The Chalice

Ranking Artist Album
1 The Chalice We Are The Chalice EP
2 Solid Gold Eat Your Young
3 P.O.S. We Don't Even Live Here
4 John Mark Nelson Waiting and Waiting
5 Jackie Harris and The Exciters Twin Cities Funk and Soul
6 Dark Dark Dark Who Needs Who
7 Soul Asylum Delayed Reaction
8 Brother Ali Mourning in America...
9 Robust Worlds Emotional Planet
10 Pony Trash Pony Trash EP
11 Heartbeats Howl For Me b/w Ocean Green 7"
12 Paul Westerberg My Road Now (Single)
13 Jim Ruiz Set Mount Curve Avenue
14 Gospel Gossip Atlantic Blue 7"
15 Gloss Front Porch (Single)
16 Fire In The Northern Firs Of Bones and Things
17 Actual Wolf Lightning And The Wolf EP
18 Bomba De Luz What A Heavy Weight
19 Ben Kyle Ben Kyle
20 Vague-A-Bonde Evolved (Single)
21 Prince RNR Affair (Single)
22 Meme Young
23 Wiping Out Thousands This Came First
24 Phantom Tails Only Your Eyes (Single)
25 Brute Heart Wildfire 7"
26 Toki Wright FADERS Mixtape
27 The Rockford Mules O Tulip I Told You So EP
28 Paper Tiger Summer EP
29 Marijuana Deathsquads Tamper, Disable, Destroy
30 All Eyes Shelf Life
31 Strange Names Strange Names EP
32 Mike Mictlan SNAXXX
33 Jeremy Messersmith Paper Moon EP
34 Wolf Lords Permission (Single)
35 Night Moves Colored Emotions
36 Early Alan Younger The Hotcake Waltz EP
37 Actual Wolf Actual Wolf USA EP
38 Villa Plains, Fog, Cold and Snow
39 Typsy Panthre Typsy Panthre
40 Toussaint Morrison Toussaint Morrison Is Not...
41 The Sunland Singers Sunland
42 The Japhies Allegations
43 Sean Anonymous Anonymo
44 Red Daughters Red Daughters
45 Real Numbers Only Two Can Play
46 Prissy Clerks Bruise Or Be Bruised
47 More Than Lights Sights and Sounds
48 Leisure Birds Globe Master
49 Guante and Big Cats You Better Weaponize
50 Greg Grease Cornbread, Pearl and G
51 Diver Dress Diver Dress EP
52 Chris Bates' Red 5 New Hope
53 Carroll Needs EP
54 Bora York Dreaming Free
55 Reina del Cid and The Cidizens Blueprints, Plans
56 Gay Witch Abortion Opportunistic Smokescreen...
57 Bob Dylan Tempest
58 Mint Condition Music At The Speed Of Life
59 Batteryboy Winter's Gate EP
60 Fathom Lane Down By Half
61 Southside Desire Songs To Love And Die To
62 Falcon Arrow Anti-Matter - 89.3 The Current blog

My hot music radar today lead me to a group of girls from Minneapolis who go by The Chalice. I’ve yet to even finish listening to this project “We Are The Chalice” they just dropped last friday, and I’m already posting it, they on #ELEVATORSTATUS. Check out citypages.com in depth writeup on The Chalice - Elevator Mag

The local music scene is sometimes derided for being insular, but it’s also heavily collaborative. Bands are constantly dissolving and reforming with what’s left behind. Musicians move from project to project quickly, releasing solo efforts between collaborations.

It was this ecosystem that gave rise to the Chalice, an all-female hip-hop collective and one of the most exciting new acts in the cities.

Claire De Lune, Sophia Eris and Lizzo of Lizzo and The Larva Ink met last August when the electro-funk duo moved up to the Twin Cities from Houston. Eris had just started releasing spoken word and rap tracks online and De Lune was already an established solo artist in Minneapolis and released music as A Loud Heart with local poet/rapper Guante.

On a whim, the three recorded a song together, “Push It” and posted it on the music-sharing website SoundCloud. They hadn’t thought much about the track until 89.3 The Current contacted them asking for a radio edit.

The song was a smash and after receiving multiple offers to play shows around the cities, the Chalice returned to the studio to record enough tracks for a full set.

