The Witzard

Summah Stoop by Call Out Culture (Alaska & Zilla Rocca) feat Curly Castro Late last night, I received a Bandcamp Notification email from Wrecking Crew—Curly Castro, PremRock, Small Professor & Zilla Rocca—about their latest stand-alone single, "Summah Stoop" by Call Out Culture: Alaska x Curly Castro x Zilla Rocca. Essentially, this is the Call Out Culture Podcast Crew consisting of Alaska, Curly Castro & Zilla Rocca... but there's, also, a similarly named Hip-Hop crew consisting of Alaska & Zilla unofficially/FKA ZILLASKA. Those who know, will know this is FAR from Zilla Rocca & Alaska's first time collaborating together, but for those who may be unaware, Alaska & Zilla previously worked together on a number of occasions, including: "Return of The Angst" from Alaska's ALKAST EP/WORDS HURT's ALKAST:REMIXES from 2015, "Debuild" with Defcee from Curly Castro & Fakts One's RESTROY & DEBUILD, WORDS HURT...

"I'm Zilla Rocca. I rap, produce, and write articles. I have my own Indie label, Three Dollar Pistol Music and put out music with my friends Curly Castro, Small Professor, and PremRock as our posse, Wrecking Crew. Me and Small Pro put out a group album as Career Crooks [last] year called Good Luck with That , where he did all of the beats, but I've been a producer, as well for 15 years. So, here's some of the most important albums to me, when I'm "behind the boards.'" I. Handsome Boy Modeling School - So... How's Your Girl? (1999) "I remember buying this album in 1999 and having no clue how any of these songs were made. I didn't start making beats for another three years or so, but this album never left my conciousness. [Dan The] Automator is one of my all-time favorite producers because he bounces between genres effortlessly, from Serge Gainsbourg stuff with Lovage, to Sci-Fi Fantasy Robot sh*t with Deltron [3030], to the first Go...

Billy Batts (prod by Zilla Rocca) by Curly Castro & Zilla Rocca "Zilla Rocca" is, at this point in time, a name even casual readers of the pages here at The Witzard should almost instantly recognize and readily associate with dope output. I think it's safe to say, I've covered nearly every Zilla/Zilla -related release since 2016's Anything I Touch, I Bruise Vol. 2: The Superior Foes of Zilla Rocca , as well as a gaggle of Bandcamp loosies and Soundcloud stand-alone singles. To my knowledge, Zilla Rocca has at least three (announced) projects currently planned to be released throughout 2018: Thieving As Long As I'm Breathing - a Career Crooks Remix EP with S mall Professor , his '90's Hip-Hop -flavored mixtape/"street album" '96 Mentality , and a proper solo album quite cleverly entitled Future Former Rapper ; all of these, featuring a who's-who of friends, affiliates, and fellow Underground Hip-Hop rappers and producers...

" [Leave In Tact:] The Remix Collection boasts a strong addition to the pair's already robust resume, and as they set their sights on another ambitious tour with contemporaries' billy woods and Henry Canyons , their prospects only continue to grow. If you missed Leave In Tact , due to the avalanche of the election fallout or perhaps, because of the shared release date with a comeback album from the greatest group of all time, you are forgiven, but do take this chance to catch up," reads a Remix Collection -accompanying statement uploaded to PremRock & Fresh Kils' Bandcamp . I recently got a pre-release version of Leave In Tact: The Remix Collection and producer Fresh Kils (@freshkils) told me, he "would love to hear [my] comparative thoughts on the remixes vs. the originals;" with that said, here's a very laxly-structured first impressions review of Leave In Tact: The Remix Collection . PremRock & Fresh Kils' latest 7-track release...

Steve Martin 's long-standing and storied relationship with Hip-Hop goes back nearly 30 years. It seems to have all started with "The Steve Martin" from EPMD's critically-acclaimed and genre-shaping debut Strictly Business (1988) which goes a little something like this: "Well, I have a new dance, that you all must learn You may have seen the Pee-Wee Herman , but it's had it's turn Now, this brand new dance, I know you not with it You might break your neck, to really try to get it If you seen the clumsy movie it was called The Jerk You had to check out Steve Martin , as he started to work He was doin' freaky moves with his feet and head With his blue farmer suit and his big Pro-Keds ." Good Luck With That by Career Crooks It appears as though, according to YouTube 's Learn Hip Hop Dance instructor MahaloDance , "The Steve Martin" is also "an old school Hip-Hop move," which I would assume was likely inspire...

"I used to watch Run-D.M.C. videos on my grandmother's TV in South Philly; then, I had to hide Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg CD's from my parents when I was 10-years-old. I used to make Rap tapes on my dad's stereo system. I would record every episode of BET's Rap City in high school on VHS. In college, I started my first Rap group. After college, I started my own Indie Rap label. Today, my first album released on a record label is out. And I can't believe it!" Zilla Rocca ecstatically wrote within a Friday afternoon Facebook post. Friday, May 19th was the release day for the seasoned South Philly rapper-producer and remixer's major label "debut," Good Luck with That on Toronto-based Indie Hip-Hop label URBNET. Zilla recently formed Career Crooks with his long-time friend and partner-in-crime Small Professor (Small Pro) and ahead of Good Luck with That, they released two hard-as-nails pre-album collections: last year's Sin Will Find You: The C...

"It's a song I always loved, but I could never figure where to place it, in terms of albums and such. I've performed it a few times and it always did well... I kind of Kanye'd the hook and had variations of it done by El Malito & Margel The Sophant , before I put it together the way it is now. I just wanted it... to be great because the beat is crazy and the story/concept is heavily indebted to this book, The Song Is You by Megan Abbott ," Wrecking Crew & Career Crooks emcee Zilla Rocca wrote, via text Monday night, concerning his latest stand-alone single. "Lemon Drop" was released in a similar fashion to Zilla 's recent influx of 90's Golden Age Hip-Hop -evoking Noir-Hop loosies: "98 Avirex Flow" and Ghostface Killah & Raekwon -flipping "Faster Blade Redux," which was fittingly premiered right here at The Witzard . Zilla Rocca further explained that it's his "goal to drop one song a month for...

"'Rap Trope Questionnaire" is kind of a round-about way of talking about being manic depressive, but from the perspective of someone inhabiting an arena where that sort of behavior is welcomed and even encouraged. It is like an asset in some ways to be able to turn the personality up to 150%, even if it is "blindness to kick bliss in the shin and put my emotional win on display again" (yuck, quoting [myself] feels gross!)" CURTA emcee Jake recently wrote within an emailed statement. CURTA was formed in Colorado a number of years ago because, as Jake puts it, he simply "wanted to make music that was not beholden to prior ideas of what a "band" should be;" often labeling themselves as a Glitch-Hop or Art-Rap group, CURTA and in-house producer 4Digit readily cite Pavement , Coil, Saul Williams , and Pere Ubu as immediate sources of influence and inspiration. Zilla Rocca , a close friend and frequent collaborator here at The Wit...