The Witzard

" The Du-Rites finally drop a full song to check out. "Bug Juice" now on Soundcloud (who are a bunch of squares a bunch of squares and simps for not having a "Funk" option in their genre drop[-down] menu, but "Trap" is available). To hear: my website link in bio - newest post or soundcloud.com/thedurites . 7-inch single later next month; album late Fall," multi-instrumentalist and Hip-Hop producer Jay "J-Zone" Mumford wrote within a recent aptly-titled @jzonedontig Instagram post. Still hot on the heels of his latest solo album, Fish-n-Grits , which is made up of a gaggle of limited edition vinyl-only 7-inch releases dating as far back as 2014 and new material, J-Zone has readied "probably the closest to what [he] aspired to in my Funk-drenched 80's childhood" in the form of a newly-minted 2-man Funk band, fittingly titled The Du-Rites . J-Zone is currently preparing a 7-inch Funk instrumental EP with his lon...

Let's face it, nearly any avid supporter of either basketball or Hip-Hop can likely attest to the beloved genre and stadium-filling sport's frequent cross-sectional analogies and often unexpected collaborations; be it Skee-Lo 's 1995 Buffalo Springfield -interpolating "I Wish," Action Bronson 's sprawling genre-defying Blue Chips series, Jurassic 5 's trunk-rattling "What's Golden," or somewhat less favorable Michael Jordan & Bugs Bunny -helmed Space Jam soundtrack, Shaq 's head-scratching Kazaam soundtrack, or Kobe Bryant 's short-lived rap "career." Hip-Hop 's latest rhyme-laden page added to the NBA 's ever-growing playbook is brought to you by none other than Philly 's finest Legendary Hard-working Roots Crew and Jimmy Fallon 's long-time Tonight Show Band . The Roots seemingly penned "Champion" specifically for inclusion as the official 2016 NBA Finals Theme Song and in retrospe...

"We are excited to announce that a new Joanna Newsom song was released this morning! Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson ," read an uncharacteristically serious Tweet from GRAMMY -winning Comedy-Rap triumvirate @thelonelyisland , which just so happens to showcase the rhymin' talents of Newsom's husband, Andy Samburg . While I'm vaguely familiar with Joanna Newsom 's beautifully fragile harp-assisted melodies, I'm gonna be completely honest here: the only time I've ever actually "heard" her music was on Asher Roth & Nottz Raw 's reflective "Sprout & The Bean" -sampling RAWTH EP cut, "Break Bread." Newsom's first album in nearly five years, Divers , features lush string arrangement composed by "a total murders' row: Newsom [herself], Nico Muhly , Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth , and Ryan Francesconi ," as Stereogum reports. Divers' string arrangements were additionally record...

The Lonely Island have now released 3 albums-worth of "Frap" (fake rap) comedy tunes in just under 5 years; While making fun of nearly any and every genre, sub-genre, and lifestyle choice imaginable, it's done so well that Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone 's thinly-veiled/slickly-produced laughable anthems usually manage to surpass their predecessors' initial success. In my personal opinion, "Go Kindergarten" is amongst the strongest and side-jerking material released since Samberg's SNL departure last year. This particular Lonely Island track ingeniously knocks what Stereogum's Miles Bowe has quite cleverly dubbed "commanding club anthems," a trend arguably spearheaded by Lil Jon/Ying Yang Twins' extremely over-played high school dance smash hit, "Get Low" (2003). Preceded by a fairly well-orchestrated, DIY -looking #dancetroupe #lyricvideo a couple weeks ago, "Go Kindergarten" now co...

It's a comedy match made in heaven that I'm surprised Judd Apatow or Todd Phillips haven't thought of pairing up before: The Lonely Island, James Franco , and Zach Galifianakis . Former SNL alum Andy Samberg and comedy partners Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone announced their third upcoming Comedy-Rap masterpiece, The Wack Album earlier this week, which Republic will release on June 11th. It's rumored to feature appearances from the likes of Justin Timberlake , Kendrick Lamar, Solange , Lady GaGa, Pharrell , Billie Joe Armstrong, Adam Levine , and T-Pain; and I'm guessing The Wack Album will most likely re-use previously released Digital Shorts /non-album singles like "3-Way (The Golden Rule)" and "YOLO." The Lonely Island will release new material every Wednesday from now until June 11th in an effort that the self-proclaimed Frappers lament, " Wack Wednesdays , it's like #GOODFRIDAYS ... But way wacker." "Spr...