“We were all shocked,” Eris said. “Everything with the Chalice has been us catching up to ourselves.”

The group wrote enough tracks to get a full set together and played their first show in February, opening for joke-rappers Turquoise Jeep.

“There was a whole college frat lapping at our ankles. It was crazy,” Lizzo said.

After playing a few more shows and recording more tracks, the women of the Chalice began to realize the potential of the project as being a break from the personas they’ve established with their solo careers.

“I think we all get to play up a side of our personality that we don’t get to in our other projects,” De Lune said. “Our solo projects are much more serious sounding.”

Lizzo only sings when she’s performing with producer The Larva Ink. With the Chalice, she gets to unleash her bombastic rapping. Eris gives her nimble, thoughtful flow a little more bite. De Lune also gets to let loose, belting hooks and occasionally playing hype-woman to Eris and Lizzo.

The members of the Chalice are keen to identify themselves as a collective, rather than as a rap group. They said they hope to hearken back to the time when the Wu-Tang Clan and A Tribe Called Quest allowed for members to show their own distinct personalities.

Rather than being a closed trio, De Lune, Lizzo and Eris are also eager to open themselves up to more collaboration as a collective. After they release their EP this fall, they said they hope to reach out to other female rappers and signers to be a part of the Chalice.

This structure also means that everyone in the Chalice finds a network of support. The trio is playing the Local Current show at the Cedar on Wednesday, and the next night De Lune is celebrating the release of her new album at the 7th Street Entry. Alford and Lizzo will be along to play with her.

“That’s part of being a collective. It’s not just our band that we have, and then completely unrelated are our own things. [Lizzo and Eris] are going to flier for my show.” - Minnesota Daily

The Chalice, We Are the Chalice
Out September 28
Hip-hop trio The Chalice finally follow up their catchy single “Push It” with a proper EP, adding in a few more tracks and rounding up an excellent bill of collaborators for a show at the Entry on its release date. - 89.3 The Current blog

Tonight is one of those nights where you pat yourself on the back for living in the Twin Cities. Why? Because a bunch of fantastic local musicians are performing at the same show—and it’s only $10. Thanks to The Chalice EP release show happening tonight, we get A. Wolf & Her Claws, La Manchita, and Audio Perm under the same roof. Not to mention the three emcees that make up The Chalice, who are all local big hitters in their own right—Lizzo from Lizzo and The Larva Ink, Sophia Eris who has a solo album coming out soon, and Claire De Lune, who’s done guest vocals for the likes of Tribe & Big Cats and MaLLy. The music gods are shining down on us tonight, Twin Cities. It’s unlikely you’ll get another chance at this, at least not for a ten dollar bill. Fri. 9 p.m. $10. —AA - Secrets of the City

The Chalice may be a new collective, but the three emcees who make it up — Sophia Eris, Claire De Lune and Lizzo — are well-known in the local music community both here and outside the region. Bringing a much needed light to female-fronted hip-hop, the trio mixes whip-smart raps, crisp production and clever imagery to create songs that don't plan on leaving your head anytime soon.

"Push It" ignited their spotlight and now the act is working on an EP to be released later this summer. They stopped by the studio to talk about the Minneapolis Wag movement, their side projects and the warm reception from the local music community.

Songs performed: "Mama," "Crown On The Rocks" and "Push It" - 89.3 The Current blog

The Chalice
We've long been awaiting the debut EP from The Chalice and now there's news on its impending arrival. After months of working on songs first premiered on The Local Show back in June, Sophia Eris, Claire De Lune and Lizzo will release their We Are The Chalice EP September 28 at the 7th St. Entry. The Current's own Barb Abney will host the event with A. Wolf And Her Claws, La Manchita and DJ Audio Perm in support. The EP has a few other tracks besides the two we've been playing, "Push It" and "Mama." The one available for preview below is "Double Dutch," a cut that features strong production by Prophis, the guy who also helmed "Push It."

The characteristic interplay between the three women is still there, whip-smart as ever. This was one of the strongest performances at our first installment of Local Current Live, and we're curious to hear what else is in store both for the group and their solo endeavors.

