nagoya," it really helped me out a lot. Since then, our friendship has grown and we have a lot more music together; "BARBELL" is the first song to come from that. It is also the first single from Hodgy 's debut solo album, Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide . Hodgy , I'm grateful for your friendship and I hope you like it because there's a lot more music coming from both of us JD X ," @jontidanimals wrote on Instagram over the weekend on the heels of Hodgy 's first single from his forthcoming December 2nd full-length debut. "Recording "BARBELL" back in May—often, I sit around with my acoustic [guitar] and record harmonies, as a kind of meditation process. I find it soothing; this was one of those, which I then turned into a beat, which @monkmiyagi turned into a track," Jonti continued late Friday night. Fireplace: The...

"Yeah, we had worked multiple times in the past on some of my projects and other songs that never gotten released. We had just finished working on the original "Cosmophobia" on a project I did with a guy named Arella Rocket (we have a continuation of that song, "Cosmophobia (Revisited)" on this project.) He really dug the vibe and type of instrumental, so we talked about a doing and project and here we are now," Blu collaborator Fa†e recently told The Witzard within an exclusive emailed statement; Fa†e had previously hand-crafted productions for Blu including "The Last Stop," "Summer/Winter," "3 Feet Higher," an unofficial "The Clean Hand" Remix, and the aforementioned "Cosmophobia." Fa†e seemingly alluded to the project, then titled Blu & Fa†e Present: Open Your Optics to Optimism , as early as February 2016 during a published interview with San Diego CityBeat . Blu 's proper follow-u...

"Hit the HASH [button] at retrohash.com to uncover secret raps over @black_milk madness..." @asherroth somewhat cryptically Tweeted late Wednesday afternoon, accented by a "#hashwednesday" hashtag; a trend which can be attributed to the bulk of Roth's recent post- RetroHash activity, consisting of fully fleshed out non-album tracks haphazardly uploaded to his Asher Paul Roth Soundcloud account. Hash Wednesdays roll call additionally includes Chuck Inglish -produced "That's Cute," "Oren's Not Sure," Fat Tony -assisted "Sushi," "Taking My Time," and Nottz -produced "Blow Yr Head" amongst other questionable non-album loosies. Although many of Asher Roth 's one-time fans and detractors might have quickly written him off as a mere "one-hit wonder" during the five years between "I Love College" -featuring Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his nearly flawless second album Retro...

Despite the fact, or maybe because, he looks like a modern day hippie burn-out, Asher Roth is easily one of the most talented and criminally under-rated emcees in all of the Boom-Bap land. While I've been a fan since "I Love College," I'll be amongst the first to admit that Roth's mixtapes have always been infinitely stronger than his lone radio-friendly album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle (2009). But with that said, all of Asher Roth 's non-album projects have sufficiently spotlighted his lyrical progression and sense of zen-like calm, cool, and collectiveness during an ill-fated and now severed deal with Def Jam ; Seared Foie Gras with Quince & Cranberry , RAWTH EP, Pabst & Jazz , and The GreenHouse Effect (Vol. 2) are therefore the missing creative links between Asleep In The Bread Aisle and his upcoming sophomore album, RetroHash . Although there's really no way of telling if it's even the same collection of songs, Roth's perpetual...

When Odd Future first came out (2007), it seemed like they were pretty against working with an outside producers. But they've since slightly broadened their horizons, working with a handful of various producers: Kanye , Flying Lotus, Pharrell , James Pants, The Alchemist , RZA, BADBADNOTGOOD , Samiyam, and supposedly even MF DOOM . Late Tuesday night, without any prior notice, rhyme or reason, OFWGKTA uploaded "Look" to Soundcloud ; It's produced by Nottz Raw , a Virginia -based beatsmith who's worked with everyone from Asher Roth to [The] Game . Tyler The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis & Earl Sweatshirt manage to utterly RIP apart Nottz 's hard-hitting beat over the course of nearly 5 minutes. While it's chock-full of righteous-minded bars-on-bars , some of my personal favourite lines include: "Barnacles, now I gotta brag / [Beamer] drive right by you nig*as like I was kinda fat / with a paint job that's flatter than Miley Cyrus...

Pay Jay , quite arguably the "Holy Grail" of unreleased J Dilla material, briefly leaked online a few years ago; The infamous MCA -commissioned vocal album that Dilla recorded with friends-producers ?uestlove & Karriem Riggins , Nottz, Kanye , Pete Rock, Supa Dave West , Hi-Tek, and Bink! [Dawg] . From what I can remember, it featured a pre- "Takeover" Doors ("Five to One") sample flip, a Funky Vanity 6 "Drive Me Wild" cover, and just one previously released track - " Fuck The Police." Thankfully, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey recently re-gained the rights to a storage locker full of old DAT and 2-inch tape masters, which were obviously used to re-mix/master the 11+ tracks. Pay Jay Productions plans to release The Diary sometime during 2013-14 and it's material represents the unknown period in-between J Dilla 's self-produced Rap albums, Welcome 2 Detroit and Ruff Draft EP (2001-02). Standout track ...

Homeboy Sandman is far from your average gun-slinging, crack-dealing, bitch-slapping rapper. Granted he's no Will Smith either, but Sandman teeters the fine line between "parent approved" and parental advisory. His playful, blatantly honest couplets often remind me of one of my personal favourite rappers' schemes: Biz Markie . While he's amongst Stones Throw Records' freshest crop of signees, Homeboy Sandman has been self-releasing music for the bulk of the past 5-6 years (2007). Past cohorts [collaborators] include: Das Racist , 2 Hungry Bros, Paul White , Nottz, Kyle Rapps , and DJ Mick Boogie. Subject: Matter EP is being billed as "6 Rap songs dealing with content no one has ever rapped about before," which ultimately showcase Homeboy Sandman 's intelligently-woven wordplay and keen sense of storytelling. "Mine All Mine" is the second music video culled from Subject: Matter , released in just as many weeks. Filmed through...