The Witzard

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DJ Ragz & Oddisee's Good Company DJ Unown Join Forces for Scrumptious Pasta & Wings Beat Tape (Common Good Records)


Last we heard from Los Angeles-based Common Good Records, they were gearing up to release Drtysoap's festive beat tape, MERRY CHRITHMITH and if you'll remember correctly, co-founder The Ologist AKA J.D. actually, sequenced and arranged Mitchell Kezin's Mitchell's 'SOUL SISTA' Holiday Mix for The Witzard. Following the releases of Te'Amir Sweeney's Tiger Breaks 7-inch and brother Tutu Sweeney's "Party In The Ghetto" B/W "Walking Forward" J.D.'s When Crates Create imprint folded and quickly joined forces with Jason McGuiness' LA-based Analog Burners to collectively, form Common Good Records. Now, Common Good Records are back with their first proper release of 2018: Unown & DJ Ragz's Pasta & Wings, described as "a concept project with a 90's era Hip-Hop instrumental vibe that finds Unown handling the beat duties on the MPC and DJ Ragz cutting up on the turntables." Pasta & Wings is currently available on cassette in get this... either Marinara Sauce Red, Alfredo Sauce White, or Two-Cassette Pack (Colors: Alfredo & Marinara) although, there are limited copies available—but have at it because I already got my Marinara Red tape! Pasta & Wings is currently available for pre-order from Common Good Records. However, tomorrow, Tuesday, March 20th, Pasta & Wings will become available on Amazon Music, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Spotify, and like-minded digital retailers. 🍝 🍗


DJ Ragz is a world-class DJ and producer, who has issued a number of beat tapes, battle records, and solo releases, dating as far back as far back as the early 90's, with his most recent being his Inside The Crates mixtape on now-defunct When Crates Create. Unown, on the other hand, is a DC-based DJ, engineer, and producer "currently traveling the world and rocking stages on the MPC as part of Oddissee's band, Good Company." Both men are long-time members of DC-rooted Hip-Hop crew Jazz Addixx, along with MC MUDD, who have worked with K-Murdock, Oddisee, Primo The Cinematic, and stmic. Prior to Pasta & Wings, Unown (then, 'The Unown') & DJ Ragz released a 2009 album together entitled DC Airways. For Pasta & Wings, DJ Ragz recently told me, via Instagram Messenger, he and Unown adopted an entirely new recording style, wherein he "recorded doing passes over the whole track, cutting, repeating samples, adding effects live in layers, [etc.] Then, Unown would keep the parts he wanted in and Delete the rest." Essentially, DJ Ragz didn't know what the final mix of Pasta & Wings would sound like, until Unown finished his parts, as well. "We're excited to let everyone know, we're gonna make a lot of these things," DJ Ragz exclaimed, making reference to their similarly-minded food-themed endeavors to be released on Common Good Records.