Stream: The Chalice - "Double Dutch" from We Are The Chalice EP
- 89.3 The Current blog

The Chalice
This three-piece collective has been one of our favorites the past month, hinged on the whip-smart raps of Lizzo, Sophia Eris and Claire De Lune, all of whom have had tremendous success in the local music community outside of their time as The Chalice.

We fell in love with "Push It" immediately, a hard-hitting composition which was impossible to turn your ears away from. Such was the case when they performed it at the Cedar Cultural Center during our first Local Current Live installment and the crowd went wild.

The new standout from that set is "Mama," the second track from a record due out at some point in the coming months. Utilizing a lyrical component that Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" trademarked, The Chalice instead rip it to shreds and pop off a few people. It's scuzzy and awesome and another preview of one of our most anticipated releases in the latter half of 2012.

Stream: The Chalice - "Mama," out now - 89.3 The Current blog

The Chalice

It's not often that a single song is enough to sell me on an entire group, but The Chalice did just that with their track "Push It." We're talking quintessential driving-around-with-the-top-down summer jam, here -- undulating underwater basslines, TLC references, and three unique and equally compelling vocalists teasing the listener with tongue-twisters and earworm melodies.

But still, I was nervous that the trio would either 1) be too green to pull it off live, or 2) only have the one song to their name. Thankfully, when we invited them into the studio for a session both of those reservations were immediately squashed. These ladies are just as charismatic live as they are on tape, and additional songs like "Mama" had me hooked by the end of the first verse.

As with Van Stee, I feel like The Chalice are on the precipice of something big. Which is part of the reason we wanted to throw Local Current Live -- this is your chance to see some fantastic bands who are just now starting to make waves.

Plus, the whole shebang is free and open to all ages. See you there! - 89.3 The Current blog

The three emcees in The Chalice are known quite well individually in the Twin Cities music community. Lizzo has a popular project called Lizzo and The Larva Ink, Sophia Eris has released a steady stream of material (and expects a new record shortly) and Claire De Lune — also releasing an album at the end of June — has appeared as a guest vocalist on tracks by MaLLy, Guante and The Tribe & Big Cats! It should then come as no surprise that when the three team up as The Chalice, they are creating some of most dynamic music in Minnesota, fusing individual influences like soul, funk, R&B, reggae and straight up hip-hop.

All transplants to the Midwest, you can hear what each woman brings to the mix. Claire De Lune harnesses the sultry, jazz-inspired nighttime of New York City. Sophia Eris hails from Dayton, OH, or the “Gem City” as it has been deemed, and she certainly exudes the queen-like qualities that exist inside all women, much like a younger Erykah Badu. And Lizzo lashes out with her fresh, southern bite, a result of growing up in Houston.

The Chalice are still relatively new, but things seem bright — the response to their one public song “Push It” has been overwhelming. It’s a set-up that Minnesota hasn’t seen in a very long time: three respected female hip-hop artists under one roof, harnessing the girl-power that Aby Wolf, Dessa, Maria Isa and Desdamona have created in recent years. It’s time for the young ones to take over the reigns. With heavy support from the Rhymesayers roster, well-regarded South Minneapolis rappers and other musicians throughout the country, we think The Chalice will have no issue getting the attention that is warranted.

Show information:

WAG OUT VOL. 2 release will feature The Chalice, Spyder Baybie Raw Dog and 2% Muck and more Saturday, June 9 at The Nomad World Pub
THA CLERB will feature Lizzo, La Manchita, Slapping Purses, Spyder Babie Raw Dog and Mike Mictlan Friday, June 22 at the Triple Rock
The Chalice will perform as the opening act at Local Current Live, a free show at the Cedar Cultural Center on Wednesday, June 27
And Claire De Lune will release her solo record New Lion on June 28 at the 7th St. Entry.
Download "Push It" from our Song of the Day page and subscribe to the podcast while you're at it. The Chalice will be our in-studio guest on The Local Show this Sunday night, June 3 from 6-8 p.m. - 89.3 The Current blog

