The Witzard

"There's a sense of personal freedom that's unique to Montreal and "My Crew (Woooo)" is a representation of that feeling... It's a song about defying the labels that people try to place on artists. Is it Underground ? Mainstream ? Conscious ? Trap ? Who cares, as long as it sounds dope," rapper-producer, acclaimed writer, and Edmonton 's 2009 Poet Laureate Roland "Rollie" Pemberton (Cadence Weapon) wrote within a recent statement sent to EXCLAIM! Cadence Weapon is finally back in full form, after taking a nearly 5-year break following his last full-length album, 2012 Polaris Music Prize -nominated Hope In Dirt City . Pemberton made a few short-lived attempts at a proper comeback: first, with 2013 Jarrell Perry -assisted non-album single "When It's Real" and then, seemingly teased a temporary re-branding as "Rollie" throughout 2015 with Summer Cool Music Two comp. submission "Come See Me" and a f...

"Idols + Enemies is a raised fist in the face of a president that openly threatens our most basic constitutional freedoms; to that end, all proceeds from downloads of this project will benefit the ACLU. They’ve had our backs, defending civil rights for nearly 100 years. As the Trump transition team seizes power, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will be a strong ally in preventing the President Elect's unlawful and unconstitutional campaign promises from becoming a reality. November’s dystopian Presidential Election sent all of us looking for answers. MY IDOLS ARE DEAD + MY ENEMIES ARE IN POWER brings together artists, activists, and academics to explore how we got here and what to do next. We stand with poor folks, Muslims, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and all Americans against any attack on our civil rights." - Lushlife (Raj Haldar) My Idols Are Dead + My Enemies Are In Power by Lushlife I. What was your initial motivation behind assembling MY...

It appears as though reclusive early 2000's rapper, producer, and cold-cuttin' DJ Edan has finally decided to re-emerge from his self-imposed sabbatical and unleash his first batch of new material since 2009's "Echo Party" mixtape; Edan recently contributed production work to old sharp-tongued friend Mr. Lif 's long-awaited comeback single of sorts, "Whizdom," as well as Homeboy Sandman 's newly unveiled Kindness for Weakness album teaser, "Talking (Bleep)." Sandman 's latest Stones Throw Drip can likely best be described as a Hip-Hop -laden amalgamation of pop culture's beloved, often over-used "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH" filler phrasing for drab, long-winded, unnecessary, etc. conversation we're often subjected to throughout our every day lives – be it Ke$ha 's chart-topping No.1 single, Charlie Brown & The Peanuts' "WAH, WAH, WAH" diction substituted for adults talking, or Seinfeld prota...

"Burst through the door, son I'm Kramerin' . Who wrote a gorgeous stanza? It's not you, it's me like George Costanza ," grizzly-voiced Ukrainian-American emcee Your Old Droog ferociously rhymes on his latest self-described "stupid" Soundcloud loosie, "Basketball & Seinfeld." Not long after uploading his "SEINWAVE2000" -sampling track, Droog himself annotated a portion of its expectedly ingenious Seinfeld and basketball-centric rhyme schemes at Rap Genius : "I used to smoke [funny cigarettes] and just watch Seinfeld re-runs. Or being h*gh out [of] my mind at the crib and watching ESPN Classic and old Bulls Finals series against The Blazers ." "Basketball & Seinfeld" was reportedly produced by Your Old Droog and manipulates a sample lifted from Abelard 's original composition "SEINWAVE2000," which in turn, makes use of a sample pulled from Jonathan Wolff 's infamous Mouth ...

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" ...