Kanye West Reunites Rap Duo ABSTRACT MINDSTATE for Inaugural YZY SND Album Release
‘Dreams Still Inspire’ is out from the rapper’s new music project on August 6.
Chicago rap duo ABSTRACT MINDSTATE have reunited for a new album that’s produced in full by Kanye West.
As the inaugural release of West’s music project YZY SND, Dreams Still Inspire will release early next month on August 6. It also happens to be the first album to be fully produced by West that’s not his own since 2005’s Be by Common.
Comprised of MCs E.P Da Hellcat and Olskool Ice-Gre, MINDSTATE was formed between the Jackson State University students during the late ’90s and dropped their debut LP We Paid Let Us In! in 2001. While the male-female rap duo (a rarity in hip-hop) never made it mainstream after being met with industry obstacles that prevented the release of their sophomore album, West, who created beats for their first LP, remained a fan.
Thirteen years later, in 2018, he tapped E.P, who’d since found a career as a behavior analyst, and flew her out to his studio in Calabasas where she linked with her former collaborator Olskool. In the three years that followed, the duo recorded 25 songs that were culled to form the Dreams Still Inspire tracklist.
A preview of the MINDSTATE’s new body of work has been shared today with the release of the third song off of the album, “A Wise Tale.” The entire 14-song tracklist was also published, with features from Jonquia Rose, Luka Sabbat, Tony Williams, Deon Cole and West himself.
Along with the album’s release, a new documentary will chronicle the rise and reunification of MINDSTATE, called WE PAID LET US IN! THE LEGEND OF ABSTRACT MINDSTATE. More details on its release and how to watch will be available in the coming weeks.
Dreams Still Inspire is out from ABSTRACT MINDSTATE on August 6.
In other music news, here’s everything we know about Kanye West’s upcoming album DONDA.
