The Witzard

MF DOOM Mixed-media Collage - GRAPHIC BY: Roy Christopher (@RoyChristopher) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. DARK SIDE OF THE DOOM by DRO CUP "Today is the day I finally get to share my visual album, DARK SIDE OF THE DOOM ([Pink] Floyd samples, DOOM bars) with you all. Pink Floyd & DOOM are two artists that have followed me around from when I was just a 10-year-old in 5th grad...

Australian DJ, producer, and turntablist Scott Barker , better known as DJ Bacon , is a well-documented Beastie Boys super-fan. Barker has previously released remixes of Beasties fan favorites "Egg Man," "Sure Shot," and "Shake Your Rump," as well as an infamous Run-D.M.C./Beastie Boys mega-mix fittingly titled "RUN-BST." We conducted a comprehensive 2018 interview with DJ Bacon himself, in fact, coinciding with the 7-inch/digital re-releases of both "Back In Hell" (Run-D.M.C. vs. AD/DC) B/W "Sure Shot" Rock Steady Remix and the aforementioned "RUN-BST" mega-mix. So, of course, when it came time to coordinate our full-album 3-part Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique 30th Anniversary All-around Breakdown AKA PB30 , DJ Bacon was amongst the first people we reached out for contributions. He ended up penning a deeply personal blurb for "A Year & A Day" (Suite d.) from "B-Boy Bouillabaisse...

It is now widely known that Tuxedo is a Nu-Funk/R&B duo consisting of one-time Stones Throw crooner Mayer Hawthorne and super-producer Jake One ; however, at one point in time, surrounding the release of their 2013 Tuxedo EP , Tuexedo 's members' identities were largely shrouded in mystery. I personally believe, that Tuxedo's nom de plume was, initially, a bit of a lighthearted tongue-in-cheek jab at Justin Timberlake's similarly-titled/sounding "Suit & Tie" single with JAY-Z. Tuxedo have since released three full-length albums: Tuxedo , Tuxedo II, and most recently, III AKA Tuxedo III , as well as a slew of Funk-tastic remixes, stand-alone singles, and Yuletide nuggets. For their latest single from III , "Toast 2 Us," Mayer Hawthorne & Jake One have enlisted frequent Stones Throw collaborator and multi-talented director / photographer / editor / creative / VFX artist Ross Harris . Tuxedo & Ross Harris previously collaborated ...

Depending on who you ask, Ron Burgundy is quite arguably actor-comedian Will Ferrell 's coveted career-defining role and in recent weeks, he's somehow managed to supersede the confines of a mere film role; appearing alongside Daft Punk on an MTV EMA's promo, partnering up with Dodge to sell some 2014 Durangos , manning real-life news broadcasts, interviewing football mega-star Peyton Manning , getting his very own Ben & Jerry 's flavor, etc. Tuesday afternoon amidst the impending East Coast snow storm, "Ron Burgundy" teamed up with Blue-Eyed Soul crooner Robin Thicke for a buttery smooth cover of "Ride Like The Wind." The original Christopher Cross version was released way back in 1979-80, and his self-titled Soft Rock magnum opus it appears within famously beat out Pink Floyd 's equally great The Wall for an Album of The Year Grammy later that year. Christopher Cross' track, as well as Robin Thick & Ron Burgundy 's...

Download Mixtape Just in time for All Hallow's Eve , Yelawolf & DJ Paul unleashed a 5-track FreEP, Black Fall late Wednesday night. The former Three 6 Mafia producer crafted some pretty sinister-sounding beats using primarily Rock & Metal samples; so far, I've heard Metallica , Pink Floyd, Muse , Michael Jackson, and Black Sabbath (Dio) . I never really used to like Yelawolf 's hillbilly-tinged brand of Southern Hip-Hop , until I heard his genre-blending collaboration with singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran , The Slumdon Bridge EP . It's a truly timeless Alt. Hip-Hop EP that I would've gladly paid good money for and I guess Travis Barker & Eminem 's separate Yelawolf co-signs didn't hurt either. Leaked pre-release single "Light Switch" expertly manages to sample English Prog-Rock band Muse 's radio-friendly hit "Uprising," while elsewhere, "Thriller" and Pink Floyd are sampled on one track. Yelawolf &...

SPACE JAM by ST 2 Lettaz Huntsville, Alabama -based rapper-director and former gas station attendee Stephen "ST 2 Lettaz" Harris is fording a solo career of his own after the recent demise of his Country Rap group, G-side , who managed to release 5 Hip-Hop albums between 2007-11; R.E.B.E.L. EP was announced along with SPIN 's "break-up piece" @ the beginning of September and released nearly a week later online Sept. 17th. R.E.B.E.L. stands for "re-think every belief ever learned" and it seems like that's what ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova decided to do after 10+ years of teetering the underground/mainstream Hip-Hop circles. For new-comers like you and I, R.E.B.E.L. EP seems like a perfect place to start. It's a project that I was actually tipped off to by Tom Breihan's latest [excellent] "Mixtape of The Week" review. Clova seems to be piddling away @ a solo career, too... He's formed his own label imprint (Lambo Mu...

"I don't wanna take my time going to work. I got a motorcycle & a sleeping bag & 10 or 15 girls. What the Hell I wanna go off & go to work for? I got all the money in the world. I'm the king, man... I roll the nickles. The game is mine; I deal the cards." - Charlie Manson (2006?) After watching "Beats, Rhymes & Life" (Michael Rapaport) this fine evening, I soon realized that A Tribe Called Quest and Death Grips are actually 2 very similar entities: Pioneers of the new sound - Simple as that. Now, I could try to compare Death Grips' overall sound to some over-saturated commercial bullshit like say, M.I.A. Odd Future, DMX, Beck , [insert additional clichés,] etc... or attempt to slap some sort of half-assed genre tag on it. But that really wouldn't do either party a lick of justice whatsoever; With that said, it's damn near impossible to sufficiently describe the sounds [barely] contained within Sides A-B of the FRESHLY-presse...

Frenchmen, Antony Gonzalez has been artfully crafting Dream -tinged Pop music as "M83" since roughly 2001; Averaging nearly 1 full-length album every 1.66666666667 years. That would mean that this most recent M83 commercial offering (Hurry Up, We're Dreaming) is essentially Album # 6-7. "Midnight City," a track pulled from the Justin Meldal-Johnsen produced album, has been effectively pushed as lead single. Since intercepting the music industry in 1993, Meldal-Johnsen has flexed his bass-playing abilities on a string of Beck albums between Mutations-Sea Change ... Jamiroquai - "Black Capricorn Day" (1999), Black Eyed Peas and Michelle Branch 's respective breakthrough albums - Monkey Business/Hotel Paper , and Nine Inch Nails' 2007-09 Tours. While recently speaking with a few media outlets, Anthony Gonzalez has publicly cited a number of classic [double] albums including: The Beatles ("White Album") , Smashing Pumpkins ...