Brother Ali Covers Eyedea & Abilities' "Smile" (Video)

Brother Ali recently performed at Earlham College in Indiana where he paid homage to his friend and the late Rhymesayers rapper Eyedea by coving "Smile." C-Rayz Walz joined Ali on stage to freestyle as well. Beautiful moment from the Rhymesayers family. Rest in peace Eyedea.

[via 2DopeBoyz]

Eyedea & Abilities: "This Story" (Video)

Eyedea and Abilities came through Madison last month to perform at the High Noon Saloon. Here is some footage of "This Story," off their new album By The Throat.

Eyedea & Abilities: "Spin Cycle" (Live in San Francisco)

Eyedea and Abilities played at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco recently and Always Hustle was able to capture some footage. Unfortunately, there were some serious microphone issues, which made it more difficult to catch all of Eyedea's lyrics. I'm still excited to see the duo when they come through Madison next weekend. Also, more videos ("Glass," "Paradise," "This Story") can be seen at the Always Hustle blog

Eyedea & Abilities: "Burn Fetish" (Dosh Remix) + Dosh: "Subtractions"

Minneapolis' own Dosh is releasing his upcoming album Tommy on Anticon records. "Subtractions" is the lead single off that project. Peace to Sound Verite.

He also put forth a remix of Eyedea & Abilities' "Burn Fetish," which I snagged from RSE Radio.

Dosh: "Subtractions"

Eyedea & Abilities: "Burn Fetish" (Dosh Remix)

Eyedea & Abilities To Tour North America

E&A will be hitting the road later this month to embark on a North American tour in support of their recent comeback release By The Throat. The duo has always been known for their live shows. Eyedea always delivers an unorthodox, quirky performance, while DJ Abilities is the constant of the group, awing fans with his unmatched turntable skills. Rhymesayers artists' tours have recently been putting Madison, WI at the tail end of every tour. I'll surely be at that show.

Tour Dates:
1/28 - Duluth, MN - Pizza Luce
1/29 - Minneapolis, MN - Augsburg College
1/31 - Missoula, MT - The Palace
2/1 - Spokane, WA - The Blvd
2/2 - Calgary, AB - Republik
2/3 - Edmonton, AB - The Brixx Bar and Grill
2/5 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore Cabaret
2/6 - Seattle, WA - Nectar Lounge
2/7 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
2/8 - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
2/10 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
2/11 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
2/12 - Scottsdale, AZ - Chasers
2/13 - Flagstaff, AZ - Green Room
2/15 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
2/16 - Denver, CO - The Marquis Theatre
2/18 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon
2/19 - St. Louis, MO - Firebird
2/20 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon

Eyedea & Abilities: "Smile" (Music Video)

Keeping things Rhymesayers related, here is the music video for "Smile," my personal favorite song off of Eyedea & Abilities' By The Throat.

Eyedea & Abilities: Hands On 'By The Throat' Vinyl Album

My ex-roommate recently got a record player and we've been bumping old vinyl records pretty frequently. Lots of goodies: Marvin Gaye, MJ, Beach Boys, Run DMC, and more. Vinyl is a really underrated music medium that I'm glad to see is making a comeback lately. Such a good investment. I also appreciate how Rhymesayers helps contribute to the vinyl movement, they almost always make the extra effort for their fans. Here's a look at what you're getting if you purchase By The Throat on vinyl.

Eyedea & Abilities: "Junk" (Music Video)

This is the first music video for E&A's By The Throat, which is in stores now.

Eyedea & Abilities: "Spin Cycle" (Video)

Eyedea & Abilities performing "Spin Cycle" live on The Local Show from 89.3 The Current.

Eyedea & Abilities: "Sky Diver" (Live)

E&A's new album, By The Throat, is available now. Go get it.

Eyedea & Abilities: "Burn Fetish" (Live)

By The Throat in stores on Tuesday, July 21.

Eyedea & Abilities: "Spin Cycle" (Live)

Via Rhymesayers:

On June 13th Eyedea & Abilities performed their new album By The Throat, which drops 07.21.09, for an intimate audience at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, MN. Each song was prefaced with a short story or an explanation about that song. Michael Gaughan, the artist responsible for the album artwork, did a watercolor painting of the duo while they performed. "Spin Cycle" is the first video in this series so stay tuned. More videos to come!

Eyedea & Abilities: "Glass" (Live at Grand Old Days)

Shoot First Pro got some high quality footage of Eyedea & Abilities performing "Glass," from their E&A album, at this year's Grand Old Days festival in St. Paul. Eyedea is easily the quirkiest live rapper out. The group's first album in about five years, By The Throat, will be in stores on July 21. Shouts to Kevin, who put me on to this video.

Soundset 2009 Recap (Photos)

You already know just about everything I'm about to say. Soundset 2009 was incredible. Great performances from (most of) the artists. Got quite sunburned. Legs felt like cooked spaghetti by the end of the day. And so on.

I opted not to get a press pass, and spent the entire day in the thick of the crowd watching the shows on the main stage. My biggest regret is not seeing a couple of sets on the Fifth Element side stage – mainly One Be Lo, Unknown Prohpets and Cunninlynguists, as those are the main acts I had never seen before. However I also regret not catching Sims, Blue Scholars and Heiruspecs, who are all great live. The reason for me not catching those shows is that during P.O.S.'s lively set, in a moment of pure serendipity, my friends and I ended up getting pushed to literally the front row. Although in retrospect, Sage Francis, El-P, and much to my dismay, DOOM, were all arguably "skippable" performances, we decided it was in our best interests to not sacrifice our great crowd position to see the shows on the side stage. While, I was up there, I tried snapping a few "point and shoot" photos with my low budget camera. I'm no professional, but they ended up half decent. If you want to see some great photo coverage of the day, though, go to Jules Ammel Visuals or the Rhymesayers Flickr. I'll leave you with a few thoughts I had about Soundset 2009, as well as my photos.

