On this date in 2004, MF DOOM dropped his fifth full-length studio release MM..FOOD. Put out on the underground Rhymesayers Entertainment label, some songs from the project were previously released under the name Madvillian on another label. The album featured classic samples from several superhero cartoons including the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Superman.
The album featured production mainly from DOOM himself, with Count Bass D and Madlib on the help out on just two tracks on the 15 track project. Some of the standout tracks include “Hoe Cakes”, “Guinnesses”, which featured Tennessee born/ATL bred femcee Empress StaHHr and 4ize, and the kaleidoscopic “Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate.”
Salute to DOOM and everyone involved with this timeless album!
We highlight the creation story behind the “Bigger Pictures” music video, collaborating with Bat Flower on “Talk Talk”, as well as the production style of “Holding My Breath“. They will embark on a European & domestic tour, so press play to find out what to expect from the new live show.
This interview was conducted inside the UGHH Studios with the help of Adam Stanzak of DRASTIC and is a collaboration with Soundwaves Radio, hosted by DJ Seano and Val the Vandle. Seano plays a mix of funk, jazz, instrumental, and everything in between during the first hour of the show – while the Atmosphere interview starts at the 1 hour marker. Press play and enjoy!
On this date in 2004, MF DOOM dropped his fifth full-length studio release MM..FOOD. Put out on the underground Rhymesayers Entertainment label, some songs from the project were previously released under the name Madvillian on another label. The album featured classic samples from several superhero cartoons including the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Superman.
The album featured production mainly from DOOM himself, with Count Bass D and Madlib on the help out on just two tracks on the 15 track project. Some of the standout tracks include “Hoe Cakes”, “Guinnesses”, which featured Tennessee born/ATL bred femcee Empress StaHHr and 4ize, and the kaleidoscopic “Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate.”
Salute to DOOM and everyone involved with this timeless album!
On this date in 2004, MF DOOM dropped his fifth full-length studio release MM..FOOD. Put out on the underground Rhymesayers Entertainment label, some songs from the project were previously released under the name Madvillian on another label. The album featured classic samples from several superhero cartoons including the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Superman.
The album featured production mainly from DOOM himself, with Count Bass D and Madlib on the help out on just two tracks on the 15 track project. Some of the standout tracks include “Hoe Cakes”, “Guinnesses”, which featured Tennessee born/ATL bred femcee Empress StaHHr and 4ize, and the kaleidoscopic “Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate.”
Salute to DOOM and everyone involved with this timeless album!
Celebrating two decades since the landmark debut of iconic duo Eyedea & Abilities, Rhymesayers Entertainment proudly presents First Born (20 Year Anniversary Edition), releasing on April 22, 2022. The highly-sought album has been long out-of-print on vinyl and CD, until now. The limited-edition 2xLP boasts two-color galaxy effect vinyl and includes a bonus 12” pressed on ultra-clear, laser-etched, and UV printed vinyl complete with four bonus tracks—“Pushing Buttons”, “Architect’s Theme”, “Before & After” (feat. Blueprint), and the “Before & After”instrumental. Not to mention, images of Eyedea’s original handwritten lyrics adorn the printed record sleeves. The CD packaging consists of a custom die-cut slipcase and a 6-panel wallet that also features images of those handwritten lyrics and includes one singular bonus track “Before & After” (feat. Blueprint), as does the limited cassette.
Pre-order the 20 Year Anniversary Edition, and exclusive First Born merchandise HERE.
Eyedea & Abilities initially emerged out of St. Paul, MN in 2001 with First Born and immediately inspired tastemaker curiosity and praise. A.V. Club applauded, “With First Born,Eyedea and the Rhymesayers collective continue to rewrite hip-hop in their own iconoclastic image,” going on to hail it as “an album so rich in ambition, ideas, and humanity.” Meanwhile, Pitchfork dubbed it “dense, literate, focused,” and HipHopDX went as far as to christen it one of “The 30 Best Underground Hip Hop Albums Since 2000.”The outlet noted, “There are some great conceptual tracks including ‘Color My World Mine’ and fan favorite ‘Big Shots’.” This 18-track opus illuminated the deft and dynamic power of these Midwest indie trailblazers, shoring up their quiet legacy in the process.
If you haven’t experienced First Born, now is the time. Stream and download the original HERE.
Micheal “Eyedea” Larsen and Gregory “DJ Abilities” Keltgen first met in the mid-90s and soon began a working relationship that would play a prominent role in the burgeoning Indie-Rap movement of the time. After numerous successes across nearly every notable MC or DJ battle of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, including HBO’s Blaze Battle, the Rocksteady Anniversary, Scribble Jam, the DMC’s and more, they had already cemented their legacies both as individuals in the battle scene and as the dynamic duo, Eyedea & Abilities, for their live performances and showmanship. However, determined not to be dismissed as one-dimensional, they set out to prove they were to be taken just as seriously at writing and recording. Together, they developed a near symbiotic creative union that produced three albums—First Born; E&A; and By The Throat—before Eyedea tragically passed away in 2010, at the age of 28.
