Eyes of the Elders

Eyes of The Elder See Hip Hop Clearly
by Fadel Zeidan in News (July 22, 2006)
Kyndmusic.com

When it comes down to “real” hip hop, there is not much out there in the “mainstream” that is worth noting. It seems that all that is out there are people that can only rap about their 22 inch rims, galvanizations about dropping out of school and getting paid, and “fuckin big booty hoes.” Real deep folks. Where are the days of old school rap where flow, lyrical prose, unique break beats, and sheer dedication to the art?

Well, I can state with the utmost sincerity that Eyes of the Elder exemplify the latter. This Charlotte homegrown quartet can not only produce an album where you could just flip it in the car and listen to it repeatedly, but moreover their live shows are known to turn whatever venue they are at into a full on party, where “zdub’s” beats can turn people moving as an instinctual reflex, but also, can grasp a person’s cognition by way of their deep and ,most importantly, meaningful lyrics.

To get people to think nowadays seems like a daunting task, with pop chorus licks, repetitive beats, and sheer meaningless anthems, where “leaning back” characterizes our generation’s troubles and contemplations.

Eyes of the Elder’s latest CD “7 Headed Dragontron” is more than a solid piece of work with well thought out beats, beautifully delicate melodies, and philosophy. Not necessarily Platonic or Cartesian in entity, but personally relevant to the artists and objectively transferable to the audience. The album discusses events like Hurricane Katrina, the war, meta-physics, love, and other pertinent subjects.

“Poems for the Traveling,” a song on the new CD, eloquently uses poetic prose to define consciousness in manner that doesn’t provide a Lehman’s definition, but by way of flow and beat. Streams of thought that don’t occupy a temporal setting, just like our own minds, fluttering from place to place, it seems that the only comfort comes from the unsettling or the “traveling” of our minds. “Patriotic Patriarch” vehemently switches back and forth, as many of the songs do, from Ricky Radar and Bearcat in a dueling form, but brought together by YaYa’s gorgeous voice that acts as a silhouette sheltering the music. The song discusses relevant dichotomies between religion and duties and the cloudiness that such a relationship can induce; don’t get me started. Lyrics like, “open the curtains, by closing the shutters, we bear all that mumble but what does it matter some stutter, we hover divine metaphysics the flame our lips, burning holes through your gimmicks,” can give one a sense of the weight that is carried out throughout the album.

The truth of it is, is that I could try to interpret what the whole CD is about, song by song, but just like W.B. Yeats or T.S Eliot, most pieces of good work should only be interpreted by the audience. This album is strong, and well thought out, and the beats and rhythms are original intermixed with violin and bass riffs, and piano crescendos, where scale and poetry find a comfortable niche.

The best part of this album is that it is as pure as things get nowadays, whether you like hip-hop, poetry, or any other genre of art, this is definitely an album you should grab. More than that; see these “guys” live, it is really something to see how they can turn a place out by the first minute of the show.
- amps 11 magazine; and kyndmusic.com