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By Gilbert Garcia
In a way, it’s fitting that the St. Paul, Minnesota, underground hip-hop duo known as Eyedea & Abilities cut their teeth on the hip-hop battle circuit. Four years after MC Eyedea won the HBO-televised Blaze Battle, he’s still at war with his contemporary hip-hop peers, albeit not in the superficial way that MCs conventionally engage in verbal warfare.
Eyedea despises the mindless sexism and ego-glorification of mass-market hip-hop and he doesn’t shy away from making it a subject of his songs. On the duo’s new Epitaph CD E&A – a sterling followup to their 2001 debut, First Born – he dismisses such material as nothing more than “candy-coated, condom-flavored karaoke cover songs.”
| Eyedea & Abilities with Blueprint, Los Nativos Grayskull, Dj Donnie-D, Scuba Gooding Sr. 8pm Current |
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Eyedea likes to call DJ Abilities “the Jimmy Page to my Robert Plant,” and it neatly sums up this creative relationship. With Abilities exploring the chordal possibilities of be-bop and the textures of modern rock, Eyedea boldly uses his voice as a rhythmic device. They’re part of an artsy hip-hop alternative that has emerged in recent years to reclaim the music’s roots and challenge the mercenary, bling-obsessed slant of what passes for hip-hop on the airwaves.
It’s easy to understand why Eyedea & Abilities rave about Radiohead and OutKast with equal fervor. Both groups restlessly seek innovation at all times, reluctant to repeat any past achievements. Two albums into what should be a long career, the same can be said for Eyedea & Abilities. •
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2004.