The Witzard

CREDIT: Justin Mayer (@OldCity215) Honestly, it doesn't even feel like there's a proper way to elegize an eccentric and extremely talented artist such as MF DOOM, who meant so much to so many of us for so many years for so many different reasons as truly unique as DOOM himself. So, what better way to pay tribute to The Man, The Myth, THE MASK himself than by speaking to those closest to him? With a heavy heart, I proudly present Shadows of Tomorrow; a new recurring column in tribute to DOOM in an effort to re-tell the tall tales, strange stories, and lesser-known tidbits of The Metal Face Villain himself. R.I.P. Daniel "MF DOOM" Dumile Thompson. "DOOM broke the rules. While some of the greatest emcees were playfully comparing themselves to Ghost Rider or The Incredible Hulk, DOOM had one better. He didn't plan to passively reference, he would create a universe and rule it with an Iron Fist. With one snap of that metal fingered fist, he created an alternat...

Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def once said, "Three key steps to leading a rewarding and enriched life: (1) Wake up, (2) be awesome, (3) LISTEN TO PRESERVATION." Preservation , otherwise known as Dj Preservation , Dj Jun, and Jun TME is/was part of Dr. Yen Lo with Brownsville emcee KA , Sonic Sum along with Rob Sonic, Fred Ones & Eric M.O. and TME PRO. Preservation has long operated as the touring DJ for both Yasiin Bey & KA and has produced music for Mach-Hommy , RZA, GZA , Raekwon, U-God , Sean Price, Roc Marciano , Ed O.G. KRS-One , Jean Grae, Aesop Rock , billy woods, and Your Old Droog . I can, personally, recall knowingly hearing Preservation 's work across the official 2013 re-worked companion to Mos Def 's The Ecstatic entitled The REcstatic ; although, Preservation previously contributed production work to Mighty Mos' 2006 album, True Magic , as well as the original aforementioned project, his "last" album as Mos Def , The Ecstatic (20...

"Three key steps to leading a rewarding and enriched life: (1) wake up, (2) be awesome, (3) LISTEN TO PRESERVATION ," as charismatically explained by Yasiin Bey FKA Mos Def himself. Preservation is, in fact, a native New York DJ and producer, as well as a photographer and cinematographer, who actively records and releases music and was formerly known as Dj Jun . Preservation used to run and operate New Jersey -based Cloud City Studios and currently runs his own label imprint, Mon Dieu Music , which prides itself on "presenting a variety of cross-genre projects." Preservation has been part of a variety of groups and crews, over the years, including Dr. Yen Lo with Brownsville emcee Ka , Sonic Sum with Rob Sonic, Fred Ones & Eric M.O. and T.M.E. PRO with Fred Ones & Omar Agurto . As many of you may already well now, Mos Def is my all-time favorite emcee and for many years (maybe, even still?) Preservation functioned as Mos' in-house/tourin...

Throw.sTones by Turkish Dcypha Turkish Dcypha is a producer and multi-genre DJ hailing from the UK , who co-owns a small boutique (or Indie ) record label called Dcypha Productions , which was founded by fellow producer Sway DaSafo around 2004 under Akon 's Konvict Muzik imprint. Turkish Dcypha has released a multitude of projects remixing and re-working the likes of Prince , Kanye, 2pac , Biggie, and JAY-DILLA ( Jay Z over J Dilla beats,) as well as his own instrumental music and original production work for Awate and Mr. Bigz . Turkish can count Yasiin Bey , DJ Premier, actor Idris Elba , and J Dilla's Estate amongst his famous fans; "Actually, I was listening to this kid Awate recently. You know him? He’s from Eritrea , I think, but now in London . It's produced by Turkish [Dcypha.] His beats are old school and very influenced by Dilla , Pete Rock , etc. I was super impressed..." Elba gushed within a 2014 taste-making interview with Noisey . I re...

"Dark bodies, bright crest, the kings grew nervous. A boy drew a gun, and then sold the portrait. And then used the cash to heat the stove at the palace. Soon. Very soon," Yasiin Bey & Ferrari Sheppard (collectively known as Dec. 99th ) wrote within a mysterious statement concerning the recent delay of their self-titled debut album; Dec. 99th —one of three final albums Bey has planned before his 2017 retirement from music and acting—was scheduled for a December 9th release exclusively on TIDAL , however, it never dropped, as expected and was finally unleashed earlier this week nearly two weeks late on December 21st. The Artist Formerly Known As Mos Def and writer turned producer Ferrari Sheppard have slowly been leaking out music as Dec. 99th for the past year or so... but I first remember seeing Sheppard's name attached to Yasiin Bey 's A Country Called Earth -released Electric Wire Hustle remix "Marigolds (Chaser)" back in Summer 2015 when ...

