Latyrx Announces New EP – ‘Disconnection’

Although we previously shared the news of the long over due sophomore album from Latyrx (Lyrics Born x Lateef the Truth Speaker), The Second Album, it looks like the duo have an EP in store for us first. In a couple weeks time, they will be releasing a new EP called Disconnection on November 13th. The first single is slated to be “Gorgeous Spirits”. But fret not, The Second Album is still in the pipeline, now slated for April 2013. Check the full press release after the break.

DISCONNECTION TRACK LISTING:
01. Gorgeous Spirits (Aye, Let’s Go!) (prod by DJ Replay)
02. It’s Time (prod by Amp Live ft Zion I)
03. The Beast (prod by The Bangerz)
04. Rushin Attack (prod by Somehow At Sea)
05. Out Of My Mind (prod by AmpLive & Lyrics Born)
06. Call To Arms (prod by Headnodic / ft Karyn Paige)

A lot has transpired in hip-hop since the Bay Area rap duo Latyrx released their 1997 critically acclaimed debut LP Latyrx: the Album. Now, after working on their own solo projects and dropping the mixtape ‘Latyrical Madness’ last year, emcees Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker– known as Latyrx–are readying a 6 track EP, Disconnection. The duo follow their creative instincts and get experimental on Disconnection, but they maintain their emphasis on lyricism that is at the core of their music. The first single off the EP, “Gorgeous Spirits”, was produced by DJ Replay. Guest cameos on Disconnection include Zumbi of Zion I. Production is shared by The Bangerz, Headnodic, and Amp Live of Zion I.

The history of Latyrx is long and storied: Back in 1995, Bay Area rap was at the big-ballin’ peak of the mobb music craze, LA was chronically gripped in a G-funk indo smoke haze, Atlanta was enjoying its Southernplayalistic days, and NYC was entering a shiny-suit phase.

There was no frame of reference for two lyrical emcees experimenting with the tonality and resonance of rhyme patterns. 
 
The pairing of Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker into Latyrx was “an accident,” LB recalls. Both emcees were solo artists, but when LB heard the pre-Endtroducing DJ Shadow beat which would become Latyrx’ eponymous debut single, his reaction was, “Oh my God, I gotta get on this.”

“Latyrx” was a syllabic tour de force which began with two dissonant voices — one gruff and bassy, the other higher-pitched and trebly, both hella fluid — it transmogrified into a harmonic convergence of doubled verses simultaneously assaulting eardrums. Undeniably, it was great… but weird. “It was ill,” Lateef recalls. “We really felt like we had something unlike anyone else had done,” he adds.

Latyrx’ first and thusfar, only, full-length, 1997′s Latyrx: the Album, “set the tone for what Solesides and Quannum would do,” LB recalls, while 1998′s Muzappers Mixes EP spawned one of the only feminist-affirming club bangers in hip-hop history, “Lady Don’t Tek No.”

Though Latyrx never officially broke up, after Muzappers, both members followed their chosen paths to considerable solo success. Yet no matter how much acclaim each attained individually, the notion of someday making another Latyrx record was always present. “It’s probably the number one thing I got asked about in my career,” LB says.

14 years (!) after the release of Latyrx: the Album, LB and Lateef have finally answered the prayers of long-starved fans who have begged, pleaded and, by now, tweeted about the possibilities of a reunion. An impromptu Latyrx set at a 2010 Jazz Mafia concert at San Francisco’s Mezzanine led to an appearance at 2011′s Outside Lands festival, Google’s Summer Concert Series (they were the first hip-hop act to perform) and a last minute appearance as part of HITRECORD At The Movies — a unique film and music traveling showcase curated and hosted by actor and artist Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

What Latyrx brings to the table is a technical difficulty level rare these days in hip-hop and matched only by a few groups in the genre’s entire history: Run-DMC, Jurassic 5, Blackstar, Freestyle Fellowship. Their challenging, intricate back-and forth arrangements evoke a lyrical version of bebop, with layer upon layer of rhythmic syncopation and vocal patterning constantly pushing the envelope.

”We have a good chemistry and it’s kind of unique,” Lateef says. “We step up each others’ game content, and both of us push each other in the originality department.”

”What we’ve talked about is very simply, picking up where we left off,” LB explains. The return of Latyrx stands as very good news for true hip-hop fans, lyrical aficionados, boom-bap beatniks, urban bohemians, wee tots in Reeboks, and Muzappers of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages.

Disconnection will be available November 13, 2012 and distributed via InGrooves. Their sophomore album, The Second Album coming April 2013.