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Abstract Mindstate Taps David Banner, Slum Village, And More For New Album 'The Art Project'
Now available on all major digital streaming platforms.
Olskool Ice-Gre and E.P. Da Hellcat, also known as the Chicago Hip-Hop duo Abstract Mindstate, have released their long-awaited new album The Art Project today (7/18/2025). Available on all major digital streaming platforms via Honest Music/Barak With Love/Vydia, and produced entirely by Young RJ of Slum Village, The Art Project serves as the full-length follow-up to the duo's 2021 Kanye West-produced album Dreams Still Inspire. Guest features include David Banner, Blu, J.Ivy, and more.
"The album cover art itself is a metaphor-- abstract art on display in a gallery, which is an indication that the art is rare and important. The same as the idea of a male/female duo in Hip Hop… Our music is abstract art, filled with color and dimension to make people think. Just like abstract art, some will understand immediately, some later, and some never at all." - Olskool Ice Gre
"I thought about school and how much time and effort we as students would put into our individual art projects, and how we looked forward to that portion of the class that allowed us to showcase what we learned. What we do is art, and this is a project. Hence, ‘The Art Project’. I hope listeners take away our example of staying true to something that is innate and comes from the soul, and how that can be maintained even as life is life-ing!" - EP Da Hellcat
Stream/purchase The Art Project: https://bit.ly/4euiN1j
Album standout "Who Would've Thunk" (featuring Sly Pyper) was leaked exclusively via Bandcamp earlier this month. The song's official music video is set to debut via Abstract Mindstate's YouTube channel today at 10am EST. Subscribe here.
The Art Project is a result of the undeniable chemistry established between Slum Village and Abstract Mindstate while the two groups toured the Pacific Northwest and Europe together in 2022 and 2024, respectively. Still Paying...An Abstract European Experience, is a short film documenting parts of these experiences, and is due out later this summer. Watch the trailer: https://bit.ly/4lAFjbB
Abstract Mindstate has been nominated for two Hollywood Independent Music Awards, and are set to perform live at the ceremony in LA on July 30th.
Previous:
- "The Get Down" ft. Slum Village (lyric video)
- "Bar Louie" ft. David Banner (music video)
MORE ABOUT ABSTRACT MINDSTATE:
Olskool Ice-Gre and E.P. Da Hellcat (a.k.a. Ebony Poetress) are the male/female Hip-Hop duo known as Abstract Mindstate, hailing from the Southside and Westside of Chicago respectively. The pair made a name for themselves in the early 2000s with their golden era sensibilities, their brutally honest and introspective lyrics over soulful beats, and their energetic and connected live performances. They proudly label themselves Adult Contemporary Hip Hop or ACH, a term Gre coined and has been using to describe the group’s music for several years.
Their 2001 debut album We Paid, Let Us In! was to be the first of three albums they had planned, including Still Paying and You Owe Us Change. The former was set to feature Kanye West, Common, and John Legend. But when a “a sizable investment” fell through, and their label situation didn't pan out, the album was ultimately shelved. The duo pivoted to their Chicago’s Hardest Working mixtape series to try to stay afloat and keep the momentum in their favor, but the group soon faced personal hardship and decided to hang up the mics in 2008.
Over a decade later, Gre and EP would re-emerge with a full-length album produced entirely by Kanye West, an artist their group had inspired early on. The album, Dreams Still Inspire, would be the only official release via Kanye's YZY SND imprint. Although no longer affiliated with the label, the group continues to evolve as part of the Slum Village extended family, a sibling group whose DNA permeates the likes of Midwestern Hip-Hop greats.
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