The Witzard

Foliage is the latest seven-track mixtape from White Plains, New York emcee, producer, music journalist, and children's book author Stan Ipcus. It's the proper follow-up to his Spotify-only exclusive release aptly titled White Label . Actually, Foliage boasts two of the same tracks as White Label with "Grizzly" and "Cream." Ipcus expalins Foliage is "a dedication to the most beautiful time of the year in The 914 and a nod to the trees. Memories of summer, change, nostalgia, new school energy, lush landscapes, fall flavors, crisp breezes, and bright colors that eventually turn dark." Along with "Grizzly" and "Cream," "Pumpkin Cheesecake" has been previously released, as well. So, that leaves "Bust The Way I Flip It," "Tummy Time," "Ganja," and "Gifted" as the four brand new new tracks on Foliage. Foliage by Stan Ipcus Stan Ipcus himself produced "Grizzly," "B...

Sometimes, you need to look to the past as much as the future. The Overview Effect by emcee-producer duo Jermiside & The Expert is a vast musical collage of Psychedelic soundscapes merged together with Hip-Hop's golden age. A socially conscious Psychedelic Hip-Hop album equally inspired by Marvin Gaye's narrative on What's Going On (1971) mixed with tripped out beats reminiscent of Edan's Beauty & The Beat (2005.) The production on The Overview Effect takes on late 60's Psychedelic Folk/Rock, viewed through a 90's B-boy mentality of heavy drums and dope breaks. Built with a keen ear for detail, Dublin-based beatsmith The Expert densely layered his productions with tons of samples, seamlessly weaved together; swirling strings, sitars, Moog synthesizers, and crunchy guitars are all inter-woven and present together here, accompanied and embellished by trippy sound effects. "In terms of song-writing, very few songs on this record have a "classi...

Fireside Chats Cassette Tape Art/Prints By: Ethan D'Ercole Chicago-based artist Jason Griff (sometimes, just "Griff") has become a heavyweight in Indie Hip-Hop in recent years. Griff is part of an Underground Hip-Hop network that spans from Chicago to Philly and likely even farther. Griff has produced music for the likes of Zilla Rocca, Scorcese Lorde Jones, Alex Ludovico, My Man Shafe, and Curly Castro. Within recent years, Griff co-founded a label imprint dubbed Insubordinate Records along with Alex Ludovico and Scorces Lorde Jones (may he rest in peace) to release both collabrative and solo efforts from each. Griff's most recent album is a primarily Punk/Hardcore-sampling affair, Fireside Chats, which references iconic Chicago venue, The Fireside Bowl. It features collaborations with emcees Alex Ludovico, Juganaut, ALASKA, defcee, Moecyrus, Scorcese, billy woods, Curly Castro, Zilla Rocca, ialive, PremRock, and SKECH185. Fireside Chats by Jason Griff I. Wh...

Q: Is Disco Vietnam a A. producer, B. band, or C. All of The Above? A: C. All of The Above. Disco Vitenam's Bandcamp page explains, Disco Vietnam is a Rock "N" Roll band and Hip-Hop instrumentalist from Huntington, NY. All songs by Barry & Kenny Schwartz, brothers united by blood. All beats by Barry." It appears as though Barry (@SupernovaLox) currently lives in New York and Kenny (@MadDrums) hails from somewhere in-between Los Angeles & Texas. As a two-man unit, Disco Vietnam released three EP's between 2007-12 with awesomely-titled Get At Me Corruption, Totally Awesome Decisions, and Fear of Lava. Across said recordings, The Brothers Schwartz were oftentimes assisted by bassist Jared Winzelberg, keyboardist/backing vocalist Nicki Winzelberg, and bassists Keith Allen, Tom Cumming, and Ryan Siegel. Then, as a one-man unit, Disco Vietnam has produced tracks for emcees Zilla Rocca, Dick Wolf, Curly Castro, Gods Know AKA Scorcese Shells & Alpha Da...

Back in 2019, Los Angeles emcee Alex Ludovico continued his ongoing #MedicineMondays weekly singles series and last year, he did something similar with #RewindWednesdays. His Bandcamp page explains, "Drugs, sex, and Hip-Hop. Alex Ludovico, born in Gary, IN and created in Chicago, is the living embodiment of that credo." One of our personal favorite moments from 2019's #MedicineMondays roll-out was Ludovico's collaborative EP with fellow Chicagoan Jason Griff entitled Scarf Tissue. Upon returning from our honeymoon to Italy, we immediately linked up with Griff & Alex Ludovico, via email, to talk about their phenomenal Scarf Tissue EP. They were kind enough to help us assemble a comprehensive track-by-track (All-around) Breakdown for Scarf Tissue. Not long after, following a string of one-off singles, Alex Ludovico & Jason Griff returned with the first proper EP of #RewindWednesdays, THE RED MAN IS HERE. RUN. For THE RED MAN IS HERE. RUN. We got a chance to ...