The Chalice

This is a find from Andrea Swensson, an act she'll be playing on the April 29th all-ladies edition of The Local Show. Featuring three quickly rising emcees (Claire de Lune, Sophia Eris, and Lizzo of Lizzo and the Larva Ink), The Chalice has been performing pretty regularly over the past few weeks, and "Push It" is one of the few songs circulating for public consumption. An all-female hip-hop collective seems rare to come by these days, and "Push It" confirms why we need to hear more. At once allegorical and the next an unabashed criticism of relationships, these three women wind in and out of each other's verses, expanding ideas effortlessly to come crashing together at the end, aided by the bold production of Prophis. - 89.3 The Current blog

They all come from other cities, ones where the idea of female rappers is still a novelty. So you can imagine how surprised the members of the Twin Cities' buzzing new all-female hip-hop trio the Chalice were to find a scene full of empowered women rapping to their hearts' content.

"It's still entirely the boys' club where I came from," said Lizzo, who arrived in town two summers ago via rapper-rich Houston, Texas.

Added her bandmate Sophia Eris, who hails from Dayton, Ohio, "When I got here and heard Dessa, it was unlike anything I'd heard before."

Before you go thinking the Chalice is another poetic, hear-them-roar hip-hop act out to raise the consciousness of other young ladies, you should know that Lizzo and Eris first bonded over singing "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child at karaoke one night. Their third partner, Claire de Lune, counts Aaliyah and Beyoncé as favorites. The songs on the Chalice's eponymous debut EP -- which drops with a release party Friday at 7th Street Entry -- are mostly built around dancing and partying.

After less than a year of working together, the Chalice's three partners (all in their early 20s) have made their name by standing out from the crowd. They're less Dessa and Desdamona, and more TLC and Salt-n-Pepa.

"There's nothing wrong with conscientious rap, that's totally great," said de Lune (real name: Claire Taubenhaus). "There's just a lot of it being made in this town. We wanted to do something different."

The members themselves are quite different from one another. Lizzo (real name: Melissa Jefferson) is a hard-edged rapper; Eris (real name: Lauren Alford) has an Erykah Badu-like soulful rap style; and Claire -- who grew up in New York City and St. Peter, Minn. -- is a Rihanna-style R&B singer-songwriter.

The trio got together around Thanksgiving last year, when Eris and Lizzo asked Claire to sing a hook in a song they were working on, "Push It," now the last track on their six-song EP. When it got posted online via Soundcloud, though, "Push It" caught on fast, including airplay on 89.3 the Current. And thus the Chalice was born.

Their new EP opens with "Ladies Night," with lyrics about touching up the nails before hitting the bars. The party continues in dizzying, bouncy tracks such as "Double Dutch" and "Crown on the Rocks." A rotating cast of local hip-hop producers provide the big beats, including Big Cats!, 2% Muck, Eris' confidant Prophis and Lizzo's fellow Houston transplant Larva Ink.

Despite their songs' rather light (and lightheaded) subject matter, the Chalice's members believe they're still making a strong statement.

"So much Minnesota music is about trying to make you think," Eris said. "This is more about just having fun, but there are still powerful female voices involved. Just by having fun, I think we're expressing our independence from men." - Vita.MN

They all come from other cities, ones where the idea of female rappers is still a novelty. So you can imagine how surprised the members of the Twin Cities' buzzing new all-female hip-hop trio the Chalice were to find a scene full of empowered women rapping to their hearts' content.

"It's still entirely the boys' club where I came from," said Lizzo, who arrived in town two summers ago via the rapper-rich Texas metropolis of Houston.

Added her bandmate Sophia Eris, who hails from Dayton, Ohio, "When I got here and heard Dessa, it was unlike anything I'd heard before."

Before you go thinking the Chalice is another poetic, hear-them-roar hip-hop act out to raise the consciousness of other young ladies, you should know that Lizzo and Sophia first bonded over singing "Booty- licious" by Destiny's Child at karaoke one night. Their third partner, Claire de Lune, counts Aaliyah and Beyoncé as favorites. One of the songs they like to cover together is the vaguely sexist hit "Feels So Good" by Bad Boy rapper Ma$e.

Most important, the original songs on the Chalice's eponymous debut EP -- which drops with a release party Friday at 7th Street Entry -- are mostly built around dancing and partying.

