The Witzard

earlytwothousands by Drew Scott Baltimore -based producer and beat-maker Drew Scott had quite a big year in 2018: first and foremost, he got married to his long-time partner and frequent collaborator, Pale Spring . Congrats to Drew & Emily ! Musically, Drew unleashed CRITTER from his "Basement" Pop alter-ego, Giddeon Gallows , as well as remixes from Butch Dawson , HI$TO, and Infinity Knives . Now, Drew Scott has effectively returned with his first proper release of 2019—something I've been hearing about for a while now— earlytwothousands ; just as it sounds, is an 8-track collection of early 2000's Hip-Hop remixes "featuring" Snoop Dogg , 50 Cent, Juelz Santana , Clipse & Pharrell, Ghostface Killah , T.I. Lil' Wayne , and JAY-Z. "It was just something I've been wanting to do. I was a teenager when these songs came out, which was around the same time I first started making beats," Drew Scott told The Witzard , via email. ...

"'Made for Me" was actually one of the last tracks I added to the EP I hope to release later this year. I remember walking into the studio and hearing Mikhail (my producer) messing around with two different cuts of the same sample. One was very down-tempo and in the pocket, while the other felt lively with a real bounce to it. We went back-and-forth, debating which of the two we rocked with the most, but couldn't justify separating the sounds," Canadian rapper, producer, and song-writer David Versis wrote within a recent email. Upon first hearing his latest single, "Made for Me," I wrote a quick, semi-tongue-in-cheek "review" on Twitter which read: "'Made for Me" sounds like John Mayer meets Drake and it's actually pretty awesome!" Versis is a GRAMMY -nominated producer, who contributed to Wiz Khalifia 's 2014 album, Blacc Hollywood and produced Yo Gotti & T.I. 's collaborative single, "King ...

"I was in my hotel room in Paris , and we were just chillin' and I just f*cked around and was like, 'We need to do the video while we're in Paris,'" G.O.O.D. Music -affiliated Grand Hustle emcee Travi$ Scott recently told Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe during a phone interview while boarding a plane Friday afternoon. "Piss On Your Grave" is anchored by a fuzzed out guitar riff lifted from Jimi Hendrix -fronted Band of Gypsys' blistering Vietnam War protest jam "Machine Gun," which feels like it could have easily been a left-over from Kanye 's 2013 Aggro-Rap magnum opus, Yeezus ; funnily enough, Scott is amongst the gaggle of greenhorn beatsmiths who collectively helped produce frantic album tracks "New Slaves," "I Am a God," and "Guilt Trip." Long-time Kanye -affiliated director and photographer Nabil Elderkin was recruited to helm "Piss On Your Grave"' s ghoulish pre- Halloween visua...

Lady Gaga recently teamed up with Hip-Hop Soul/R&B crooner and Phoenix cohort R. Kelly for her latest teaser single, "Do What U Want." The first in a series of a planned weekly singles series leading up to her third studio album, ARTPOP (November 11th); Highsnobiety further described it as "a distinct step away from some of the styles of many of Gaga 's previous songs, less Bowie -derived and more Tina Turner ." But I personally hear lurching rhythmic effects that're reminiscent of "Thriller"' s eerie-sounding central rhythm and seasoned vocal inflections akin to Christina Aguilera . It's kinda more or less along the lines of a socially-conscious "panty-dropper," inter-spliced with semi-prolific lines like, "Do what you want with my body... Write what you want. Say what you want about me." Just mere hours before uploading "Do What U Want" at 12:01am, Lady Gaga ended up posting a number of ...

Blue-Eyed Soul brother and Growing Pains offspring, Robin Thicke finally scored his first Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit with "Blurred Lines." The infectiously Funky track teeters the [blurred] line between mainstream success and Internet weirdness. While it was initially pulled from YouTube and then edited/re-uploaded, "Blurred Lines" has gained most of it's wide success without much label promotion, strictly based off word-of-mouth and social media shares. We're talkin' about Robin Thicke, Pharrell & T.I. singing, dancing, and getting generally weird with a bunch of scantily-clad models (It's just something you HAVE to see for yourself)! Robin Thicke & Pharrell stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night to celebrate their #1 spot; actually filmed @ MySpace's re-launch party the night before, where Miley Cyrus and label-mate Leah LaBelle danced on stage during a slightly more Caribbean -sounding "Blurred Lines" ren...