So, The Witzard regulars may recognize the artwork/overall style displayed above to be that of one Patrick "Pat" Quinn AKA Pecue Design or simply, Pecue . Quinn previously designed the "top-billing" movie poster-sized feature artwork for our Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique 30th Anniversary All-around Breakdown (PB30) last year. Basically, I just gave Pecue the idea to take inspiration from one of my personal favorite Beasties lyrics, "I'mma Die Harder... like my kid, Bruce Willis!" and he just ran with it, incorporating elements from the Paul's Boutique cover, the iconic Capitol Records Building , Willis' beloved character John McClane , and, of course, the Beastie Boys themselves. Not only is Pecue a Philadelphia/South Florida-based designer, but he's, also, a producer in his own right; having released a slew of instrumentals, remixes, and the like on his own Bandcamp page, as well as on his newly-minted imprint, Sole Imperial ,...

As many of you may know, this past Friday was Bandcamp Friday, wherein Bandcamp decide to waive their artist fees, graciously giving artists 100% of their profits accrued over a 24-hour period. My wife and I had a baby appointment on Friday, but I posted a comprehensive Twitter THREAD containing noteworthy new releases. Plus, I personally supported nine different artists spending $40 in total on Friday alone. This was the second time Bandcamp has done such Bandcamp Fridays events amidst these uncertain time and I hear, there are already plans to do another one in June. So, even though this month's Bandcamp Friday has already passed, your favorite Indie/underground artists could still use you support! We've decided to run a couple features spotlighting some of our favorite artists, albums, EP's, mixtapes, genres, etc. right here on The Witzard! We're calling it Best of Bandcamp and this inaugural edition will spotlight Bandcamp-only beat tapes released in recent weeks...

Since the start of Nation-wide self-quarantines about a month ago, Bronx, New York producer and multi-instrumentalist Ray West has been steadily recording and self-releasing projects on his imprint, RED APPLES 45 . For Week #1, RED APPLES treated terribly unsuspecting fans/onlookers to West's WALTER PPK EP , an Instrumental Hip-Hop split with fellow producer Giallo Point . A week later, saw the release of STRESS RELIEF , which features Dynamix emcee Junclassic alongside Ray West across a Name-Your-Price 5-track EP. Week #3 marked the surprise-release of Ray West & Eloh Kush 's IMPETUS EP featuring guest emcees Glorious , John Robinson, ID4Windz , and Jahbaton. We've been playing close attention and intently listening to April's RED APPLES 45 releases... although, we have to admit, Week #4's teased drop definitely intrigued us the most: this past Friday, April 16, 2020, saw the release of West's Rowhouse Whispers . For this latest release, Ray West re...

Last year, Los Angeles emcee Alex Ludovico continued his ongoing #MedicineMondays weekly singles series and this year, he's doing something similar with #RewindWednesdays. His Bandcamp page explains, "Drugs, sex, and Hip-Hop. Alex Ludovico, born in Gary, IN and created in Chicago, is the living embodiment of that credo." One of our personal favorite moments from 2019's #MedicineMondays roll-out was Ludovico's collaborative EP with fellow Chicagoan Jason Griff entitled SCARF TISSUE. Upon returning from our honeymoon to Italy, we immediately linked up with Griff & Alex Ludovico, via email, to talk about their phenomenal SCARF TISSUE EP. They were kind enough to help us assemble a comprehensive track-by-track (All-around) Breakdown for SCARF TISSUE. Now, following a string of one-off singles, Alex Ludovico & Jason Griff have returned with the first proper EP of #RewindWednesdays, THE RED MAN IS HERE. RUN. For THE RED MAN IS HERE. RUN. Griff & Alex Lu...

William J. Sullivan is a producer, engineer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist now based out of Los Angeles, but originally hailing from Philly. He's released music, over the years, on his own label, Wreckin' Joint Productions , as/with Architects of A Broken Design , Memo, Priesticide , and Upon Creation, as well as under his own. We first heard about William J. Sullivan when he produced "Make The Sickness, Sell The Cure" from Zilla Rocca 's phenomenal 2019 album, Future Former Rapper . Sullivan's Discogs page additionally lists Technical (Engineering) work on The Harlem Experiment 's 2007 self-titled album, Leilolai, Zilla Rocca & The Shadow Boxers' No Vacation for Murder , Kanye West's The Life of Pablo , "Champions" with Gucci Mane, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Travi$ Scott, Yo Gotti, Quavo & Desiigner, ye , and Kids See Ghosts with Kid Cudi, and ScHoolboy Q 's Blank Face LP . Architects of A Broken Design is a Metal/Hardco...