After less than a year of working together, the Chalice's three partners (all in their early 20s) have made their name by standing out from the crowd. They're less Dessa and Desdamona, and more TLC and Salt-n-Pepa. Which is not to say they have anything against more mindful, empowered, poetic hip-hop. A lot of the music they make on the side could even be described that way.

"There's nothing wrong with conscientious rap, that's totally great," said Claire de Lune (real name: Claire Taubenhaus). "There's just a lot of it being made in this town. We wanted to do something different."

The members themselves are quite different from one another. Lizzo (real name: Melissa Jefferson) is a hard-edged rapper who wasn't even aware of Doomtree or Rhymesayers two years ago. "I learned my rap skills more from people like the Crime Mob," she said, referring to the Atlanta rap crew.

Sophia (real name: Lauren Alford) comes from a spoken-word background and has an Erykah Badu-like soulful rap style. And Claire -- who grew up in two distinct worlds, New York City and St. Peter, Minn. -- is a Rihanna-style R&B singer/songwriter who issued a debut EP, "New Lion," in June.

The trio got together around Thanksgiving last year, when Sophia and Lizzo asked Claire to sing a hook in a song they were working on, "Push It," now the last track on their six-song EP. Initially, the tune was planned for an all-girl mixtape loosely dubbed "Raise the Chalice for Female Hip-Hop." When it got posted online via Soundcloud, though, "Push It" caught on fast, including airplay on 89.3 the Current. And thus the Chalice was born.

Claire said it's fitting that they decided to work together while hanging out at a party: "Every time we get together to write or work there's usually a lot of wine involved," she said. Added Lizzo, "We have fun together. A lot of fun."

It shows. Their EP opens with "Ladies Night," with lyrics about touching up the nails before hitting the bars. ("With my girls, we pop / And the boys can't help but stop," Lizzo brags.) The party continues in dizzying, bouncy tracks such as "Double Dutch" and "Crown on the Rocks." Lizzo's song "Mama" -- for which the band just released a lively new video -- steals a line from her favorite rock group, Queen, and recasts it for the Chalice's purposes ("Mama, I just killed a man").

A rotating cast of local hip-hop producers provide the big beats, including Big Cats!, 2% Muck, Sophia's confidant Prophis and Lizzo's fellow Houston transplant Larva Ink.

Despite their songs' rather light (and lightheaded) subject matter, the Chalice's members believe they're still making a strong statement.

"It's fun music to play while you're driving around in your car or getting dressed to go out," Claire said, "but there's still a lot of pride involved in it."

Said Sophia, "So much Minnesota music is about trying to make you think. This is more about just having fun, but there are still powerful female voices involved. Just by having fun, I think we're expressing our independence from men." - Star Tribune

The Chalice, with La Manchita, A. Wolf and Her Claws, and Audio Perm
7th St Entry, Minneapolis
9/28/12

Judging from the excited vibe of all present at the sold-out Chalice release show at the Entry on Friday, a group like this is something local music fans have been waiting on for some time. Less than a year under their belt as a group, the Chalice has already won the hearts of many supporters thanks to their fun and feminine approach to hip-hop, and the culmination of that support surged through the group's first official headlining night.

See Also:
The Chalice take hold of hip hop
Local Frames: New videos from Bob Mould, the Chalice, Beat Detectives, and more


The Current's Barb Abney played host throughout the evening, and she brought an excited fan energy to her time on the mic. Not only that, she was very informative as well, making sure to let everyone know information about each act and where their next show was going to be. The first act of the primarily female cast was La Manchita, a rapper connected with Tha Clerb who got a rare chance to strike out solo. With an appropriately reserved energy and a smile on her face, she brought forth vibrant material that featured 2% Muck manning the beats and Spyder Baybie Raw Dogg providing occasional verses.

She's someone to keep an eye out for, and she's a strong solo performer, bringing a similar sense of fun and rawness that the Chalice do. As tends to be the case early in the night, the back of the room was tightly packed but the dance floor was surprisingly sparse, with Lizzo acting as hardcore fan dancing up front. Audio Perm's Julian Fairbanks and Taylor Madrigal spun beats in between, carefully selecting club songs that fit the night, and their choice of Destiny's Child "Jumpin' Jumpin'" among others was exactly perfect.

