Mister Wise of the Lower Life Forms Unboxes “The Whole Universe is Ours” Vinyl and CD Album

Depth Charge Studios in collaboration with Back 2 Da Source Records, is proud to announce the release of the Lower Life Forms “The Whole Universe Ours” album on limited edition vinyl and compact disc.

After the release of the Lower Life Forms debut 12 inch single, “Open Invitation/ Independence Day” in March of 1997 on Depth Charge Recordings, the Lower Life Forms planned to release the full album in August of that year, but the project was tabled to push singles with their crew, Team Demolition, as well as other Team Demo produced projects. The 12 inch single became a collector’s item but the album never made it outside the crew’s inner circle. Now this limited pressing is available to 90s underground hip hop enthusiasts. The album can also be streamed on all major platforms.

Here, Mister Wise (aka Zechariah Wise) unboxes his personal copies and holds the physical vinyl album for the first time.

We have been notified by the label that this album is completely sold out. Depth Charge does not offer physical copies in our store, but the album is available for digital download and can be streamed on all major platforms

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Nerds in Luxury Gets Quarantined

The Nerds in Luxury Podcast is hunkered down.  Veronica Zee and Mister Wise are podcasting their way through the pandemic, and while Sosa, Ceedro and Montaego aren’t in the studio, they are each joining remotely to provide their insights and observations.  Let’s share a few laughs and some digital hugs. Subscribe for free on your favorite platform.  Visit NerdsInLuxury.Com for more details.

Video: “The Man of Orange” by Mister Wise

This is a PSA from Team Demo’s, Mister Wise. We make no copyright claims to any of the images in this video.

Nerds in Luxury Podcast: Episode 5

Episode 5 is now live on NerdsInLuxury.com and you can subscribe to it on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play. It’s free entertainment! Have some fun with us.

We’re taking next week off for the holiday. Please recommend the podcast to your family members over your dinner of beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, lamb, rams, hogs, dogs, beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, chicken, turkey, rabbit YOU NAME IT!

The Podcast! Episode V 

 A Piss Poor Example of an Interracial Relationship, Dave Chappelle on SNL, “The African-Americans”, Starbucks: The Centre of American Politics, That Safety Pin Means Nothing

Also, Word of the Day! with Ceedro, Situations with Sosa, Moments with Montaego

The Not So Great Communicator

Donald Trump’s lack of eloquence and thin vocabulary have been well documented. His off the cuff speaking style combined with his minimal command of the English language, often create a word salad that is a nightmare for a journalist to quote; and it leaves those consuming it with the difficult task of attempting to find the ACTUAL meaning behind his utterances. In my many conversations with his supporters, I have often quoted some of the outrageous things he has said, only to receive a response of, or similar to, “well, that’s not what he meant,” or “it was a poor choice of words.” I have tried to find out exactly how these individuals discovered Trump’s “true meanings” behind his statements, but no one has revealed this magic to me, and it is clear that Trump’s inability to properly articulate his thoughts and positions has less to do with a poor choice of words and much more with just not having that many choices.

Trump seems to only have access to a handful of adjectives. He has one small pile of words for good things, and one pile for the bad. His go-to bad words are often “terrible” or “awful.” Sometimes, he keeps it REALLY simple and just uses words like, “bad” or “sad.” His good words are loaded with hyperbolic exaggeration – words such as “huge” and “amazing” are often thrown around for anything but. On Sunday, he stated that “incredible meetings” would be bringing “incredible people” to the government. It reads like it was uttered by a person still grappling with English as a second language.

The definition of incredible is: impossible or extremely difficult to believe. Is it possible that Donald Trump is in disbelief with how well his meetings went? Did he have difficulty believing that people like Mitt Romney and Rick Perry actually exist? Is there no one on Trump’s transition team who can slip him a few more positive adjectives that he could use to impart a little nuance and recognition of the seriousness of the task he is presently undertaking? Is there no one on Trump’s transition team who can whisper in Trump’s ear that the word “incredible” is less suited for describing a routine meeting and more for a one-handed catch while falling out of bounds in a football game or better yet, a firefighter racing into a burning building to save the life of an infant child?

Ronald Reagan was known as “the great communicator.” Donald Trump is a verbal weakling who is about to take a job where every single one of his poorly chosen and limited words will be parsed and interpreted by people, governments and markets all over the world. Perhaps the most important hires Donald Trump will make during this transition, will be his speech writers. They will have the monstrous task of polishing this turd every single day, all the while knowing that they could prepare the perfect script, but the ego of the performer could rip it to pieces in front of the entire world. I can foresee many scenarios where Donald Trump’s lack of eloquence will be front and center. Some are amusing. Some are embarrassing. Some are downright terrifying.

While I’m certain Trump’s meetings this past weekend were far from, “incredible,” I have no issue using that word to describe his rise to power and the level of stupidity, hubris and insecurity we saw from him in the first week of his transition. It is common for the White House to employ foreign language interpreters. Perhaps for this president, they should consider one for English.

New Single: “The Asylum” by Mister Wise

Turn off the 24 hour news networks for a few minutes and listen to “The Asylum,” by Mister Wise

Team Demo founder and super-producer/ engineer, Mister Wise returns with witty commentary on the state of journalism and mass media over a swinging jazzy groove.