The release of their debut album, First Born, had revealed their talents to be much more versatile and expansive than previously expected. The boastful arrogance and punchlines that had become synonymous with battling were notably scarce on the album. Eyedea chose to tackle subjects that were more conceptual and philosophical in nature, focusing on matters of reality and altered states of perception while pushing his urgent, dense delivery into darker, more abstract terrain. Meanwhile, DJ Abilities was able to craft worlds of depth and emotion, pairing hauntingly suspenseful beats with meticulous turntablism. The resulting album was rich in ambition, ideas and humanity. First Born came at the forefront of an exciting new era of underground hip-hop, delivering messages that emphasized questions over answers, ambiguity over certainty, and self-expression over exploitation, to an audience that was eager to expand their horizons beyond the commercial programming and clichés of the time.
On this date in 2004, MF DOOM dropped his fifth full-length studio release MM..FOOD. Put out on the underground Rhymesayers Entertainment label, some songs from the project were previously released under the name Madvillian on another label. The album featured classic samples from several superhero cartoons including the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Superman.
The album featured production mainly from DOOM himself, with Count Bass D and Madlib on the help out on just two tracks on the 15 track project. Some of the standout tracks include “Hoe Cakes”, “Guinnesses”, which featured Tennessee born/ATL bred femcee Empress StaHHr and 4ize, and the kaleidoscopic “Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate.”
Salute to DOOM and everyone involved with this timeless album!
On this date in 2004, MF DOOM dropped his fifth full length studio release MM..FOOD. Put out on the underground Rhymesayers Entertainment label, some songs from the project were previously released under the name Madvillian on another label. The album featured classic samples from several superhero cartoons including the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Superman.
The album featured production mainly from DOOM himself, with Count Bass D and Madlib on the help out on just two tracks on the 15 track project. Some of the standout tracks include “Hoe Cakes”, “Guinnesses”, which featured Tennessee born/ATL bred femcee Empress StaHHr and 4ize and the kaleidoscopic “Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate”.
Salute to DOOM and everyone involved with this timeless album!
On this date in 2004, MF DOOM dropped his fifth full length studio release MM..FOOD. Put out on the underground Rhymesayers Entertainment label, some songs from the project were previously released under the name Madvillian on another label. The album featured classic samples from several superhero cartoons including the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Superman.
The album featured production mainly from DOOM himself, with Count Bass D and Madlib on the help out on just two tracks on the 15 track project. Some of the standout tracks include “Hoe Cakes”, “Guinnesses”, which featured Tennessee born/ATL bred femcee Empress StaHHr and 4ize and the kaleidoscopic “Fig Leaf Bi-Carbonate”.
Salute to DOOM and everyone involved with this timeless album!
“I wrote this one while I was still alive,” Atmosphere’s Slug spits on the opening line of “Graffiti.” Setting the stage for a metaphoric glance at both the romantic MC’s inner workings and the heavily layered track, the video takes that authentic grittiness a step further. Directed by longtime collaborator Jason Goldwatch, the purposefully wobbly and out of focus visuals jarringly accentuate the meaning of Atmosphere’s latest album, La Vida Local’s closing track.
Slug takes his verses slow and steps with purpose on this track. The track’s producer (and Atmosphere co-founder) Ant, on the other hand, uses fanfare and a touch of melancholy to drive the point home. Equal parts reminiscent and progressive, “Graffiti” serves as one of La Vida Local’s highlights and makes fair work in closing out the album trilogy.
In the video, we see Slug as he maneuvers through cutty Minneapolis spots, sometimes with a tiny white chihuahua. The mural that provides the initial backdrop, of a dove leaving hands, provides another layer of symbolism of rebirth. With almost as much to see as to hear, each watch sheds new light on the track’s implied meaning. The quality of visual appears like 1960s and 1970s family movies.
“Graffiti” marks the concluding track on the final album of a trilogy created, as Slug says in a recent Ambrosia For Heads interview, to “get comfy with the idea of death.” Preceded by Southsiders in 2014 and Fishing Blues in 2016, the final album ties up loose ends, still floating the same themes of home, mortality and family. “This record isn’t about dying. But is the final of this particular trilogy of mortality. That’s why [I say on ‘Graffiti’], ‘I wrote this one when I was still alive,‘ to put closure on that. Then, for the next record, I can start fresh. I don’t have to do anything that has anything to do with what I just did,” Slug recently revealed. “It took me f*ckin’ five years to complete this weird trilogy. Sh*t. I’m so glad that it’s done.”
When we revisit that opening line, Slug provides closure, so the duo can move on to something completely different.
Atmosphere is currently touring La Vida Local with Rhymesayers artist, deM atlaS, as well as supporting acts The Lioness and DJ Keezy. The next leg kicks off in mid-November and covers the nation well into spring of 2019.