A. Wolf and Her Claws continued the show with a spirited and experimental approach to vocal-centric music, laying down sparse noise rhythms and synth lines beneath Aby Wolf's tightly calibrated singing. "We sing hard; that's no lie," she stated at one point in the night, and it was true. Her vocal dexterity goes beyond the melodies and lyrics to display a strong sense of mic control, creating different sounds based on where she held the mic and at what volume she belted. At one point she encouraged people to participate in footwork along to her hi-hat-happy song inspired by the dance style; sadly, no one had the ability or courage, and she might want to consider recruiting someone on stage officially, because that would've been awesome.

All of her strange and spacey music contained that element of dancability, and the crowd slowly warmed up to the challenge of moving their bodies. A. Wolf and Her Claws are at their best when working with strong vocal trickery, and at points the combination of Aby and her back-up singer Linnea Mohn became a hypnotic mixture of pop and opera, as they traded who lead the harmony and switched up where the song took you.

When backing band Sexy Delicious took the stage, audience anticipation for the Chalice to spring forth made opening song "Ladies Night" hit with a punch. Claire de Lune, Sophia Eris, and Lizzo have a remarkable stage presence that combines individual talents into a powerful whole, weaving between rapping, singing, and synchronized dancing on each track. It's an eclectic sound that stays vibrant and fun whatever direction they're taking you, and it draws intentional influence from some of the great girl groups of rap and R'n'B while cultivating a new sound. Switching quickly between hard-as-nails fast-raps to sensuous sung portions kept the show full of surprises.

Each member has a history as a solo artist, and The Chalice's set was designed to highlight both the group effort and their individual components. After a few group songs, Sophia Eris took center stage and performed a poem, highlighting her background as a spoken word artist. She used her section to showcase her personal artistic progression, doing a three-song mini-set that slowly integrated music (via backing conga drum and eventually beats) to establish how her raps grew from her writing poems. The initial switch from full band to Sophia alone was a stark contrast that was jarring at first but built to a fever once she jumped into the crowd and built the energy back up with her raw raps.

Next, Claire de Lune played highlights from her own material off New Lion, with Big Cats spinning beats. Having played "Stay" at the front end of the night's set, she now stood alone to sing "Declaration", which brought a fitting confidence to a song about feminine agency. When MaLLy and TruthBeTold took stage to rap, sing (!), and play air saxophone along with Claire on "Save The Day", it exemplified her stepping out from under the shadow of acts she's provided hooks for, as now they were providing back-up for her songs. The torchlight vocals was a highlight of the night.

When Lizzo emerged with her other project the Larva Ink in tow, she showcased where she cut her teeth as a strong frontwoman, giving a powerful performance with a rock-tinged approach to electro-pop stylings. Lizzo has an undeniable magnetism and a hell of a voice, and anyone into the Chalice should definitely keep their ears out for her other group. When she got into the swing of the rhythmically heavy "Back Again", the crowd exploded and everyone in the place was moving.

It pretty much remained at this level through the rest of the show, when the Chalice as a whole returned, finishing out the show over beats. It was gigantic towards the end, especially once the live band returned at the encore for closer "Drop Em", which starts with a sultry coo but leaps into a crunchy distorted guitar line once Lizzo starts her rapidfire verse. It was an intense moment that only got more so once the band launched into Salt 'N Pepa's classic "Push It", jamming on the song until the night concluded. The whole night was an immense success and a ridiculous amount of fun.

Critic's Bias: I personally have been wanting a group like this to exist for a long time.

The Crowd: A lot of local artists were in attendance, as well as many press, but plenty of fans of all ages and backgrounds.

Random Notebook Dump: Is "Push It" not the greatest synth line ever written? Discuss.