"No question! My objective for the song and why I named it "Bakkah" is because Bakkah refers to the Kaaba in Mecca , which is considered the "House of God," in a sense. In the song though, I'm referring to how people relate to one another as being our "house" that is faulty and shaky; barely standing, but nonetheless, is," Hamilton, Ontario, Canada emcee Emay (Mubarik Gyenne Adams) wrote within an emailed statement sent exclusively to The Witzard earlier today. "This new song, "Bakkah: The History of Humankind," was initially just a poem about humanity as a whole. When it began to rhyme, I basically just ran with it. It was also a great opportunity for me to experiment with my writing, as I was always self-conscious about using a more poetic/metaphorical style of writing, so with this track I allowed myself to get completely lost in that form," Adams continued. "Bakkah" stems from his long-rumored S...

Sacramento -based Noise-Rap band Death Grips have had a very tumultuous, to say the least, relationship with the media since their sudden 2010 inception, although the recently "disbanded" and reunited three-piece have been heralded as "the first truly important band of the 21st century;" having direct influence on The Thin White Duke's final album ★ (Blackstar) , Kanye 's Aggro-Rap masterpiece Yeezus , and even Travi$ Scott 's righteous T.I. & Kanye -assisted Rodeo . Death Grips' first post-"breakup" album, Bottomless Pit was unleashed Friday, May 6th at the stroke of midnight, amdist a weekend abuzz with new music and countless headlines from the likes of Radiohead , James Blake, Chance The Rapper , De La Soul, Homeboy Sandman , KAYTRANADA, and Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def . Bottomless Pit was preceded by eventual album tracks "Hot Head," Zane Lowe -debuted "Eh," and non-album "Interview 2016," althou...

I've recently been reading Shea Serrano 's phenomenal New York Times best-selling The Rap Yearbook (a Hanukkah present from my wonderful girlfriend), in which he evaluates, ranks, and proceeds to meticulously break down "the most important rap song" from every year between 1979-2014. I would honestly, be flat out lying, if I said it hasn't largely affected the way I look at Hip-Hop singles in the grand scheme of the genre as a whole over the past few weeks; with that said, I would even go as far as to claim that Kanye 's repeatedly upped, deleted, re-upped, deleted again, etc. double-header "Real Friends & No More Parties In LA" is quite arguably the most important Hip-Hop song of 2016. Its first 3/4's, "Real Friends," was collectively produced by Kanye, Frank Dukes, Boi-1da , and Mobb Deep co-founder Havoc and features a half-sung/rapped hook delivered by Ty Dolla $ign , while its latter 1/4 was hand-crafted by Stones T...

"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...

It seemed lie a pretty blatant, clear-cut call to arms to me when Brooklyn rapper-turned-actor-turned-stand-up comic Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def suddenly challenged any brave three-man posse up for the challenge to a battle rap-style cypher between himself, King Los , and Roots emcee Black Thought this past weekend; "me, Black Thought , and King Los vs. anybody e'erybody... battle anybody. [...] I'm tired of these dudes pretendin' like they dope. You alright, but relax. The dope n***as that think they dope — you ain't as dope as you think. You cool, but you ain't that deal. And we don't have to make no back-and-forth corny records about it." Although, for reasons unknown, Bey has since reneged his previously-incited battle rap challenge, which happened to fit right in, in light of Drake & Meek Mill 's recent well-publicized beef. He's more of less accusing YouTube user and apparent affiliate rrvid718 of uploading said call to arms vi...

