Pick Of The Month: Eyedea & Abilities "E & A"Eyedea and Abilities is what you get when you combine the very best of two opposite ends of Hip-Hop's musical spectrum. On one end you have the M.C./Lyricist, Eyedea, who has proven himself time and time again not only as an extraordinary song writer, but also as a master at battling and in the art of freestyling. On the other end you have Abilities, the DJ/Turntablist, whose talent from the battle, to the mix tape, to production has resonated on the underground for quite some time now. When you put these two extremes together, you get the new, innovative and exciting dynamic we like to call E&A.
Between the years of 1997 and 2001, E&A completely conquered the competitive circuit, winning national and regional battles such as: Scribble Jam '99, RockSteady 2000, Blaze-Battle Chicago 2000, HBO Televised Blaze-Battle World Championship New York 2000, '99 DMC Regional, 2001 DMC Regional, and many more. During this time E&A was also laying groundwork and establishing a fan base for themselves with Rhymesayers labelmates Atmosphere by doing self promoted U.S. tours, traveling state to state selling their product hand to hand. Since then they have established themselves as a phenomenal live act, having performed with everyone from De La Soul to The Roots, to American Head Charge. As well as doing full blown tours with artists such as: Prince Paul, Aceyalone, Cannibal Ox, Living Legends and more.
In the past year or so,in addition to doing numerous side-projects (including Abilities performing all the scratches for El-p's critically acclaimed Fantastic Damage, pairing up with I Self Divine of The Micranots to create the group Semi.Offical and Eyedea's Oliver Hart projects), E&A have developed an aesthetic that will completely set them apart from the rest. The way they play off of each other as M.C. and DJ(or more fittingly, as Lyricist and Turntablist) both live and on record, has been compared to the call and response type solos exhibited by Miles Davis and John Coltrane. They have completely meshed the worlds of the turntables and the microphone. Sometimes the very structure of Eyedea's flow is based off of the rhythm of a scratch, and vise versa. This is hip hop at the threshold of complexity. One M.C. and one DJ both shining as the soloist, back and forth and at the same time. With their new album E&A, Eyedea & Abilities have not only grown and settled into their own but have found a way to bridge their battle driven Hip Hop beginnings with their desire to be thought provoking creative artists. Epitaph.com
Track Listing1. Reintroducing2. Now3. Kept4. Exhausted Love5. Star Destroyer6. Paradise7. One Twenty8. Man Vs. Ape9. Get Along10. Two Men And A Lady11. E&A Day12. Act Right13. Glass
AVN is the best place this side of the Pacific to see the hottest adult film stars. At this event I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to a couple of, what seems to be, the most promising, soon-to-blow, up-and-comers in the industry.
2NR: I'll be real quick, I know you've got a busy convention schedule.D: Oh no, take your time. It gives me time to get off my feet!
2NR: So I guess I'm helping you out!D: Yes, you are.
2NR: How many movies have you done?D: In my four and a half years in the adult industry I've done about 20 to 25, but if you add up all the compilations there's over a hundred titles out there with me in them.