Overheard in the Crowd: An emphatic "Oh Shit!!!" at the sound of Destiny's Child's "Jumpin' Jumpin'"

Setlist:

Ladies Night
Stay (Claire de Lune)
Real Recognize Real
Rest Your Head Up (Sophia Eris)
Sophia Eris solo set:
- I'm Wondering
- Jambe Theme
- Switchin'
Claire de Lune solo set:
-Declaration
-Save the Day (feat MaLLy and Chris Hooks)
-Flames
Lizzo and Larva Ink set
-Repent
-Delay
-Back Again
W.E.R.K. (Lizzo)
Double Dutch
Mama
Crown on the Rocks
Drop Em
Encore: Push It - City Pages Minneapolis

"When women come together and are great, it's magical and it explodes." This is the voice of Lizzo, one-third of the Chalice, a Minneapolis hip-hop revelation. The 24-year-old singer-rapper with an intricate head of long braids can be brash and hilarious, but she's laying it down like brick and mortar at the moment. "Destiny's Child," she continues. "No one knew it was going to hit like it did. When you see Missy Elliott, and it's a roomful of dudes, it's not because she's female, it's because she's great."

During an hour-long interview with City Pages — between sips of ginger ale and cold-press coffee in Icehouse's outdoor seating area — inspirational figures including TLC, SWV, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill burst forth from Lizzo and her collaborators Sophia Eris, 24, and Claire de Lune, 22.

The three — a mix of energy, colorful ensembles, and confident self-knowlege — are proving Lizzo's explosive point. There's an undeniable je ne sais quoi simmering at this table as they unpack stories, in-jokes, and wisdom they've accumulated in less than a year as a group. And yeah, this is not just any three women who decided to form a hip-hop group in the Twin Cities. She says she's from Detroit, but Lizzo's voice and experience are also colored by a decade of gospel and marching bands in Houston, and she's been in Minnesota only since moving here with a bandmate in another group, Johnny "Larva Ink" Lewis, about a year ago.

"The Chalice was so important to me because I saw so many powerful women in this scene, and none of them were united," says military brat Eris, who always seems to have her hair wrapped up in colorful cloth. She came here from Ohio earlier this decade to study music business at the Institute of Production and Recording (IPR). Claire de Lune, who lived in New York City until age 12, is the closest to being a local. After spending a few years in St. Peter, she attended the Perpich Arts High School and began singing in coffee shops. Eventually she began forging bonds with local rappers like TruthBeTold of the Tribe and Big Cats! and has appeared on tracks with MaLLy and Guante.

"I've always said women need to have each others' backs, but then I was always working with dudes — singing hooks with dudes," de Lune says. "I was like, that's really hypocritical of me. To say one thing is the nearest and dearest to me and then do something entirely different. I remember thinking I'm finally putting my money where my mouth is."

Lizzo and Eris met at last year's Red Stag Block Party, and they excitedly shout out the songs they sang with a group of karaoke revelers at the VFW later that night. With a shared love of Destiny's Child hits "Bootylicious" and "Say My Name" and Salt-n-Pepa's "Whatta Man," the two eventually became roommates, and started experimenting with music. By November, de Lune had linked up with them for a song that needed a hook, the attitudinal "Push It," which nods to their rap foremothers and is completed with her sultry delivery of "Whatcha gonna do to me."

All three Chalice members sing — and sigh and harmonize and emote — on the We Are the Chalice EP, but poet Eris and "beast with an inner beat" Lizzo are firmly the rappers of the crew. Recorded at Waterbury Studios with Eric Blomquist, the eight tracks feature production work by Larva Ink, Big Cats!, Prophis, OD, and 2% Muck. "Mama" impressively mines Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" for its refrain, and breaks off with pistol-toting power that flies in the face of the conscious-rap tone found abundantly in the Twin Cities — without coming off as pop pandering. Similarly, "W.E.R.K." employs the playfulness popularized by Nicki Minaj, but is its own creature altogether. "Look like a girl/Act like a lady/Think like a man/But work like a boss," is the repeated mantra, and it shows in the way the Chalice carry themselves onstage and off.

Backing the Chalice for their release show at 7th St. Entry are area soul-flavored rockers Sexy Delicious, and it's part of yet another fortuitous situation that these women have orchestrated in the weeks leading up to the concert. The calculated way they talk about each other and every step taken this year — even a few errant negative YouTube comments following their exposure on the Current are seen as the needed fuel to keep an edge — it's an art in itself.

