First Light is releasing their debut album, Fallacy Fantasy. The duo, made up of Hieroglyphics members Pep Love and Opio, has released a new video for the single “Los Lobos” to coincide with the albums release. Both the duo and the album were born out of Hiero’s “celebration of spontaneous musical collaboration,” and as anticipation for the album’s release has continued to grow through the previous release of videos for singles “Hold On” and “Lighters,” First Light is now excited to deliver the full album to fans via their label Hiero Imperium.
“Los Lobos,” directed by Unjust, who also produced the track, and edited by Spencer Groshong for Ineffable Music, rightly places all of the focus on Pep Love and Opio., with the two rappers’ energetic performance shots contrasting against the blank, sandy terrain. The use of minor video effects (mirroring, blending shots, motion blur) does the track justice, fitting in with the beats’ dreamy vibe, and the contrast of Opio’s laid-back verse and Pep’s more aggressive take offer a balancing dynamic that helps bring the track together.
Hieroglyphics members Pep Love and Opio are announcing the formation of a new duo, First Light. As First Light, Pep and Opio will release a new album, Fallacy Fantasy, on March 12th, and to coincide with the album release, will also embark on a month-long tour this spring. First Light has released the album’s first single, “Lighters,” which features the duo’s Hieroglyphics crew, with guest appearances from Casual, Del the Funky Homosapien, and A-Plus.
The formation of First Light is rooted in Hiero’s celebration of spontaneous musical collaboration. With First Light, Opio, who also is a member of Souls Of Mischief, and Pep Love take their cue from the finest characteristics of “Golden Era” hip-hop, while, at the same time, battling the paradox of their attraction to and antagonism against the pervasiveness of the apathy and debauchery in today’s pop culture. Hence, the title of their debut album Fallacy Fantasy.
This spring, the duo will be taking their new music on the road, with the Stress Free Tour. Kicking off on March 20th in Fairfax, California, with stops along the way in cities like San Francisco and Fresno, before heading to Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and New Mexico, the tour will make 25 stops before ending on April 19th in Salem, Oregon. Throughout the tour, First Light will be giving fans samples of their most recent work in conjunction with a campaign of behind-the-scenes footage and music videos.
To celebrate the announcement, First Light has released the album’s first single, “Lighters.” Featuring production by Unjust of The Chosen Few, “Lighters” is a track held together by solid groove and a drone of distant 8bit sounds. The video, edited by Unjust and directed by Casual, takes us from a dark forest where Casual tells us we are “witnessing hip-hop’s beautification” to Pep Love’s yellow-lit basement, where he flashes into a shrouded and crystalline red-eyed creature. Esoteric themes and extraterrestrial references abound as Opio lets us know, “I see the future like George Orwellian theory.” In contrast to the uncanny verses, the chorus is a sing-along anthem, complete with lines like, “Put your lighters in the air till it burns your thumb.”
DJ Touré, the venerated DJ/producer for the Hieroglyphics crew, has had a very busy 2012; between running his Bay Area-based production company, 101% Music and producing songs for the likes of E-40, Dolla Will, and Erk Tha Jerk, it’s amazing that he had time to perfect his long-awaited new album, Touré’s Theory: Session One. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what he did, and is now announcing that Session One be released on February 19th via Hiero Imperium.
Touré’s project features a plethora of both Bay Area newcomers and rap veterans like Too $hort, Mistah FAB, and The Jacka. Also appearing on Session One is a number of his Hiero brethren, including long-time friend and collaborator Casual. The two recently teamed up for Touré’s latest video, a hazy, nebulous visual for the song “Streets Love It.” Directed by Dylan Freitas-D’Louhy, the video looks like something ripped off a broken VHS tape with revolving frames and grainy footage, and shows both Touré and Casual rhyming in front of glow-in-the-dark hieroglyphic paintings and fine females.
HIERO DAY | Combining an outdoor concert, street-food festival, and a block party to create a celebration of all that is good about Oakland.
Performances by:
Hieroglyphics | Blackalicious | Planet Asia | Equipto | Z Man | Moe Green | The Kev Choice Ensemble | The Honor Roll Crew | DJ D-Sharp + Youth Performances & Street Art
September 3, 2012 | San Pablo Ave. (Between 17 & 18th) | 11:00am-6:00pm
This Thursday, July 19th, the legendary Hieroglyphics Imperium will embark on their Hiero Imperium Summer Tour 2012. The 16-city tour kicks off in San Diego, CA, and makes stops in Sacramento, CA, Oakland, CA, Denver, CO, and Las Vegas, NV, along the way. The tour will feature performances by Souls Of Mischief, Pep Love, and Casual, plus some very special guests.
Today, Hiero Imperium is excited to release the new Summer Tour Mixtape. The project, mixed by DJ Icewater, offers a mix of new and classic Hiero material, and serves as a special release to get fans pumped for the upcoming show dates. And just as Hiero is offering special VIP ticket bundles for the tour, the mixtape is also being offered to fans in four exciting bundles: Fans that only want the music can download the project for free from Hiero’s Bandcamp page; for $5, fans will receive the music plus a Hiero sticker pack; for $10, fans will receive the music and sticker pack, plus a Hiero keychain; and for $20, fans will receive the music, sticker pack, keychain, and an official Hiero Imperium Summer Tour 2012 tour t-shirt.
