Chicago Record Report is a monthly series highlighting some of the new local music that has caught the ear of Reader staff.

Abstract Mindstate (aka the Wonder Twins), The Art Project

In the 90s and 00s, the duo Abstract Mindstate were at the forefront of the city’s conscious hip-hop scene. But after E.P. da Hellcat and Olskool Ice-Gre saw their second album, Still Paying , get shelved in 2005, they decided that their music career was unsustainable and went their separate ways. They’d stopped even thinking about making music again when their old friend Kanye West persuaded them to reunite and produced their 2021 album Dreams Still Inspire . ( At the time, Reader staffer Leor Galil suggested that the project could be seen as Ye’s “olive branch to the hip-hop community” in li

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