On Aug. 22, “Boom,” a collaborative single by Abiyah and Evolve, two longtime Cincinnati artists who’ve consistently explored Hip Hop in unique ways, will be released via Abiyah’s Bandcamp page (abiyahmusic.bandcamp.com). “Boom” will be available to stream and purchase/download at the site, but as one might expected from the maverick pair, it will also be available for order in the resurgent cassette format, a throwback to the “cassingles” of yesteryear. (Don’t worry — cassette purchases also include download codes.) But that not the only unconventional aspect of the project.
Abiyah and Evolve have known each other for 15 years, moving in similar circles and playing shows together, though never collaborating on material. A DJ, MC, vocalist and lyricist, Abiyah has earned a reputation for her multifaceted work, filtering melody, poetry, spoken word and Reggae, among other elements, through a progressive Hip Hop lens (she’s also appeared on bills with numerous avant-garde Hip Hop luminaries, and was featured on Open Mike Eagle’s album, Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes). While she’s recorded and released music over the years, most recently via a collaboration with brilliant Cincy MC Eugenius (check it out here), “Boom” is her first hard-copy, physical release since her 2001 EP, Flow Tectonics. Producer/rapper/lyricist Evolve has had a presence in the Cincinnati D.I.Y./experimental music scene for the past 15 years with a slant on Hip Hop that incorporates Noise, Industrial and other unexpected musical sources. His full-length Fire to the Prisons was released in March.
On “Boom,” the pair vocally weave lines around each other with a dizzying chemistry. Evolve smoothly and skillfully lays down rhymes that decry competition with others in favor of finding one’s own unique voice. Abiyah’s similarly themed words about guiding and not following are delivered in multiple ways — straight bars, slinky sung melodies and Dancehall chants.
Given the vocal variance, the track obviously shape shifts throughout, but the production work often takes things to strobe-like levels. There are two different mixes of “Boom” — each available as its own cassingle version (you choose) — by producers literally from opposite sides of the earth. Oakland, Calif.’s DJ HALO offers a vision of the track that opens with a deep and funky old-school sampled beat (Isley Brothers, perhaps?) before instantaneously shifting to a high-energy, Electro-laden sprint, with all elements merging together by the end. On the other mix, Russia-based Possible Address moves the song into a more entrancing direction, with a swirling, remodeled-for-the-club Ragga beat and a hypnotic, stabbing pulse that faintly brings to mind the Bomb Squad groundbreaking Hip Hop production work. (The single also includes instrumental versions of both mixes.)
This Saturday at The Comet in Northside, Abiyah and Evolve will co-host a release celebration where they’ll perform “Boom” and then alternate DJ sets — on cassette boomboxes, appropriately enough. Georgia native Dope KNife will also perform at the free event, which kicks off at 10 p.m.
Click here and here for more on Evolve, and here for info on Abiyah
This article appears in Aug 16-23, 2017.