ARTIST PROFILE: Hip-Hop's Overachievers, The Underachievers

 
A few years ago (2012 to be exact) during a particular dormant (and unproductive, truth must be told) time of New York hip-hop a group of young acts started making wives. You already had artists like A$ap Rocky and Action Bronson getting bigger profiles, but a large amount of the buzz was based in Brooklyn. You had Pro-Era (with their breakout artist Joey Bada$$), Flatbush Zombies, and the Underachievers all making fantastic hip-hop, often together, and calling themselves the Beast Coast.
The members of the group, Issa gold and AK, definitely have their roots in traditional NYC boom bap hip-hop with a heavy focus on wordplay, vocal syncopation and delivery. But their topics, trippy beats and vibe was much larger than the world view that you get from the average tri-state MC. Topics like psychedelics and spirituality in different forms were covered along with the day to day reality of living in a tough metropolis. From their first mixtape Indigoism, to their individual releases, and now their latest album they’ve worked hard to refine and broaden their spectrum and it shows.
Their sophomore album “Evermore: The Art Of Duality” is out on September 25th and NPR has a preview listen right here. To celebrate their new record they will also be going out on tour with a stop at the Howard Theatre on Oct 22nd, you can get tickets here.

The Underachievers:
10-01 San Francisco, CA - Sutter Room at Regency Theater *
10-02 Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst *
10-03 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall *
10-04 Seattle, WA - Neumos *
10-05 Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue *
10-06 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater *
10-09 Salt Lake City, UT - Complex *
10-10 Denver, CO - Cervantes *
10-11 Fort Collins, CO - Aggie *
10-13 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room *
10-14 Minneapolis, MN - First Ave *
10-15 Madison, WI - Majestic *
10-16 Chicago, IL - Metro *
10-17 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig *
10-18 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix 8
10-20 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda *
10-21 Boston, MA - Boston *
10-22 Washington, DC - Washington DC *
10-23 Burlington, VT - Higher *
10-24 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
10-26 Philadelphia, PA - TLA *
10-27 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *
10-28 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade *
10-29 Orlando, FL - 578 *
10-30 Miami, FL - TBD *
10-31 Tampa, FL - Orpheum *
11-01 Jacksonville, FL - Underbelly *
11-04 Austin, TX - Parish *
11-05 Dallas, TX - Trees *
11-06 San Antonio, TX - Alamo *
11-08 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine *
11-09 Phoenix, AZ - Club Red *
11-10 Santa Ana, CA - Observatory *
11-11 San Diego, CA - Observatory *
11-12 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey *
11-19 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Bitterzoet
11-20 Antwerp, Belgium - Faded Weekender (Trix)
11-21 Dublin, Ireland - District 8
11-23 London, England - Scala
11-24 Glasgow, Scotland - The Garage
11-26 Oslo, Norway - Parkteatret
11-27 Helsinki, Finland - Tavastia
11-28 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Strand
11-29 Copenhagen, Denmark - Lille Vega
12-01 Warsaw, Poland - Proxima
12-02 Berlin, Germany - Popstbahnhof
12-03 Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefahrlich
12-04 Cologne, Germany - Luxor
12-05 Frankfurt, Germany - Zoom
12-06 Stuttgart, Germany - Wizeman
12-07 Leipzig, Germany - Taubchenthal
12-09 Vienna, Austria - Grelle Forelle
12-10 Basel, Switzerland - Kaserne
12-11 Zurich, Switzerland - Dynamo
12-12 Paris, France - La Machine du Moulin Rouge
* with Pouya & The Buffet Boys, Kirk Knight, and Bodega Bamz