The Witzard

Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist and rapper-producer Kassa Overall is a close affiliate of Kool A.D. and his now-defunct Hip-Hop crew Das Racist . I believe I first got in touch with Overall after discovering his stellar self-released Stargate mixtape, which featured him ferociously rapping over re-worked Katy Perry , Wiz Khalifia , and modern pop radio tracks, and he generously helped facilitate my 2011-12 interview with Victor Vazquez , otherwise known as Kool A.D. While he was previously signed to Vazquez's Greedhead off-shoot imprint Veehead , but since their disbanding, his current label situation is unknown. After years of preparation and recording, Kassa Overall is finally gearing up to release his first proper solo album consisting of entirely original production, which is tentatively titled Like Life , in the not so distant future; even though he's released countless group albums with PEACEFUL SOLUTIONS , TOOTHPASTE , and as an accomplished Jazz drummer has rec...

Contrary to popular belief, Das Racist 's version of "The Recipe" (Gwyneth Paltrow) actually pre-dates Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre 's single version, which was released first. Since "Meet The Frownies" [sample] was only issued in 2010, this all had to happen over the past 2 years... Scoop DeVille gave a rough version of the beat to Das Racist before ever even meeting Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre . But because Aftermath somehow managed to release "The Recipe" first, it may seem like Kool A.D. & Heems are beat-jacking, which is entirely off point. Anyways, here's Das Racist's final take, "Gwyneth Paltrow," now accompanied by some sort of found footage of 2 weird-ass 1970's "putty face" re-molding performance artists. Victor Vazquez directs or something...

Ikechi Nnamani decided to head to Nigeria for "Winter Break" [2011-12] in a combined effort to take a much needed break from UPenn , visit with family & friends, and simply de-stress a bit. It's 16 rudimentary Boom-Bap beats were largely recorded on laptop programs in a grass hut... likely adding to the album's overall "Old School" aesthetic. While they were originally released back in April , kechPhrase & Veehead issued a slightly re-packaged re-relased version of Kechstrumentals: Live from Nigeria, Tape 1 earlier today. Mishka is currently hosting a stream-able player containing the complete mixtape; So far, kechPhrase 's beats have been [or will be] rapped over and further embellished by Kool A.D. Fat Tony, Epic, Bill Ding, Chakuza (Germany) , and a few other talented wordsmiths. Pretty sample-heavy and chock-full of strings, synth flourishes, 808 drum patterns, and vocal excerpts... Kechstrumentals is definitely worth checking out! S...