The Witzard

Chris Daly AKA DJ Cool Chris & Biz Markie at one of The Biz's famed DJ classes Marcel Theo Hall, better know as Biz Markie and oftentimes, affectionately referred to as The Biz, The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop, The Inhuman Orchestra, The Diabolical Biz Markie, and The Emizah-Emizah, was highly revered as one of the most genuine emcees to ever do it. Biz passed away on Friday, July 16, 2021 at the tender age of 57, likely due to complications from Type 2 Diabetes, although, no official Cause of Death has been revealed just yet. Biz Markie is most well-known for his infectious 1989 break-out single, "Just A Friend," but he was a truly multi-talented artist, as well. Biz Mark's lesser-known talents included beat-boxing, dancing, producing, DJ'ing, acting, singing, and song-writing. It was proven time and time again that "Nobody Beats The Biz," but he surely didn't mind collaborating with just about anyone; racking up genre-defying features with eve...

Just about two months ago, my friend and frequent collaborator Darko The Super sent me an early Ruff Draft of his upcoming Rock sample-based album, Apocalyptic Bastard. I must say, it's a surprisingly accessible and dare I say, commercial album from the charismatic rapper-producer who released a whopping 10 full-length albums throughout the course of 2016. Apocalyptic Bastard contains samples and interpolations culled from the likes of Twisted Sister, Loverboy, Tears for Fears, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Slaves, They Might Be Giants, Steve Miller Band, Men Without Hats, Wheatus, and Comfort Food, in addition to countless others, and originals from All These Fingers and BLKrKRT; to the best of my knowledge, since December, it's been sent around to De La Soul producer Prince Paul, The Fabulous Downey Brothers, Wheatus, and Zilla Rocca. It seems a bit odd to say, looking back now, but over the course of the past 4-6 months since I first met Darko The Super—despite cou...

“We went out to LA with [Action Bronson] last month—me, him, Alchemist , and Sean [Mahon] recorded an entire EP of material under the name Jericho . Jericho may be a project that we drop, that’s really under-the-table, no one knows about that yet. Jericho may just be like a multi-genre, no label EP that may cross genres from Hip-Hop to Electro to 80's Pop . We may bridge the gap with that actually, because some of the stuff we recorded for that, one of the songs sounds like a late 80's Smokey Robinson record and sh*t. And then, there’s some Surf Rock on there that sounds like The Beach Boys and Bronson’s rhyming on it," Party Supplies multi-instrumentalist Justin Nealis revealed to HipHopDX way back in January 2014. Nealis, at the time, proclaimed that he aspired to be "like The Black Keys ; they blew up in Rock and had a few Rock records out and then, they went on and used that leverage to call up Raekwon on that BlakRoc sh*t." Party Supplies ...

Homeboy Sandman is far from your average gun-slinging, crack-dealing, bitch-slapping rapper. Granted he's no Will Smith either, but Sandman teeters the fine line between "parent approved" and parental advisory. His playful, blatantly honest couplets often remind me of one of my personal favourite rappers' schemes: Biz Markie . While he's amongst Stones Throw Records' freshest crop of signees, Homeboy Sandman has been self-releasing music for the bulk of the past 5-6 years (2007). Past cohorts [collaborators] include: Das Racist , 2 Hungry Bros, Paul White , Nottz, Kyle Rapps , and DJ Mick Boogie. Subject: Matter EP is being billed as "6 Rap songs dealing with content no one has ever rapped about before," which ultimately showcase Homeboy Sandman 's intelligently-woven wordplay and keen sense of storytelling. "Mine All Mine" is the second music video culled from Subject: Matter , released in just as many weeks. Filmed through...