"Not to say that we haven't worked our butts off — because we've worked our butts off — but the Chalice was super charmed from the beginning," de Lune says. "Something about the three of us together feels like kismet, fate, charmed...whatever you want to call it. Let's nurture it and help it along. It's something bigger than the three of us." - City Pages Minneapolis

#1. The Chalice: 83 points

"Our ladies' nights are really dope," asserts the Chalice's queen-bee rapper, Lizzo. "We get together and drink. That's how it started -- with red wine. If it were liquor, it wouldn't get done. Making tracks, turning tracks into a song, and turning tracks into a banger is like three completely different processes."

Process number four is working on steps and transitions in a drafty, high-ceilinged practice space in northeast Minneapolis with cans of Pabst at the ready. "You want a drink?" asks Sophia Eris, who perpetually wraps her head in colorful fabric. After pouring something alcoholic for herself, she hands a bottle of water across the makeshift bar. Come to think of it, every interaction City Pages has ever had with the local hip-hop scene's new goddesses has incorporated liquid refreshments of some sort.


"First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you," F. Scott Fitzgerald once said. And though he uttered it in a state of enlightened intoxication long before rap music, there's something to his statement that applies to the framework of the Chalice. Except their drinking sessions aren't just taking Lizzo, Eris, and Claire de Lune in -- the greater Twin Cities music scene is getting lit too.

"I want to impress the pants off the audience so that they feel like their time is well-spent," Eris says of the group's live presence. For now, it's time to work out miniscule kinks in the ensemble numbers embedded within an ambitious 19-song set. This is stuff like agreeing on which beat to bust into rapping the intro to Salt-n-Pepa's "Push It" after segueing out of their own song of the same name. And like everyone else who sips -- and eventually gulps -- from the Chalice, the guys in the four-deep funkatronic backing band, Sexy Delicious, wear the smiles of those who are pleased to imbibe along during this rehearsal.

It'll be another five days before the Chalice wear sequins, jewelry, and dresses while hoisting cups swirling with fermented grape. They'll be in front of a 7th St. Entry crowd packed with rapper friends and at least a dozen photographers. But you can already see the entire thing playing out in their glistening irises. They're even considering their end-of-show banter. "There's a lot of fucking people to thank; I could talk for hours," Eris admits. At this instant, their world is an enormous ladies night, and the trio's raw talent is the intoxicating stuff brimming from their goblets.

"One of the reasons it works is that I'm a Lizzo fan and a Sophia Eris fan," de Lune says of her two rapper counterparts. "And I have been since before we were in a group. I have a guess that if you put five-year-old [Sophia] on stage, she would've killed it. Lizzo owns the stage, owns the booth, and everything she touches turns to Lizzo." Lizzo's got the pure vocalist's back too: "Claire has a voice that is almost like an instrument. It's very rich and clear. She nails it."

After a fortuitous meeting at last year's Red Stag Block Party, a mixtape incorporating a bunch of females from the scene brought the Chalice closer together. Then there was the 12-minute blowout performance at SXSW that even a geriatric bartender got down for, and later what amounted to crashing the Minnesota Public Radio's airwaves party. "There's a lyric on the Current right now that says 'roll up up up in the club club club' and I'm proud of that," Lizzo says, exploding with a booming laugh. "That was not on there before."

After questions started circulating about when a record was coming, a fervid July and August in the studio turned into We Are the Chalice. It's a party EP, a gilded cup handled with a middle finger cocked on its cover, to remind us that Missy Elliott used to have the nickname "Misdemeanor," and that audacity and brashness are an acceptable substitute for hip hop's chin-stroking and pontification. Their song "Ladies Night," while it is immediately a nod to what the Chalice call "our foremothers," is also based on a true story that's still unfolding.

When Friday's release show arrives, so does a palpable and feminine electricity inside the Entry. Even though each member of the Chalice is only in her early to mid-20s, there's ample creative ground to cover. In addition to We Are the Chalice, Lizzo has regular projects with Larva Ink and Tha Clerb, and de Lune has her solo songs, as does Eris. And everyone guests on everyone else's stuff around town. It's a set lively and fluid enough for the middle-finger wavers to want to get crunk, and long enough for the whole room to achieve crunk.

Still, the ladies admit they've only really begun to mesh recently. "If you listen to the record, you can hear us grow as a group," Lizzo says. "We're not just three artists anymore." If this is only the happy hour of the Chalice's development, let's order up another round. - City Pages Minneapolis