On August 22, Cincinnati alternative hip hop pioneers Abiyah and Evolve released their first collaborative effort, and Abiyah’s first physical release since her seminal floetry-based ‘Flow Tectonics EP’ in 2001, after 15 years of friendship and appearing on bills together: the ‘Boom’ cassingle inspires overcoming obstacles through self-motivation and self-improvement…with a unique and melodic fury. ‘Boom’ crosses over into DIY, alternative hip hop and avant-garde/experimental audiences, while still maintaining a sensibility that transcends classification, and can work just as well as a club banger as it would as a backdrop to a backyard house party. The ‘Boom’ cassingle can be streamed/downloaded/purchased at http://abiyahmusic.bandcamp.com/album/abiyah-evolve-boom-cassingle, and each cassette comes with a digital download, with a download-only option also available.

‘Boom’ is offered on high-quality chrome cassingle (cassette single), housed in a full-color cardboard sleeve, in two versions: one produced by Oakland-based DJ HALO (with post-production rhythm cuts by DJ Rare Groove), the other produced by St. Petersburg, Russia-based Possible Address, with additional production by Evolve. While containing futuristic elements that are decidedly not reminiscent of the 90s-golden-era vibe, the ‘Boom’ cassingle does hearken to the days when the B-side housed instrumental versions for the people; featured on Side B are slightly-tweaked instrumental versions of the Side A full versions.
Take a Soul Train dancer from 1974—one of them sistas who didn’t give a f*ck about cameras or Don Cornelius—well, if that sista made love to George Clinton and they had a baby girl and they let Patti Smith and Sister Carol raise that girl child in an embrace pre-dating same-sex marriage debates, that girl child woulda grown up to be Abiyah. By the early aughts, Abiyah hit upon a highly workable concoction: she fused her punk ethos with her love of Hip Hop, Dancehall, Dub, Alternative Rock and Spoken Word. A five-time CityBeat Cincinnati Entertainment Awards Hip Hop nominee and six-time MidPoint Music Festival veteran, Abiyah has performed at NYC’s Sidewalk Cafe and Trash Bar, and opened for avant-hip hop vanguards Mike Ladd and Beans, as well as louis logic, Serengeti, Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle, Homeboy Sandman, Ceschi Ramos and clipping., while also appearing on LA art-rapper Open Mike Eagle’s second full-length offering “Rappers Will Die of Natural Causes.”
Evolve has been an innovator in the Cincinnati DIY hip hop scene for 15 years. A producer, lyricist and rapper, his brand of experimental conscious hip hop is heavily laced with influences of magick and industrial noise, and often reflects themes of dire urban tension, bridging the personal and political, and the pursuit of unmasking ominous forces ultimately responsible for these circumstances. Evolve recently released the full-length “Fire to the Prisons” on Realicide Youth Records in March 2017.