"Last year on the Yeezus tour, someone gave Kanye West a single to listen to: It was "Experience," by Kacy Hill , a 20-year-old singer who happened to be one of his back-up dancers. Kanye met with Hill after his Atlantic City show, and immediately signed her to his label, G.O.O.D. Music ," NY Mag eloquently transcribed within their 'Top 10 New Female Musicians to See This Summer' featurette. While, as DJ Booth adversely points out, "Experience" was initially released back in December 2013 to little fanfare, only to be re-released on G.O.O.D. Music nearly a year later; "Experience" still remains Hill's lone Futuristic Indie Pop/R&B -reminiscent piece of work, although, now it's set to be included within her forthcoming proper debut, Bloo EP . Kacy Hill 's G.O.O.D. Music/Very G.O.O.D. Beats label-mates and arsenal of possible collaborators now includes the likes of talented industry-worn artists and producers su...

While he's remained relatively silent since releasing The Ecstatic (2009), Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey has seemingly completed his forthcoming G.O.O.D. Music "debut" while shacking up overseas. Bey has recently re-emerged from his self-imposed exile and decided to unleashed a pair of unexpected André 3000 -style features for A$AP Rocky 's At.Long.Last.A$AP as well as Eric Biddines and producer Paul White 's newly-minted Golden Ticket project. His latest presumably non-album loosie, "Marigolds" skillfully re-appropriates New Zealand -based Kiwi Funk-R&B duo Electric Wire Hustle 's 2009 self-titled album track, "Chaser." It's almost aesthetically reminiscent of Yasiin Bey 's long-aborted Top 40 Underdogs cover/freestyles initiative; wherein he boldly took on radio-friendly Kanye & Jay-Z , Lil' Wayne, and Chief Keef beats and ruthlessly flipped them on their heads. "Marigolds," on the other hand, was su...

Brooklyn veteran emcee Yasiin Bey , aka infrequent actor Dante Smith , recently "released" and 8-track video "collection" of expertly re-rapped MF DOOM covers, but BEYONDOOOM isn't exactly his first foray into Stones Throw -related material; Yasiin Bey 's 2009 album, The Ecstatic , his last record released under the Mos Def moniker, was essentially a loosely compiled Stones Throw beat tape. It's littered with cleverly re-purposed production work from the likes of Oh No , Madlib, J Dilla , Georgia Anne Muldrow, and MADVILLAIN : "Several Stones Throw artists and Stones Throw [released] instrumentals are included on Mos Def 's new album The Ecstatic , which will be released June [9th]," Stones Throw wrote in a detailed beat-oriented 2009 mini-press release. "Revelations," lifted from MADVILLAINY 2: The Madlib Remix album has very recently been used to score a 2-minute animated short created by Afrofuturism -centric graphic...

"With bluesy organs, descending basslines, and one of the slowest, hardest-swaggering beats we've heard in a good while, "Everyday" calls upon [Rod] Stewart 's classic number "In a Broken Dream," re-contextualizing it as a tale of modern ennui (read: boredom )," as okayplayer effectively describes A$AP Rocky 's latest At.Long.Last.A$AP (ALLA) single, "Everyday;" recorded with a very unlikely cast of magnificent characters... Rod Stewart , Miguel, "Uptown Funk" super-producer Mark Ronson , and co-producer Emile Haynie. When it comes to ridiculous left-field collaborations, "Everyday" falls somewhere in between The Fat Boys' utterly awesome Beach Boys -backed "Wipe Out" and Kid Cudi 's surprisingly smooth Michael Bolton & King Chip -assisted "Afterwards (Bring Yo' Friends)." Ronson ingeniously managed to convince R&B crooner Miguel to passionately sing: "Everyd...

"A great US Hip-Hop singer pays tribute to Daniel Dumile , better known as MF DOOM , an other[worldly] Hip-Hop artist, from the New York City underground scene. But who's behind the mask?" French Télévision network Culturebox wrote along with a series of seven cryptic YouTube videos quietly uploaded between December-February of last year. The mysterious masked wordsmith is eventually revealed to be Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def , who's likely the only person on planet Earth who can honestly say he's worked alongside Mark Wahlberg , Donald Sutherland, Jack Black , and MF DOOM. Culturebox 's BEYONDOOM EP-length playlist isn't exactly the first time Mos Def has expressed his fanboy-like admiration for DOOM ; a few years ago, he went as far as to "bet a million dollars on DOOM against Lil' Wayne " in a battle rap scenario, supposedly masqueraded as the Metal-Faced Villain after he cancelled a series of appearances initially billed as joint ...