Rapping friends El-P & Killer Mike already produced one critically-acclaimed joint album together last year, R.A.P. Music . But it seems like they've made their Hip-Hop group a little more official - That's now been re-christened Run The Jewels and are currently nearing completion of a second record; Sounds like El-P 's decided to step out from behind the boards and back onto the mic this go-round, too. After a few solid months-worth of vague teasers, El-P uploaded an 84-second snippet of "Banana Clipper" to his Soundcloud Tuesday afternoon. It's a short but sweet sampling of what Run The Jewels upcoming album might sound like, which is rumored for a Summertime release. El-P 's also busy writing/recording new music along with Nick Diamonds (Islands) that they're calling Stepson , and possibly working with Big Boi/T.I. Killer Mike , on the other hand's about to head out on a MASSIVE 40+ date tour with frequent collaborator, Big Boi...

Anyone remember a period in time... oh, maybe 10-12 years ago when guys like Lil' Wayne & Fred Durst were still socially relevant and putting out 1/2 decent music? The most interesting thing that Lil' Wayne 's done in recent memory was going into a spurt of codeine-induced seizures (allegedly) and Limp Bizkit signed to his label, Cash Money around this time last year, supposedly broke up , and re-formed since. Needless to say, a Limp Bizkit/Wayne collabo would've likely sounded pretty AWESOME, had it been released between Chocolate Starfish & The Hot Dog Flavored Water and Tha Carter III (2000-08). But as rough as I've made this track sound so far, if Lil' Wayne 's still going for that whole slightly dated sleaze-soaked Rap-Rock vibe, Limp Bizkit 's probably your go-to band of knuckleheads. "Ready to Go" has been in-the-works for the larger part of a year, since initially inking a deal with Cash Money , and was finally unlea...

Justin Timberlake makes the kind of music that's supposed to help you get laid; Let's call it "baby-making music," for lack of a better term. But JT has spent the bulk of last 6-7 years since his last album, Future Sex/Love Sounds (2006) doing damn-near everything besides writing/recording music: re-launching MySpace , sharpening his acting chops, launched a designer clothing line, recorded a few seriously good comedy tracks, and just being charming in general. During his time off, Justin Timberlake managed to record vocals for a gaggle of hits and misses for his musical friends' albums, too... 50 Cent , Jimmy Fallon, [The] Game , Ciara, The Lonely Island , T.I. Madonna , Timbaland, Duran Duran , Diddy-Dirty Money, Talib Kweli , Rihanna, and Chris Cornell ? Timberlake finally took the plunge and "wifed up" his long-time on-again-off-again girlfriend, Jessica Biel @ a private ceremony back in October 2012. Following nearly a solid week's-wor...

While Speakerboxx/The Love Below (2003) was a great album, it kinda seems more like 2 re-packaged solo albums, rather than a cohesive collection of Southern Hip-Hop . In my eyes, OutKast effectively "broke up" after the release of Idlewild [film-soundtrack] around 2006 and they've just been fucking with us all these years since, making empty promises of a long-delayed new album. That was most likely the original post- Speakerboxxx/Love Below plan: Big Boi solo album, followed by an André 3000 record, and then finally, an album full of new OutKast tunes. Now, Big Boi has whole-heartedly kept his promise unleashing Purple Ribbon All-Stars , Sir Lucious Left Foot, and Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors back-to-back since about 2005! Meanwhile, André 3000 has kept busy doing pretty much everything BUT rapping... cartoon shows, selling Gillette razors, acting roles , random left-field remixes, etc. But André 3000 was in fact featured on "Royal Flush" ...

For nearly as long as I can remember, I've been an aficionado of any and all things Pop Culture : music, fashion, cinema, comic books, food, art, travel, etc. Rihanna has without a doubt been a Pop Culture mainstay since first assaulting the Billboard charts with "Pon de Replay" (2005). Since then, the Barbadian [Bajan] beauty has somehow managed to record and release 5 studio albums, 25 solo singles, and countless chart-topping features. A few of my personal favourites include: "Shut Up and Drive," "Disturbia," "Man Down," "Hard" and "Live Your Life." Gradually evolving and growing with each collection, Rihanna is now a mature Hard Rocking club hopper; She has surely seen her fair share of adversity, but always manages to prevail! With "We Found Love," Rihanna bravely explores the previously untouched genre destinations of Electro-House and Dance-Pop . The simple, Calvin Harris -produced tune is a h...