For few select dates on the Hiero Imperium Summer Tour, a special VIP ticket option is available which will include a VIP Meet and Greet, a tour T-Shirt, CD and Poster, and a Sticker Pack. Check back later for those specific dates to be revealed
Last week, Phesto Dee, along with fellow Hiero Imperium artists Souls Of Mischief, Casual, and Pep Love, announced their Hiero Imperium Summer Tour 2012. On the tour, which kicks off later this summer, the Hiero crew will perform a mix of classics and new material, of which there is plenty of both, with new albums in 2012 from Tajai, Opio, Pep Love, and Casual, in addition to Phesto Dee, who released his long-awaited debut album, Background Check, earlier this year. One of the new cuts from Phesto that fans can surely look forward to catching live is “ChampSwagger,” and now, Phesto is excited to release a new visual for the single.
“ChampSwagger,” produced by Kev Choice, is one of the standout tracks from Background Check, and fits in well with the grain of the overall album. “When people listen to my album,” Phesto has remarked, “I don’t think they’ll hear any esoteric musicality; I just think it’s hip-hop to the core.” The video for “ChampSwagger,” directed by Casual for his burgeoning video production company Wetfoot Filmworks, conveys just that vibe, a largely solo clip, save the cameos from his Hiero crew, that puts the emphasis on Phesto’s fast-flowing lyrics.
MP3: T.K. Other Realm - “Forever On Some Town Shit” (Prod. By T.H.C.)
League510 Rapper Releases Latest Track Over Recent Nipsey Hussle Instrumental
As anticipation continues to build for League510’s forthcoming Slumps & Fist Pumps project, the crew is staying busy, dropping a handful of new solo and group material. The latest in that string of tracks is today’s release, “Forever On Some Town Shit,” the latest single from T.K. Other Realm’s upcoming mixtape, “Heaven Flow.
The beat is produced by THC and T.K. came across the production when listening to Nipsey Hussle’s recent mixtape, “The Marathon Continues. “Once I heard the beat, the words to the verse just spilled from my soul,” T.K. says, noting that he altered the name of Nipsey’s original version slightly to represent his hometown of Oakland.
”Forever On Some Town Shit” has lyrics that challenge the deeper meaning of what is seen in economically depressed neighborhoods, and also to question the livability of those neighborhoods. “Most of the times morals don’t coincide with this hood shit/ Doing bad deeds just end up with good shit,” raps T.K. “Plant the crack/ You don’t see the trap, my goodness/ Liquor store, church, trap, Popeye’s/ Ain’t a whole foods in hood, I wonder why.”
Emcees TK, Mont, Mr. Knowitall and DJ Blacksmith better known as League510 are pioneers of a sound that is all their own, Town Techno. With a sound that is out of this world, League510’s musical journey began in a galaxy far away from ours. After traveling the universe for years, they entered our galaxy and our planet shortly thereafter. With sights on our world, the quartet chose to land in the hills east of Oakland, California. After hiding their ship deep in the hills they approached this new town with great curiosity and were immediately amazed by the vibrant culture that they found. Adopting the Bay Area scene as their new home, League510 wasted no time in beginning their new musical journey here in our world. Using advanced abilities, the four emcees quickly mastered the art of sound and gave birth to Town Techo, a form of music that would unite the people in heightened awareness; to show them to take action, to appreciate the fun in life, to believe in themselves and to believe in The League.
Founded in Oakland, California in 1999, Clear Label Records has established itself as one of the top independent labels in the Bay Area. The company is owned and operated by Tajai Massey, renowned recording artist with the group Souls of Mischief and the crew Hieroglyphics; who brings a unique perspective to the label utilizing his experiences as a major-label recording artist turned independent label owner & successful touring musician. Clear Label is General Managed by Walasia “MJ” Shabazz, who has worked at the helm of independent record labels as well as edited major music publications including Complex and The Source. Clear Label is home to recording artists of many genres such as Chris Marsol, Baby Jaymes, FAMSYRK, Deep Rooted, Mr. Brady, Tears For Grace, League510, Cisum Tomorrow, Moses Music, Dolla Will and more. Through a partnership with Pushing the Beat (PTB) the label is also home to Oakland’s hottest “street” artists including Beeda Weeda, and Shady Nate. In 2012, CLR will be releasing projects from Tajai of Souls of Mischief, Cisum Tomorrow, Baby Jaymes, Beeda Weeda, FAMSYRK, SyrkHouse, C-Shaw, League510, Molly’s Dirty Water, Tears For Grace, Moses Music, Soul King (via the NOOR SCIENCE imprint) and more. For more information, please visit clearlabelmedia.com
It’s been nearly three months since the release of Machine Language, the latest solo effort from Tajai, one-fourth of the Souls Of Mischief and torch bearer of the Hieroglyphics crew. On that album, Tajai teamed up with fellow west coast native and producer, Mr. Brady for the track “That Soul,” and now the pair have come together to shoot a video for the song “That Soul,” which also shows up on Brady’s own album, “Labor Of Love”, begins with an innocent, alluring piano sample as we enter the bedroom of Tajai.
“That Soul” Director, Smash Rockwell (aka Casual of Hieroglyphics) of Wetfoot Filmworks, brings viewers an introspective glimpse at one of hip-hop’s most respected vets cradling his infant daughter and looking after his chicken coop in the visual. “Since the song was self-exploratory,” explains Tajai, “I wanted the video clip to be as ‘real’ as possible, basically showing the ‘real me’ get-down as a father, homesteader and of course, MC.”
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