There's nothing quite like aimlessly diggin' through a bunch of dusty old crates and cherry-picking one random record based on either an interesting cover, lone production credit, or even a stand-out track and then having it sound 10x more awesome than you [n]ever expected; Well, that's pretty much what Otis "Madlib" Jackson Jr. does for a living! He's recorded tracks with everyone from the late great J Dilla to Brazilian Funk drummer Ivan Conti and somehow unleashed 13 full-length albums between 2010-12. It must be hard for a seasoned rapper-producer like Madlib to constantly keep melding together inventive-sounding output. Attempting to delve into a largely untouched batch of source material, Madlib has bravely crafted Rock Konducta (Vol. 1) for an unspecified December release. He'll supposedly draw potential inspiration from "1960-70's Progressive Rock , African "Zam-rock," and other Funky forms of the Rock genre,...

The New Danger (2004), Mos Def 's STELLAR Hip-Hop/Blues Rock album recorded with Funky cats from Bad Brains, Living Colour , and a few other pioneering African-American Rock bands... has to be one of my favourite albums of ALL TIME! Dante Smith has always been a stylish, righteous, socially conscious rapper, ever since forming Black Star with like-minded friend-musician, Talib Kweli in the mid-90's. Mos Def recently pulled a "Cat Stevens," whole-heartedly converting to Islam , and changed his name to Yasiin Bey . "I Don't Like" is the third release that's been slow leaked from Top 40 Underdog , Bey's upcoming G.O.O.D. Music flip of Modern Radio staples. But don't get it twisted, this surely isn't Mos Def 's first rodeo; He managed to effortlessly re-work both Jay-Z/Kanye 's "The Takeover" and Grandmaster Flash 's "The Message" (1982) on The New Danger . Chief Keef, Lil' Wayne , and T...

Talib Kweli 's latest mixtape, Attack The Block is a loose [street] album that's loosely based around a British Sci-Fi Thriller of the same name (2011). Kweli does his best to bridge that gap, effectively re-appropriating film dialog for his intro track, "Attack The Block!!!" Talib Kweli has always been a fairly active, politically- conscious rapper ever since he first burst onto the scene with Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998). Surprisingly, Attack The Block was actually released a few weeks earlier than expected... on Sept. 3rd, Labor Day Weekend instead of Sept. 18th. Co-presented along with DJ Z-Trip , the mixtape really is a generous offering - 18 tracks deep, 6 solo Kweli raps. It looks like Talib Kweli has managed to rope in some serious favors and scored guest verses from Black Thought , Skyzoo, Das Racist , Lil' Wayne, Killer Mike , Posdnuos (De La Soul), Ryan Leslie , Mac Miller, and Ab-Soul ... In addition to production work fro...

Meticulously chopping and re-pasting samples pulled from Rene Costy , Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s , and Jacques Delon, "Fuck The Police" came out @ a pivotal time during J Dilla 's blossoming career... between his transition from Soulquarians producer to rapping emcee. Nearly 6 years after Dilla 's untimely passing, J.Rocc released a re-work of "F--- The Police" earlier this afternoon, which ends up cleanly editing down the track's lyrical content; Candidly stating via Soundcloud , "Here's a snippet of a little something that I was working on. Played this out a few times and it's CRACKIN' !!" While he adds that the full version of his "Police" (re-work) might never even see the light of day, J.Rocc is currently prepping the release of yet another edits collection: The Minimal Waves Tapes - Edits, Vol 1 & 2 . His semi-recent mixed genre album, Some Cold Rock Stuf and it's companion EP, Mystery Tracks ...

Mos Def is not merely a rapper, he's a fucking lyrical assassin! Born Dante Smith (1973) and formerly known as "Pretty Flaco," the man now replies to Yasiin Bey . Take it as a mid-career re-invention, of sorts for the seasoned rapper who's worked with everyone from The Black Keys - Gorillaz . In late 2010, Mos Def signed a record deal with Kanye West 's very own G.O.O.D. Music , but an album for his new label has yet to fully materialize. Yasiin Bey is currently working on a number of assorted projects: 5th solo album ( G.O.O.D. debut), Black Star Aretha with Talib Kweli , and Kanye 's label comp. - "Cruel Summer." My personal favourite Mos Def album is The New Danger , which was released in 2004... right around the time that I was first getting into Hip-Hop and forming my own unique "musical ear." It's essentially a Blues -inspired Hip-Hop album that was recorded with African American Punk musicians, Black Jack Johnson . In...