The Witzard

We've been rockin' with DJ Ragz & Unown ever since they released a scrumptious, mouth-watering collection of beats called Pasta & Wings on San Diego-based Common Good Records in 2018. DJ Ragz is a world-class DJ and turntablist hailing from Virginia. While he's well-known for his battle appearances (DMC, Scribble Jam, Scion, Coast 2 Coast, etc.) he's also known as a member of the Hip-Hop group Jazz Addixx and as the co-creator of break record series, The Bare Bones. Ragz was most recently part of Man Bites Dog Records' 2019 yuletide Hip-Hop comp. Happy Holidays. Unown is a DC-based producer, engineer, and DJ currently traveling the world and rocking stages on the MPC as part of Oddisee's band, Good Compny. Also known as a member of Jazz Addixx, when Unown's not jet-setting across the world, he's either holed up in the studio working on tracks or DJ'ing around DC/Philly. Unown & DJ Ragz's next sonic platter, Burgers & Sliders, was...

Inner Space - side B taster by Tom Caruana Remix Projects Many of our readers may unknowingly know Tom Caruana from his work on genre-shaping remix/mash-up albums, such as Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles - Enter: The Magical Mystery Chambers , Black Gold - Jimi Hendrix vs. The Wu-Tang Clan, and An Adventure to Pepperland Through Rhyme & Space . Caruana has, also, received critical acclaim (especially, here on The Witzard ) for his band, Son of Sam 's 2017 album, CINDER HILL , Black Gold: Spare Nuggets 2xLP, and 2018 self-titled EP with Detroit emcee Boog Brown . I've been frequently emailing back-and-forth with Tom Caruana and it appears as though, he has a handful of as-yet-unannounced/unreleased projects currently in-the-works or nearing completion; although, until very recently, I had not personally heard a peep about Carauana's latest project, Inner Space . It will artfully incorporate and remix samples culled from iconic Krautrock/Prog-Rock band Can 's storied dis...

Burgers & Sliders by DJ Ragz & Unown Coast-to-coast DJ super-duo Brian Ragonese & Richard Patterson have returned with their second food-themed collaborative project as DJ Ragz & Unown . Burgers & Sliders is, of course, the second all-you-can-eat instrumental follow-up to Unown & Ragz 's 2018 Common Good Records release, Pasta & Wings . "It's a take on the LA burger scene capturing a moment of time from the golden era of G-Funk Rap . We had a blast recording this project!" DJ Ragz writes on his YouTube channel, along with the juicy video for "Plump At All The Time$." Burgers & Sliders finds the duo back in their respective kitchens, with Unown handling the beat duties on his coveted MPC and DJ Ragz meticulously cutting up the meat of these beats on his turntables. DJ Ragz is a world-renown event DJ, instructor, seasoned studio musician, and producer in his own right, who was born and raised Roseville, California ...

Last we heard from Los Angeles -based Common Good Records , they were gearing up to release Drtysoap 's festive beat tape, MERRY CHRITHMITH and if you'll remember correctly, co-founder The Ologist AKA J.D. actually, sequenced and arranged Mitchell Kezin 's Mitchell's 'SOUL SISTA' Holiday Mix for The Witzard . Following the releases of Te'Amir Sweeney 's Tiger Breaks 7-inch and brother Tutu Sweeney 's "Party In The Ghetto" B/W "Walking Forward" J.D. 's When Crates Create imprint folded and quickly joined forces with Jason McGuiness ' LA -based Analog Burners to collectively, form Common Good Records . Now, Common Good Records are back with their first proper release of 2018: Unown & DJ Ragz 's Pasta & Wings , described as "a concept project with a 90's era Hip-Hop instrumental vibe that finds Unown handling the beat duties on the MPC and DJ Ragz cutting up on the turntables." Pasta ...

A C U R A (back in my bag) by ialive "I was feeling a little overwhelmed and burnt out with doing shows and being a wack promoter, so I decided to sit down at my funk machine and do a jam; this is the result. I did all of this in a few hours—beat, rhymes, record, and mix. It's all about the music and it always has been about the music. THANK YOU! kidDEAD and I leave for a short run of shows this Thursday," Philly beat-maker, emcee, Rap-singer /song-writer ialive wrote within a recent Facebook post. ialive is of course, one half of The Hell Hole Store with fellow rapper-producer buddy Darko The Super and his latest single, "A C U R A (back in my bag)" is his first since April 2016's The Jelly EP . ialive further details that he doesn't tour as much a some of his road dog friends, but steadily maintaining a 40-hour a week schedule at his day job, booking shows for his rapper friends throughout Philly , and upkeeping a somewhat regular existence,...

Alex Goose is, to the best of my knowledge, the first (and likely last) Hip-Hop -loving Middle American producer who's been lucky enough to have worked with vastly different musicians like underground gran-wizard, prolific rapper-producer, and revered Jazz enthusiast Madlib AND hit-after-hit-penning Indie Rock mavens, Weezer ; aside from maybe only Uptown Funkateer and London -based producer and taste-maker Mark Ronson , who's recorded genre-blending material with everyone from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Doo-Wop revivalist Amy Winehouse . While he recently had the opportunity to remix Freddie Gibbs & Madlib 's critically-acclaimed Piñata with samples culled from Now-Again Records founder Egon 's storied re-issue vaults and back catalog, Goose has previously worked alongside the likes of Hip-Hop greenhorn emcees Kevin Gates , Jake Troth, Donnis , and Detroit -bred wordsmith Red Pill . "You may recognize the next Alex Goose -produced track from Silicon V...

While no one else seems to have really noticed it, I think Joey Bada$$ sounds a Hell of a lot like Wu-Tang Clan 's long-deceased Mad Hatter of an expert swordsmen, Ol' Dirty Bastard aka Dirt McGirt aka Big Baby Jesus aka Dirt Dog (ODB). Honestly, that's the first thing I thought after I heard Bada$$ enter the stage immediately after Action Bronson at the XXL Freshmen 2013 Tour 's Philly stop about 2 weeks ago. The 18-year-old rapper eventually ended by flanked by his Wu-Tang -sized Pro Era posse, which I'm sure includes it's own 90's Hip-Hop -obsessed, new age versions of RZA , GZA, Method Man , Redman, Ghostface Killah , Raekwon, Inspectah Deck , Cappadonna, and the remaining "Shaolin" by way of Staten Island emcees. Joey Bada$$ is currently prepping the release of his first widely-publicized mixtape since 1999 , Summer Knights EP for a July 1st unveiling; Bada$$ did however release 2 smaller projects since breakthrough 1999 (2...

"As for Conversation B , It's a bit of a re-visioning of In Case I Don't Make It (ICIDMI). Some people tuned in to ICIDMI without any problem, but there were others it didn't really connect with. Conversation B pushes the picture that I created with In Case I Don't Make It through these other producer's filters. That changes the tone of the album but it also lends itself to a number of new interpretations. While I produced ICIDMI in it's entirety, "Maxell UR" is the only song I produced on this Conversation B . The rest of it was taken on by Exile, J-Zone, [Kev Brown,] Eric Lau, Oddisee , and [Apollo Brown] . It all takes on a completely separate feel this time around. Conversation B may be a good primer for people who were maybe blind-sided by how dark In Case I Don't Make It was. I hope that if this is your first time hearing a Has-Lo record, it'll make you want to go back and experience ICIDMI. That's part of the reason I mad...