The Witzard

"Today, New York -bred emcees Wiki & Your Old Droog are sharing a new collaborative EP. What Happened to Fire? is a 5-track joint effort that demonstrates a chemistry between Wiki & Droog that could only come from both artists growing up in New York City ; narrated by found samples of Kool Keith , the focus of the EP for Wiki & Droog was having fun while putting down the best bars possible," read a press release I received late last week from Nick X Dierl at Orienteer (formerly Liberal Arts and Life or Death PR ). What Happened to Fire? EP was recorded in tandem with an art installation under the same name, which ran at Romero Gallery in late 2016. " What Happened to Fire? was recorded at Wiki 's Chinatown apartment as the installation was being formulated and displayed and the art that accompanies the EP contains imagery from the gallery." Your Old Droog was compared to Nas early on in his career and was even believed to be some sort ...

"Before I head out across the pond for The #EuroDROOG Tour , I'm dropping this joint produced by my man, DJ Skizz , that showcases my famed yet underutilized ' George Benson from Remulak ' impression — it's basically me scatting and rhyming along with the different sounds in the beat," Brooklyn/Ukrainian and uncannily Nas -sounding emcee Your Old Droog wrote on Soundcloud along with his latest track. "Senseless Killin' II" is the unofficial follow-up to Droog 's latest sonic 1-2 punch of non-album Soundcloud loosies, "Hidden Persuaders" and Statik Selektah -produced "Unlimited Metrocard." The #EuroDROOG Tour will kickoff in Dublin, Ireland this upcoming June 6th and wrap up nearly one month later in Dour, Belgium on July 17th; but not before Your Old Droog is scheduled to make seven stops in-between, hitting England , France, The Netherlands , Switzerland, and Germany presumably for the first time(s) in his...

Aside from his pseudo-brother-in-law Kanye West , I've never really heard tell of a rapper readily associating himself with Kardashian -bred entrepreneur Scott Disick ; until the red bearded charmer himself, Action Bronson effortlessly proclaimed, "Yo, it's the rap Scott Disick / Come through the f*ckin' block with some hot lizards." Bronson's long-time friend and Well Done collaborator Statik Selektah recruited him for the introductory verse on his latest single, "The Imperial." While it's only been out for a few days, AllHipHop has already dubbed Selektah's recent efforts "the unofficial Make-a-Wish foundation for dream rap collaborations," presumably for pairing Bronson up with Slaughterhouse member Royce Da 5'9" and veteran Roots emcee Black Thought . Now, try to stay with me here, but Action Bronson really seems to be the missing link between everyone involved here: he previously worked with Statik Selekt...

Party Supplies (Justin Nealis) is the ingenious anti- Hip-Hop producer behind the sonic madness that is Blue Chips ; Nealis somehow coarsed Action Bronson into rapping over Peter Gabriel , Phil Collins, John Cougar Mellencamp , Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam [all on one track!] , Extreme , Iron Butterfly, Guns N' Roses , Frank Zappa, Peter Bjorn & John , and Justin Bieber . Now, after nearly 2 years-worth of recording, Action Bronson & Party Supplies are gearing up to FREElease Blue Chips 2 on "The First Day it rains in NOVEMBER," whatever the Hell that means ha. Bronson generously previewed 2 unreleased Blue Chips 2 tracks the other night at the Toronto stop of his 2 High 2 Die tour. For the sake of continuity and sheer blog-ease, I'm just gonna refer to the new tracks as "Give Me One Reason" and "Tequila" from here on out. It's a little hard to decipher lyrically because we're watching a sub-par fan-shot video; But it cl...

It seems like Action Bronson & Harry Fraud have a pretty size-able batch of freeze-dried SAAAB STORIES left-overs, since "Water Sports" is the second track that's been leaked since the mixtape EP's June 11th release; Between "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" (Remix) , "Heel Toe," and "Water Sports," we now have 3 appended SAAAB STORIES bonus tracks! Premiered over at Village Voice , "Water Sports" [in]appropriately features washed up (fictional) baseball player Kenny Powers on his jet-ski, fully clothed for whatever reason. I was lucky enough to experience Bronson performing choice cuts from SAAAB STORIES earlier this summer, a meticulously-assembled 7-track EP, which he says upon it's creation, "I was 100% thinking about it being a performance project... [almost] everything on there has a hook, and knocks... it's thumping. The stage is rattling, everyone's going wild" (The Green Room) ! Long-awaited Par...

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...

Freeway pretty much pulled out all the stops for his latest mixtape, Black Santa EP : rapped verses from Iman Shumpert/Rasheed Wallace (The Knicks) and champion boxer Adrien "The Problem" Broner , a clever Kenny Loggins sample, spear-heading the State Property reunion, and releasing a DOPE holiday-themed mixtape just in time for Christmas . I've always thought that Freeway was a talented, criminally under-rated emcee and over the years, he's been affiliated with powerhouse labels like Roc-a-Fella , Cash Money, Rhymesayers , and G.O.O.D. Music. Freeway 's critically acclaimed debut, Philadelphia Freeway (2003) was [executive] produced by Jay-Z , Just Blaze, and Kanye ... as well as star-studded guest features from Snoop , Mariah Carey, Peedi Crakk , Nelly, and Nate Dogg . Black Santa EP features some note-worthy production work from the likes of Jake One , Statik Selektah, DJ SNS , and Jumbo Beats; But one particular track, "Roc Re-loaded" (Re...

