Above Top Secret

SunSun and Ayo Leilani are perhaps best known as driving forces behind 88 Days of Fortune, a collective of hip-hop artists that throw events that are queer and women-positive. After years of repping other acts, the pair are building their own momentum as ATS [Above Top Secret]. Formed after the dissolution of their Abstract Random group, the Shabazz Palaces-affiliates recently won the Soundclash Music Award and have just released the trippy banger WTF?!

ATS play a late-night set at Camp Wavelength on Friday (August 28) at Artscape Gibralter Point on the Toronto Islands and Habourfront Centre's Hot and Spicy Food Festival on September 4. - NOW Magazine

We first learned about Toronto hip-hop duo Above Top Secret when they released the wonderfully dark “Ghost” back in March, but they haven’t been idle since. Two days ago they dropped “WTF?!”, a slightly off-kilter jam full of unusual samples and inventive rhythms. It’s tough to pick a favourite element of this beat! The strange flute-sounding thing? The occasional guitar stab? SunSun’s production may be endlessly interesting, but singer/MC Ayo Leilani is no slouch either though, her vocals effortlessly floating on top of the beat, embodying the essence of WTF. - Silent Shout

Toronto's ATS [Above top Secret] evolved out of Abstract Random and have been honing their unique mashed-up sound of rap, electro and dub-hop into a debut LP. But before that record arrives, Exclaim! has got the video premiere of their latest single "Ghost."

The track will appear on the group's forthcoming self-titled album, which is slated for a summer 2016 release and serves as an in-your-face introduction to their experimental sound. A press release describes the material as "aggressive, but therapeutic," and notes that "Ghost" specifically deals with "loss of friendships, miscommunication, frustration, and self medication."

The clip features ATS members Ayo Leilani, Tee Fergus and SunSun smoking up, spitting rhymes and showing some love for their hometown. It was directed by Fro and sponsored by Toronto collective 88 Days of Fortune, seeing the DIY group making a move "out from the underground and into bigger leagues where their images, voices, and hardcore beats have been missing."

The track was mixed by Lytes (a.k.a. Tandra Jhagroo) and produced by the group's own SunSun.

While you'll have to wait until summer for that album to hit shelves, you can check out the video premiere of "Ghost" below right now. - EXCLAIM!

Formerly known as Abstract Random, Above Top Secret took a year off after the departure of one of their members and restarted things as a trio this spring. But what a return! Check out “Ghost,” one of the hardest hitting electronic hip-hop singles we’ve heard this year. Super dark stuff, with a killer hook. The video, directed by Fro, features some excellent masks and a lot of smoking of inspirational substances.

“Ghost” is on a forthcoming album, no release date yet, but we can’t wait to hear it. Until then, there’s always hitting repeat. - Silent Shout

- See more at: https://stonergirlsguide.com/2015/03/18/the-stoner-girls-guide-to-above-top-secret-ats - Stoner Girl's Guide

The wee hours of a weekend morning are rarely a good time for social analysis and progressive diatribes, unless of course they are delivered over a bed of equally forward-reaching sounds and rhythms. Thankfully, that was the sonic concoction offered up by experimental trio Abstract Random to a receptive crowd at Kensington Market's cozy Detour Bar. Melding rich vocal melodies and snatching rhythmic chats, the politically minded 88 Days of Fortune affiliates raised the flag against a number of societal schisms, eschewing the violent and homophobic tendencies of dancehall music on the clever "Mi Na Wanna," and calling out police overzealously through the now more locally relevant "New World Order." With an efficient electronic sound collage of dubbed-out, dancefloor-directed beats driving their messages home, the unique offering proved a heady though ideal entree for those in search of something to move to. - Exclaim!

In "well-named band" news, Toronto-based feminist hip-hop-dub group Abstract Random (above) recently landed on my radar and we're on board with their funky, entirely-DIY cache of music and videos. The group, comprised of singers Jamilah Malika and Ayo Leilani and producer Sun Sun, has opened for perennial Bitch favorites THEESatisfaction, which is a match made in feminist hip-hop heaven, and releases new songs and videos often on their website and social media. Their latest is "Black Helicopter," but my favorite so far is the street harassment hollaback anthem "Talk A Lotta Shit," - Bitch Media