7L & Esoteric (7LES) are a Boston-based hip-hop duo, notorious for battle rhymes and boom-bap production. 7L is the duo's DJ/Producer and Esoteric the emcee.The duo formed in 1992 when Esoteric (known at the time as Seamus the God Awful) DJed a hip hop show at a college radio station north of Boston. 7L, a DJ and producer who listened to the show, contacted Esoteric in the interest of collaborating. The two found they shared a common love of the golden age of hip-hop and decided to form a group.
After performing for some time in the Boston underground, the duo, with MC Karma known at the time as God Complex, released their first single in 1996. This led to the release of the Rebel Alliance LP, featuring acts such as Virtuoso, Mr. Lif, Tony Infamous and Force Five. Also at this time the two dropped the God Complex moniker becoming simply 7L & Esoteric.
Soon after, 7L & Esoteric put out their first 12” with re-mastered versions of their Rebel Alliance songs “Protocol” and “Be Alert.” "Be Alert", the B-side on the record, began to receive significant radio play, due to its unique sampling of the Transformers TV theme song. The track, which was produced by Beyonder, became very popular in the underground scene.
The duo then dropped the “Def Rhymes” single which got them press in the Source. “Def Rhymes” was also featured on the EP, Speaking Real Words, released in 1999. The album also featured Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck on the title track.
They released their debut LP The Soul Purpose in the summer of 2001. The album received the Boston Music Award for “Best Hip-Hop Album,”[citation needed] and led to the duo touring the United States and Europe. Upon their return, they recorded and released their second LP in the fall of 2002 entitled Dangerous Connection.
After taking a break from recording the duo released their third LP DC2: Bars of Death in the spring of 2004 with Babygrande Records. The album received overall positive reviews and was lauded by long-time fans.[citation needed] In 2006, "Moment of Rarities" was also released with Babygrande. This CD was a collection of previously unreleased tracks. Esoteric has stated that this CD was put out to fulfill contractual obligations with Babygrande Records.
"Too Much Posse" was released in 2006, under Esoteric's own label, Fly Casual. This CD was a collection of songs where Esoteric rapped alongside other artists. It also contained a few previously unreleased remixes and freestyles. Later in 2006 "A New Dope" was released, taking the duo in a new direction with more a more electro influenced sound and the production shared between both 7L and Esoteric. The album featured Kool Keith on the track "Daisy Cutta".
7L & Esoteric are both prominent members of the underground hip-hop groups the Demigodz and Army of the Pharaohs. Their work also features a long list of collaborations with artists such as Jedi Mind Tricks, Apathy, Celph Titled, Outerspace, and even World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler John Cena.
Le Tigre is an American dance-punk band, formed by Kathleen Hanna (formerly of Bikini Kill) and Johanna Fateman in 1998. It also featured Sadie Benning from 1998 until 2001, and JD Samson for the rest of the group's run. Le Tigre is known for its socio-political lyrics, dealing with issues of feminism and the LGBT community. The band is currently on hiatus.
Initially envisioned as a live back up band for Hanna's solo project Julie Ruin, Le Tigre mixed the politics and feminism of riot grrrl with fun electronic samples and lo-fi beats. Other members included Johanna Fateman and JD Samson. JD joined Le Tigre as a full member when co-founder Sadie Benning left the band before the Feminist Sweepstakes album was recorded. JD had previously worked with the band as a roadie and the operator of Benning's slide show during live performances in support of their first record. The self-proclaimed "underground electro-feminist performance artists" combined visuals, music and dance in their performances. JD is a gay rights activist, and the excerpts in "New Kicks" are from an actual protest that JD recorded herself. Kathleen is a public speaker against sexual abuse.
The song "Hot Topic" on Le Tigre's self-titled debut pays tribute to dozens of female visual artists, musicians, writers, feminists and others who have inspired them. Among the honorees are: Yoko Ono, Cibo Matto, Aretha Franklin, Vaginal Cream Davis, Yayoi Kusama, Angela Davis, Sleater-Kinney, Billy Tipton, Laura Cottingham, James Baldwin, and Hanna's close friend, Tammy Rae Carland. In a similar fashion the song "FYR" off the album Feminist Sweepstakes is a tribute to the chapter and ideals put forth in Shulamith Firestone's Fifty Years of Ridicule in her 1970 feminist work The Dialectic of Sex. The album contains a sample of an essay written by Mark Rothko in response to a negative review in 1942 where he debuted the style he would become famous for.
The first two recordings by the band were released on the independent label Mr. Lady Records, run by Kaia Wilson of The Butchies and her girlfriend, artist Tammy Rae Carland. Feminist Sweepstakes (2001) came out on Chicks on Speed's record label. The album This Island (2004) was Le Tigre's first on a major label (Universal Records). Ric Ocasek of the Cars produced one track, "Tell You Now." Even after signing with Universal, Le Tigre continued to work with independent labels. In 2005 they released This Island Remixes with Chicks on Speed.
In the second half of 2006, the band decided to take an extended break starting early 2007.[1] Since then Kathleen has participated in The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls and taught an art class at NYU. JD Samson has toured as keyboard player with Peaches and made many DJ appearances, while Johanna Fateman has kept busy with a hairdressing salon in NYC's Greenwich Village.[2] In 2008 JD and Johanna formed a new project, Men, that will do a DJ tour and record