Monday morning, self-described "Rap singer, song-writer, beat-maker, and pal" Donovan "ialive" Phillips quietly announced he'll be releasing his fourth (fifth?) solo studio album, I'LL WAIT FOREVER , later this month. It will be his fourth consecutive release with Baltimore-based Cold Rhymes Records run and operated by Dan "Height" Keech & MISTER AKA Cool Guy Bry . We first heard about ialive through an interview posted by John "Jumbled" Bachman on his blog a few years back with both Donnie & Darko The Super , together, billed as The Hellhole Store . ialive 's Height Keech -produced TIMEWAVE ZERO (2017) and self-produced follow-up, DON'T DO NOTHING (2019) were, easily, two of our favorite Hip-Hop albums of the last few years. I'LL WAIT FOREVER is the direct follow-up to ialive 's Odds & Ends-style 2019 EP, ODD ORTS , which boasts remixes from both Juan Cosby & Unsung. Now, it appears as though this...

Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint by Griff/Scorcese Dream Team: A Stokely Hathaway Joint is a project that's long been in-the-works from Chicago-based producer Jason Griff and Philly emcee Scorcese Lorde Jones , here, known together as Griff/Scorcese . Dream Team... was originally pitched as a mixtape in celebration of the independent wrestling circuit, as well as Hathaway's unique, Hip-Hop indebted approach to the artform. However, it eventually evolved into a full-fledged album based around the ideals and inspiration of the esteemed 1996 Source Award Winner, publicist, and manager, Stokely Hathaway —now signed to WWE/NXT as Malcolm Bivens . Dream Team... is entirely produced by Jason Griff (Alex Ludovico, Zilla Rocca) and primarily performed by Scorcese Lorde Jones AKA Scorcese FKA Scorcese Shells (2-Man Power Trip... Gods Know) with cinematic interludes and embellishments from Stokely Hathaway AKA Malcolm Bivens himself. Dream Team... is, indeed, Wrestle/Wra...

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...

Summer Courses EP by Defcee and knowsthetime Since we first heard about Adam "Defcee" Levin on "Angel Dust (Leak Brothers 2)" from Career Crooks AKA Zilla Rocca & Small Professor's 2017 URBNET debut, Good Luck with That, the Chicago-based emcee has released two phenomenal projects: A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. 1 on Machine Wash Music and SUNDAY, NO.1 EP as Hip-Hop super-group defprez with CRASHprez & knowsthetime . Now, Defcee has returned with his second proper release of 2019, Summer Courses EP fully recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by defprez 's knowsthetime , who, also, designed the EP's cover art. Summer Courses consists of five separate "courses," each sporadically sub-titled "Summer... '07-18," which feature a variety of guest emcees including RTystic , Zilla Rocca, CRASHprez , greenSLLIME, Benjamin Earl Turner , Speedy Calhoun (TeamSkighWalkers,) and FrshWaters . Much like most of Defcee 's ...

"The new Wu-Tang EP is kind of boring. So, in response, I made my own "Wu-Tang EP" with all of their collabs/remixes with Madlib, who has surpassed RZA ten-fold: Wu-Tang Clan x Madlib - The Wu Digger ... Madlib is what you get, if RZA just keep sitting in a room full of records from '95 until today. "And Madlib is who RZA would have been, if he could just learn instruments when he felt like it," Small Professor (@smallpro)... On some real sh*t, Madlib's remix of "Black Boy" by [Cappadonna] is better than almost any [Wu-Tang Clan] track this decade by any Wu member. These guys have access to any producer on the planet and act like Madlib or Alchemist don't exist." - Zilla Rocca (@ZillaRocca) Wu-Tang Clan & Madlib - The Wu Digger Playlist/EP (Tracklist) 01. Cappadonna - "Black Boy" (Madlib Remix) from Madlib Medicine Show #12: Raw Medicine [2011] 02. Method Man - "Uh Huh" (Madlib Remix) from MIND FUSION ...

"Hathaway comes to the Performance Center after a successful tenure as a manager and a wrestler on the indies. Although, trained for the ring, Hathaway gained a reputation in recent years for wheeling-and-dealing on behalf of other wrestlers. The notoriously outspoken Hathaway has represented clients in several promotions throughout The US, from EVOLVE Wrestling to the New England-based Beyond Wrestling. He hails from New York City," reads a recent WWE Performance Center press statement. They're, of course, talking about Independent wrestler and manager Stokely Hathaway, who recently signed a deal with WWE NXT/Performance Center. Hathaway has previously wrestled and managed talent for EVOLVE Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling, Ring of Honor, and Major League Wrestling (MLW) and has gone by a variety stage names, including Chuck Taylor, Ramon, and most recently, Court Moore for NXT. Stokely is the self-proclaimed 1996 Source Awards Winner & Former Editor of XXL Magazine. ...