Pitchfork

[Posted Tuesday, October 7th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

The owners of the #17 spot on Pitchfork's Top 20 Best Records of 2001, Cannibal Ox, will set out on a cross-country trek this month, supported by the world's sickest female rapper, Jean Grae. Unlike the big-name, no-game major-label hip-hop acts, Can Ox and the rest of the Def Jux crew know how to bomb a stage. In their own words, quality is job one "because motherfuckers are bored."

Cannibal Ox's show imagines a new, better live experience in which each microphone must be treated with complete illness, rhythms come provocative, and not a minute is wasted on posture or pomp. Blessed be these beat-bumping brainiacs, for they entertain and educate with their rhymes. Those who have borne witness can attest that emcees Vast Aire and Vordul Megilah are no slouches in the live setting, and the tour will give them a chance to unveil new rhymes before they end up on their anticipated follow-up to their debut LP, The Cold Vein (all dates with Jean Grae, Pumpkinhead, and Soul Purpose). Tizzour dizz-- ahh, forget it:

10-09 New York, NY - Knitting Factory
10-17 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
10-20 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10-21 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-22 Pittsburgh, PA - Rex Theatre
10-23 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird
10-24 Chicago, IL - Smart Bar
10-25 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry
10-27 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
10-28 Seattle, WA - Graceland
10-29 Portland, OR - Ash Street Saloon
10-30 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
10-31 San Jose, CA - TBA
11-01 Los Angeles, CA - Roxy
11-02 San Diego, CA - Mira Mesa Epicentre
11-03 Phoenix, AZ - Mason Jar
11-04 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre
11-06 Austin, TX - Emo's
11-07 Dallas, TX - TBA
11-08 Houston, TX - TBA
11-10 Kansas City, MO - Bottleneck
11-11 St. Louis, MO - Rocket Bar
11-12 Columbus, OH - TBA
11-13 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
11-14 Toronto, ON - Zen Lounge
11-16 Boston, MA - Middle East
11-17 Providence, RI - Met Cafe

Can Ox also appear on Jean Grae's new EP, The Bootleg of the Bootleg, out on Babygrande Records this week. Other guest appearances include Pumpkinhead and Block McCloud, and the final track is a 45-minute mix of Professor Grae covering and freestyling on preferred cuts by Jay-Z, Nas, and Mobb Deep, as well as reinterpreting a few of her own early singles. Most interestingly, though, is the EP's rumored choose-your-own-adventure format, presenting instructions on which track to select based on the listener's mood and environment. Complex! Tracklist in effect:

01 Hater's Anthem
02 Take Me
03 Swing Blades
04 My Crew
05 Code Red
06 Chapter One: Destiny
07 Megamix