Action Bronson is kinda like the weirdly AWESOME love-child of Beastie Boys, Ghostface Killah , and Rick Ross . The Albanian-American rapper hails from Flushing, Queens and cut his teeth as a Top Chef before converting over to rhymin' roughly 2 years ago. In a true testament to his sheer prolific brilliance, Bronson has linked up with one sole producer @ a time for each project: Dr. Lecter/Tommy Mas , Well-Done/Statik Selektah, and Blue Chips/Party Supplies - Plus Mr. Wonderful, Saab Stories , "Blue Chips 2," and his VICE Records debut are ALL expected to materialize fairly soon, too. Action Bronson has already had a chance to work with everyone from Asher Roth to Wu-Tang Clan and was the undoubted MVP of Meyhem Lauren 's hotel suite-recorded mixtape, Respect The Fly Shit . Bronson inked a deal with Warner Bros. back in mid-August and it seems like he has their full support to "spread his wings" a little bit on Rare Chandeliers , which was releas...

It's pretty safe to assume that Action Bronson & The Alchemist first met while in the studio recording assorted parts for Domo Genesis' No Idols mixtape; Alchemist acted as reigning producer over the entire project and Bronsolini was featured on central track "Elimination Chamber" along with Earl Sweatshirt and Vince Staples . Instead of working on his 2-3rd album for new label VICE Records , Action Bronson is currently chipping away @ roughly 3-5 [FREE] mixtapes. It seems like the first one to fully materialize is gonna be Rare Chandeliers with The Alchemist , which should ultimately end up premiering online by mid-November. But I'd almost bet $100 that Bronson's been working on a batch of album-quality material for VICE the entire time now... as he's a man of vast mystery, intrigue, and surprise! Earlier today, it was reported that Action Bronson will be taking a will-deserved break - Heading out on a 14-date Fall Tour with Cypress Hill ,...

The Chain Gang somehow managed to seamlessly splice together a bunch of stop-motion [animation] clips to construct Sean Price 's latest music video, "STFU (Part 2)." Before it's all said and done, we see Super-Price courageously fending off a pack of angry killer apes with a microphone... getting some calcium fortification, pilot a spaceship, re-enact a couple album covers, run through the jungle, etc. All of Sean Price's milk-fueled hi-jinx were animated by crafty illustrators, Haroon Gilian & Whitney Alexander ; "STFU (Part 2)" will appear on Price's long-awaited Mic Tyson album, along with previously-released tracks "Haraam" and "I See." Rome York directed and released a quick, 1:30-minute music video last week to go along with "I See," which was in fact pre-empted by "Sean Price Plays Tennis" back in early Sept. Duck Down Records are finally gearing up to liberate Mic Tyson on Oct. 3...

Based on the slight amount of information [conveniently] provided on the vast inner-workings of The Inter-Web , one can assume that frequent collaborators, Action Bronson & Statik Selektah are putting the finishing touches on an upcoming New Jack Swing -themed mixtape. The premier offering from said tape, "Strictly Business" (Parts 1 & 2) was liberated to the masses earlier today, in honor of Selektah 's 30th birthday. Delicately constructed around a Swinging, Jazzy sample which may very well be pulled from a cappella Gospel group, Take 6 . Action Bronson properly laces up the beat with his notoriously "gully," intricate rhymes schemes. Just take a quick listen and see/hear for yourself. New Jack City: Chopped & Screwed is amongst a number of projects that Bronsonelli is currently working on; Expect it TBR ahead of "the pack," sooner than later, and unveiled along with Party Supplies -driven Blue Chips (Fool's Gold ).

While I thoroughly enjoy nearly any and all permutations of modern day Hip-Hop ... I usually manage to pay even closer attention to interesting, left-field culled samples. Chef Raekwon has always been one of the most consistent rappers around, a favourite of mine since the "36 Chambers" days. After a few minor set-backs, Raekwon finally liberated his latest mixtape, Unexpected Victory @ the brink of 2011-12. The 17-track collection's made up of cold, hard "Boom Bap" Hip-Hop beats produced by Scram Jones , 9th Wonder, The Olympicks, Statik Selektah , and many other rising beatsmiths. Unexpected Victory boasts featured appearances from the like of JD Era, C.L. Smooth , Mobb Deep, L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Busta Rhymes , Capone-N-Noreaga, Altrina Renee , and Styles P throughout. Easily one of the collection's stand-out tracks - "Chinese Marines" showcases Raekwon & Mobb Deep chopping it up over a Scram Jones -crafted beat, which come to find out...

Action Bronson is without a doubt the most raw, captivating character to emerge from the music scene this year. You know what? - He very well may be the most interesting artist in Hip-Hop music within the last 5-10 years! A college and culinary school dropout, Bronson sounds like Ghostface Killah & Raekwon mashed together and thrown on top of Jazzy MF DOOM beats. All too recently, Action Bronson was a high-class Pro Chef . But he gave it all up (fame & fortune) for The Love of Hip-Hop ; Although, still cooks as much as humanly possible in his free time while on tour. I must admit, I've been sleeping on this dude for the majority of 2011. Yet fear no more!: I just downloaded nearly 1/2 of Action Bronson 's [back]catalog earlier this fine evening. Action Bronson 's most recent contribution to the vast, prosperous "goldmine" that is The Internet just so happens to be FADER TV's "At Home with Action Bronson." Essentially, it's an in...