The Witzard

Black Thought and Leon Michels of the El Michels Affair (CREDIT: Sesse Lind) When Leon Michels and his El Michels Affair (EMA) released their first record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented "Cinematic Soul" sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later—all while producing for some of the biggest names in the industry—Michels has trademarked his sound with each project taking audiences somewhere new and pushing the boundaries even further. Michels has racked up both song-writing and production credits with JAY-Z/The Carters, Adele, Kid Cudi, Charles Bradley, Common, Rick Ross, Ludacris, Travi$ Scott, Mark Ronson, Norah Jones, Lizzo, and Mary J. Blige. The man is a river, not a lake, and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of Hip-Hop laying down a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone: Black Thought of The Legenda...

Amerigo Gazaway is a Berkely, California-based producer, emcee, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ, who is known for his remixes/mash-ups, original instrumentals, and digital sampling. Gazaway is the son of internationally-known Jazz trumpeter, Gary "El Buho" (The Owl) Gazaway from The Ozark Mountains and Brazilian vocalist, Tatiana Mindlin; with his brother, Rickey Mindlin , Amerigo Gazaway formed The Soul Mates Project/Records as a vehicle to present his lush, conceptual collaborative efforts. Soul Mates are best known for their documentary-style conceptual collaboration albums, which have famously incorporated the music of A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Fela Kuti, De La Soul, Marvin Gaye, Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def, James Brown, OutKast, and many, many more. Said critically-acclaimed remixes and mash-ups have garnered Amerigo Gazaway guest spots on releases from the likes of Aaron "Son Little" Livingston, Blu, and Oh No, as well as a gig re-orchestrating Miles ...