• Toki Wright was one of the better pure performers of the day. He reallys pours his heart out in his shows: jumping and dancing around, using the entire stage, working the crowd, etc. Great stuff. If only the fans were more familiar with his songs.
• As per usual, DJ Abilities was the true star during E&A's set. While Eyedea gets a little quirky during live shows, Abilities spent a solid five minutes amazing everyone with his technical prowess on the wheels of steel. The guy nevers slips up.
• Speaking of never slipping up, Mr. Dibbs absolutely put it the fuck down during his turntable sting during El-P's set.
  
• P.O.S. may be on the verge of breaking through the Rhymesayers ranks, approaching Slug and Brother Ali's levels of stardom. Maybe.
• Sage Francis seemed to be legitimately enjoying himself up there.
• In the biggest disappointment of the day, DOOM's set was pretty terrible. First off, 75% of the crowd didn't seem familiair with DOOM's Rock The Bells scandal last summer, and thus didn't understand his whole imposter joke. DOOM's hype man was overbearing and annoying. The sound was all distorted, and the bass was overbearing, making it impossible to decipher his lyrics unless you truly knew them word-for-word. He seemed unconcerned with hammering home a truly special performance, and more worried about getting his set over with and getting back in his SUV. Because his set was one of my top three most anticipated of the day, I couldn't have been more let down.
• Why the fuck did Freeway and Jake One not play a one of their songs from White Van Music. It was the perfect opportunity to bring out Brother Ali for "The Truth," and he didn't even do "How We Ride!" Although I still loved Freeway's set, that was discouraging.
• I loved Brother Ali's quote: "Jay-Z put of Freeway's first album, 50 Cent put out his second album, and Rhymesayers is putting out his third album." Although it's technically going to be his fourth, Rhymesayers have established themselves as indie heavyweights in this rap game.
• One of my top three songs of the day happened when Slug came out during Ali's set and they did "The Believer."
  
• The Pharcyde were the opposite of DOOM, and were one of the biggest highlights of the day. Great show. Great.
• I've seen Atmosphere perform about six or seven times, on multiple continents, and I can now say this confidently: No one, with the exception of Jay-Z, can control a crowd better than Slug. It may be because Atmosphere's audience is incredibly loyal, and it may seem like that because I was watching an Atmosphere concert in Minnesota, of all places. But, Slug had 15,000 hands in the air waving side to side, and probably every other person in the crowd knew at least some of the lyrics, if not most. And I saw him do the exact same thing in London. Slug can officially rock a show with the best of them.
  

Eyedea & Abilities: "This Story" (Live at Soundset 2009)

E&A were super live today. Amazing show, and great festival from Rhymesayers.

Eyedea and Abilities Announce New Album, Titled 'By The Throat'

I must say I was very excited to get this email from Rhymesayers Entertainment:

A duo thoroughly steeped in hip-hop accolades, the Minnesota-based duo Eyedea and Abilities have returned with their brand new album By The Throat, out July 21st on Rhymesayers Entertainment. Their first album since the breakout 2004 release E&A, By The Throat's songs range from intensely personal topics to the more esoteric (quantum mechanics). The end result is leaps and bounds beyond what MC Eyedea is perhaps best known for, his prowess as a battle rapper (winner of HBO's Blaze Battle, Scribble Jam and several others). DJ Abilities, also a well-known battle vet and contributor to El-P's now-classic Fantastic Damage, adds heavily to the sonic soundscape of this album, which advances beyond boom-bap hip-hop into rock-fueled guitar riffs, gritty production and melodic songwriting.

Eyedea and Abilities were instrumental in the wave of independent hip-hop that includes Atmosphere, El-P, Aesop Rock, Living Legends and several other seminal acts. By The Throat is their most progressive and refined effort to date.

E & A will be performing at Rhymesayers' Soundset '09 on May 24th and will be headlining a tour in the fall of 2009. They have also been confirmed for the following Rock the Bells dates this summer.

06.27 - Chicago, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
06.28 - Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
07.05 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheater
07.12 - Washington DC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
07.18 - Boston, MA @ Comcast Center |
07.19 - New York, NY @ Jones Beach Amphitheater
08.01 - Vancouver, BC @ Deer Lake Park
08.06 - Denver, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater
08.08 - Los Angeles, CA @ San Manuel Amphitheater
08.09 - San Francisco, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheater

Rhymesayers Announces SXSW Lineup

Rhymesayers just posted the lineup for the SXSW label showcase:

3/19/2009 — Rhymesayers Label Showcase
Venue: Habana Bar Patio / Backyard
Address: 708 East 6th Street
City: Austin
State: TX
Doors: 8:00PM
Ages: All Ages
Cost: SXSW Wristband

8:00 - 9:00 - Plain Ole Bill
9:00 - 9:30 - Toki Wright
9:30 - 10:00 - I Self Devine
10:00 - 10:30 - Abstract Rude
10:30 - 11:15 - Eyedea & Abilities
11:15 - 12:00 - P.O.S
12:00 - 12:45 - Brother Ali
12:45 - 1:30 - Freeway & Jake One
1:30 - 2:00 - BK One

Eyedea and Abilities New Years Eve Show

E&A are putting on a concert at First Ave on December 31 to bring in the New Year via a concert celebration. This seems to be shaping up to be an annual Rhymesayers tradition. I can't complain. There will also be "special guests." Yay!

I must say, though, that deciding whether or not to go to these things is always a tough decision. On one side, you can just party with all your friends. On the other side, you can see a dope concert with some of your friends. Perhaps I'll try to go this year...