Opio and Free the Robots are teaming up for an album entitled Sempervirens, due out September 18. The title for the album means “always living.”
The rapper and producer met each other in 2013. Touring together helped them build live chemistry before hitting the studio. The duo released its The Subconscious Mind EP in March.
“Free The Robots and I started our live collaboration the summer before The Subconscious Mind came out when we went on a short run for the EP,” Opio says in an exclusive statement to HipHopDX. “We both individually have shows that have live hardware aspects and so during sound checks we started to jam and improvise with our drum machines. The first time we ever actually played live together was at Low End Theory in LA. I was performing and we wanted to incorporate FTR into the show (how could you not since he is a Low End Theory Staple) and we made it work. It felt right and from there we moved forward integrating our sets into one.”
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Free the Robots says working with the Souls of Mischief rapper was exciting.
“It’s kind of a blur to me at this point, but naturally it all just happened,” Free The Robots says of collaborating with Opio in an exclusive statement to HipHopDX. “We originally met at Hiero Day 2013. I stopped by Hiero HQ in Oakland to meet the crew and vibe out. It turns out my releases were in the rotation during their last tour, and I was pretty psyched to be in the radar of some of the folks who paved the way for me. The conversation for a collab with Opio didn’t really start till they came down to play in my city for the 93 ’til [Infinity] 20 year anniversary. Somewhere between the guys stopping by my restaurant before the show, and me taking a break to go to see them play, an idea of experimenting on some tracks together was mentioned. Easy as that, we got in contact and just started working, sending each other parts via email.”
Sempervirens is made up of 13 tracks and features Black Bumple Bee and Lan.
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The cover art and tracklist for Sempervirens are as follows, as is the stream for :
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- Back Seat Ridin’ (f. Black Bumple Bee)
- Point of View
- Stoned Temple Pilot
- Tu Sabes (f. Lan)
- 808 State of Mind
- Opiopia
- Tesla Coil
- Dirt Nap
- Loki Drop (f. Black Bumple Bee and Lan)
- Hocus Pocus
- Psych Ward
- Fuego
- Planet Zod
