CYNE - Evolution Fight
Released Aug. 29, 2005
on City Centre Offices
This progressive hip-hop album will move crowds with ease. Or you can simply sit back and breathe it all in. And don’t worry, with no skits or weak tracks, you won’t have to reach for the “skip” button.
CYNE is easily the best hip-hop act out of Gainesville, Fla., and I would go so far as to say that Evolution Fight is a contender for the genre’s album of the year.
In an interview with Textura, group member Speck reflects on the the band’s collective viewpoint:
Producers Speck and Enoch chop up samples and rearrange them on their MPC to create lush, layered soundscapes that would stand on their own, but instead provide the perfect backdrop for the group’s two emcees to flow over.We rely on the diversity that exists within our group and we meet at a point of shared enthusiasm and concern: sonically, emotionally, politically, our immediate environment, our era, popular media, basic daily functions, etc. For the four of us, our strongest tool for displaying this is hip-hop.
As their label’s Web site notes, CYNE also used live instrumentation on two tracks, with guest musicians including The Mercury Program.
Meanwhile, lyricists Cise Star and Akin sort out their internal and external struggles, taking full advantage of the cathartic nature of the artform.
Essential.