7L & Esoteric
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7L & Esoteric | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Genres | Hip-Hop, Political hip-hop |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Babygrande |
| Members | 7L (George Andrinopoulos) Esoteric (Seamus Ryan) |
7L & Esoteric (7LES) are a Boston-based hip-hop duo, notorious for battle rhymes and boom-bap production. 7L is the duo's DJ/Producer and Esoteric the emcee.[1]
History
The duo formed in 1992 when Esoteric DJed a hip hop show at a college radio station north of Boston. 7L, a DJ and producer who listened to the show, contacted Esoteric in the interest of collaborating. The two found they shared a common love of the golden age of hip-hop and decided to form a group.
After performing for some time in the Boston underground, the duo, with MC Karma known at the time as God Complex, released their first single in 1996. This led to the release of the Rebel Alliance LP, featuring acts such as Virtuoso, Mr. Lif, Tony Infamous and Force Five. Also at this time the two dropped the God Complex moniker becoming simply 7L & Esoteric.
Soon after, 7L & Esoteric put out their first 12” with re-mastered versions of their Rebel Alliance songs “Protocol” and “Be Alert.” "Be Alert", the B-side on the record, began to receive significant radio play, due to its unique sampling of the Transformers TV theme song. The track, which was produced by Beyonder, became very popular in the underground scene.
The duo then dropped the “Def Rhymes” single which got them press in the Source. “Def Rhymes” was also featured on the EP, Speaking Real Words, released in 1999. The album also featured Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck on the title track.
They released their debut LP The Soul Purpose in the summer of 2001. The album received the Boston Music Award for “Best Hip-Hop Album,” [citation needed] and led to the duo touring the United States and Europe. Upon their return, they recorded and released their second LP in the fall of 2002 entitled Dangerous Connection.
After taking a break from recording the duo released their third LP DC2: Bars of Death in the spring of 2004 with Babygrande Records. The album received overall positive reviews and was lauded by long-time fans. [citation needed] In 2006, "Moment of Rarities" was also released with Babygrande. This CD was a collection of previously unreleased tracks. Esoteric has stated that this CD was put out to fulfill contractual obligations with Babygrande Records.
"Too Much Posse" was released in 2006, under Esoteric's own label, Fly Casual. This CD was a collection of songs where Esoteric rapped alongside other artists. It also contained a few previously unreleased remixes and freestyles. Later in 2006 "A New Dope" was released, taking the duo in a new direction with more a more electro influenced sound and the production shared between both 7L and Esoteric. The album featured Kool Keith on the track "Daisy Cutta".
7L & Esoteric are both prominent members of the underground hip-hop groups the Demigodz and Army of the Pharaohs. Their work also features a long list of collaborations with artists such as Jedi Mind Tricks, Apathy, Celph Titled, Outerspace, and John Cena.
Esoteric solo venture
Esoteric has recently embarked on a solo venture. In October 2007 he presented his debut Egoclapper on his own label Fly Casual Records, in which he took both the rhyming and production duties. A Limited Edition version was also available, packaged with bonus cd Esoteric Vs Gary Numan: Pterodactyl Tubeway. This featured Esoteric both rhyming and producing beats heavily sampling 80's Electro icon Gary Numan.
He has also sparked some comedic video entertainment with his Youtube series Pterovision which serves as a bi-weekly broadcast to the 7LES fan base. The series was initially released as a build up to the release of Egoclapper.
On May 8, 2008, Esoteric released another solo venture, entitled Esoteric vs. Japan - Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo. This release featured Esoteric rhyming over beats sampled from Japanese music, TV and films, such as Godzilla, Gaiking, Force 5, Shogun Warriors[disambiguation needed] and Rodan.
Esoteric's latest project is a collaboration with rapper Trademarc and producer DC the Midi Alien. Together they form the group East Coast Avengers. Their debut album, Prison Planet, was released October 7, 2008, on underground rap label Brick Records.[2] The album's lead single, "Kill Bill O'Reilly," quickly gained notoriety for its abrasive lyrics, and condonement of the murder of the right wing American television/radio host, Bill O'Reilly, and former guest commentator, Michelle Malkin. Following responses by Malkin another single was released, "Dear Michelle". MySpace, owned by O'Reilly's employers Fox, has censored the songs and taken down related graphics as they were deemed too offensive.
On 10 February 2009 Esoteric released his first solo instrumental album, Serve or Suffer.
Esoteric released Saving Seamus Ryan on September 22, 2009. Featuring appearances by Main Flow, K-Flay, Qwill, and Masta Ace. The Track list is a Story, so it should be listened to from beginning to end. The CD came with a "short story" bundled. This is basically the lyrics with some extra content. The story goes from saying goodbye to his dog Max, in the first track (Studio Time/Goodbye) To Eso getting shot and robbed. Developing the story into him joining up with Indie Solo, An odd character who speaks like Harrison Ford, Hunting down Benny Macko. In an interview, Esoteric said he would like to work on a new album with 7L for release after "Saving Seamus Ryan".[3]
MC Esoteric also recently appeared on a episode of the show "SuperFetch" on the Animal Planet. The episode featured his dog "Logan" being trained to do special tricks for a music video Esoteric was working on.
Discography
Studio Albums
- Speaking Real Words EP - 1999
- The Soul Purpose - 2001
- Dangerous Connection - 2002
- DC2: Bars of Death - 2004
- A New Dope - 2006
- Dope Not Hype - 2006
- 1212 - 2010
- Czarface - 2012
Compilations
- Moment of Rarities - 2005
Solo Albums
Esoteric
- Too Much Posse - 2006
- Egoclapper - 2007
- Esoteric Vs. Gary Numan - Pterodactyl Tubeway - 2007
- Esoteric Vs. Japan - "Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo" - 2008
- Serve or Suffer - 2009
- Saving Seamus Ryan - 2009
- Fly Casualties - 2010
- Boston Pharaoh - 2011 [4]
Collaborations
- 7L & Beyonder - Vinyl Thug Music - 2003 (7L with Beyonder)
- Vinyl Thug Music - Welcome to Shaftville U.S.A. - 2005 (7L with Beyonder)
- Army of the Pharaohs - The Torture Papers - 2006 (Babygrande Records)
- Army of the Pharaohs - Ritual of Battle - 2007 (Babygrande Records)
- East Coast Avengers - Prison Planet - 2008 (Esoteric, Tha Trademarc, DC The Midi Alien)
- Army of the Pharaohs - The Unholy Terror - 2010 (Babygrande/Enemy Soil)
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