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7L & Esoteric

 
Artist: 7L & Esoteric
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Group Members:

Esoteric, 7L

Similar Artists:

Atmosphere, Cadence, The Perceptionists, Sabac, Aesop Rock, Outerspace, Jedi Mind Tricks, Gang Starr, El-P

Influenced By:

Showbiz, Rakim, Large Professor, Lord Finesse

Followers:

Sabac

Formal Connection With:

Virtuoso, Mr. Lif, Akrobatik
See 7L & Esoteric Lyrics
  • Formed: 1992, Boston, MA
  • Genres: Rap
  • Representative Albums: "The Soul Purpose," "A New Dope," "Moment of Rarities"

Biography

7L & Esoteric first came together in 1992 after 7L heard Esoteric DJing at a local college radio station in Boston, MA. Esoteric's sets were mostly hip-hop-based, but on occasion he would fuse his own material into his playlists. After hearing Eso's material, 7L contacted him in the hopes of forming an artistic collaboration. And collaborate they did. Reverting back to the standard hip-hop formula for success -- one DJ, one MC -- they immediately started to build on a common love for hip-hop born of 1986-1989. The pair headlined shows in smaller venues throughout Boston, New York, and Philadelphia as well as opening for some hip-hop heavyweights like Bahamadia, Rakim, Redman, and Company Flow.

The duo released their first single under the name God Complex in 1996. The single was immediately dubbed one of the best rap singles of 1996, receiving huge responses from Los Angeles, New York, Canada, and the overseas markets. Soon after, the Rebel Alliance LP was released. Calling together their fellow MCs and DJs from their hometown (including Virtuoso, Mr. Lif, Tony Infamous, and Force Five), Rebel Alliance was a compilation showcasing the talent and skills held in the scene that raised them. As soon as Rebel Alliance was in the stores, 7L & Esoteric followed up with a 12" featuring the tracks "Be Alert," "Protocol," and yet another collaboration with Virtuoso, "Touch the Mic." While "Be Alert" received attention thanks to the sampling of the Transformers cartoon show, "Protocol" was garnering intense recognition for Esoteric's nonstop lyricism. Source magazine even went so far as to label "Protocol" one of the five best hip-hop tracks of the '90s. Their next single, released on Direct Records, earned the group praise from coast to coast. "Def Rhymes" was exactly what the title implied, while "Headswell" brought back the now-expected pairing of Eso and Virtuoso.

While waiting to release their debut, the duo put out the EP Speaking Real Words, but the pressure that Direct put on them to finish their first full-length, The Soul Purpose, left 7L & Esoteric with an album that they felt wasn't mixed completely and bad feelings toward the label, so they moved to Brick Records for 2002's Dangerous Connection. The success that followed led the group to move to Babygrande, which, with more resources, could give them the marketing and support they were looking for. In 2004 DC2: Bars of Death, the sequel to Dangerous Connection, came out, and though the friends were receiving a fair amount of attention and acclaim, they were also feeling tired and constrained. 7L began working on solo material (he released Flow Season with MC Main Flow in September 2006), and Esoteric began making beats, and in 2005 Babygrande issued Moment of Rarities, an album of previously unreleased tracks.

Although it appeared that a breakup, or least a "hiatus," was on the horizon, 2006 saw the duo back in the studio working on new songs, and in June A New Dope, whose beats -- which came from both 7L and Esoteric-- were more similar to Kraftwerk or Fatboy Slim than DJ Premier, came out. ~ Emilie Litzell & Marisa Brown, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: 7L & Esoteric
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
7L & Esoteric
Origin Boston, Massachusetts
Genres Hip-Hop, Political hip-hop
Years active 1992 – Present
Labels Babygrande
Associated acts East Coast Avengers, Army of the Pharaohs, Jedi Mind Tricks, Demigodz, Boondox Saints, Beyonder, Main Flow
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.

Contents

History

The duo formed in 1992 when Esoterrible 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 even World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler 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 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.[1] The album's lead single, "Kill Bill O'Reilly," is quickly gaining notoriety for its abrasive lyrics, condoning the murder of 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 Seman 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".[2]

Discography

  • Speaking Real Words EP - 1999
  • The Soul Purpose - 2001
  • Dangerous Connection - 2002
  • DC2: Bars of Death - 2004
  • Moment of Rarities - 2005
  • MC Esoteric - Too Much Posse - 2006
  • A New Dope - 2006
  • Dope Not Hype - 2006
  • MC Esoteric - Egoclapper - 2007
  • Esoteric Vs. Gary Numan - Pterodactyl Tubeway - 2007
  • MC Esoteric - Esoteric Vs. Japan - "Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo" - 2008
  • MC Esoteric - Serve or Suffer - 2009
  • MC Esoteric - Saving Seamus Ryan - 2009

Collaborations

References

  1. ^ Brick Records on MySpace
  2. ^ http://artofrhyme.com/interviews/artist/Esoteric/107/

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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