Try to Imagine…

I am white. My wife is black. I have black in-laws, black nephews, black nieces and black cousins. I quietly fear for them every day. I’ve seen FIRST HAND how drastically different an encounter with police can be when I am in the company of black people, versus by myself or with other white people. I’ve been pulled out of a car with my black friends and asked if I was there, “against my will.” I’ve had officers look me in the face and say, “so you think you’re black huh?” As a teenager, I was pulled over while with my black friends and photographed and strip searched next to our car because they said we “looked like gang members.” I’ve had an officer go through my bag, find my lyric book and then demand that I rap for him – “you’re a rapper so rap for me!” I’ve felt the fear, anger and humiliation. For all I know, me being white and being present in those situations may have been the only reason things didn’t turn out much worse for my companions.

Later in life, I moved to a jurisdiction with a well-respected, well-funded, well-trained and professional police department; and for the most part, my encounters with those officers have been very positive (although they did have my studio under surveillance for quite some time until one day they entered my premises without a warrant and discovered it was operated by a white guy with a business license and a firm understanding of the law. No problems since.)

I say all of that to say this…

If you are white, try to imagine being rightfully told all your life by the people you love, that the people supposedly there to protect you, could very well be a threat to you. Imagine hearing the stories of police brutality from friends, family, parents and grandparents. Imagine being told that it doesn’t matter if you did anything wrong. Imagine being expected, without training or experience in such matters, to behave and manage an encounter BETTER than those confronting you who have been trained to do so. Imagine “the talk” – not the one you got about the birds and bees, but the one about what you should do when you run into a prejudiced hothead wearing a badge and gun with an axe to grind. Try to imagine this in your culture. Try to imagine seeing the police as an occupying force in your community as opposed to “heroes” and “first responders.” This is the reality in places all across the United States.

I am a rational, reasonable man with an above average IQ. When I try to imagine getting THAT phone call from one of my family members… When I try to imagine the total grief and unabashed anger I would have towards the police officers who decided it was better to shoot and kill my loved one rather than respect his or her life and liberty as they do their own, I literally shudder. It would take every fiber within my rational mind to restrain myself from picking up my pistol and heading out to find the sons of bitches who murdered my family member. I’m not sure I would be capable of restraining myself.

So as we all watch the footage of yet another unarmed father, gunned down for apparently no other reason than looking “scary,” resist the urge to defend the police from your place of privilege. Resist the urge to tell us that “all lives matter” in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Just shut the fuck up, close your eyes, and try to imagine. Try to imagine you got that phone call. Try to imagine you just watched someone you love get shot to death on Facebook. Try to imagine the people who did it are now being paid to sit at home for a while. Then try to imagine countless people who know NOTHING of the experiences I outlined above, playing Monday morning quarterback with the murder of your family member. Still want to weigh in? I hope not. #blacklivesmatter

New Single: “If They Don’t Hear Us Now” Available Now!

When he isn’t producing head knodding hip hop with his crew Team Demo (50 Cent, Sean Price, Obie Trice etc.,) or recording, mixing and mastering for countless artists at Depth Charge Studios, Mister Wise is busy making uniquely creative records as a soloist. His latest single, “If They Don’t Hear Us Now,” fuses rock, reggae and hip hop into a call to arms against the greed and corruption of the rich and powerful.

Check Out Previous Releases from Mister Wise such as “I Can’t Figure You Out,” from his 2013 EP, “The Way of the Doh Doh.”

And his 2010 LP, “The Mister Wise Album,” featuring “Whisper Back.”

Video: Sketch McGuiney F/ Sean Price & Ras Kass “World War Z”

Source: Video: Sketch McGuiney F/ Sean Price & Ras Kass “World War Z”

 

I Only Have But So Many Fucks…

My wife gets the vast majority of my fucks and I get the vast majority of hers (bada bing.)  That’s what marriage is. After that, my dog Wellington gets a bunch of fucks (maybe more than some people think a dog should.) I spend more time with Wellington than any human so if you need help committing suicide, fuck with my dog and I will handle that for you.

 

Then, I’ve got a robust chunk of fucks for my family. (Mom, Dad, three sisters, in-laws, nephews.) I have one grandparent left and he’s in his 90s. I give a fuck for him but he probably thinks I paid too much for it.  I’ve got some extended family as well (Uncles, Aunts, Cousins etc.) Each of them get various amounts of fucks and there are one or two to whom I have given fucks that I wish I could get back.

 

I also have a portion of fucks set aside for my CLOSEST FRIENDS.  This is a very short list.  Less than five people are on it. These are people with whom I am incredibly close: kindred spirits and shared minds of sorts.  These people know who they are.  There are certainly a few people who think they are in this group who are not.  Perhaps they assumed that because I am in their “special” group, they would somehow automatically be in mine.  There’s no reason for them to be offended. That’s just what happens when one has so few fucks. Instead, those other individuals all split the first of my last two fucks.  This fuck is divided up according to many factors but I can tell you, there are people walking around who have exactly 1% of one of my fucks.

 

After that, I only have one fuck left.  I call it my “revolving fuck”. It is definitely my busiest fuck because it moves constantly to which ever acquaintance, colleague or client I happen to be dealing with at any given moment.  The intensity of this fuck is often directly proportional to the amount of compensation I will be receiving for it.  Yes that’s right… This is the fuck that is for sale and it is the only one I have that is.
So you see, I only have so many fucks and I don’t have any to spare.  I guess I could re-allocate some fucks in any of the above groups, but I would have to give a fuck to do that and as I’ve clearly stated, I have none left.  I believe that is known as a paradox- “a paradox of fucks.” Fuck that.