The winner is Jeferson Fernandes of Pelotas, Rio Grande, Brazil! His company is Mutations Artwork definitely hit him up on the web! http://mutationsartwork.deviantart.com/ he did his thing with Logan’s image. Cop one at the store, fast because there were only 75 t-shirts pressed…and actually only 74 will be available because I’ll be rockin’ mine on the HELL AWAITS tour with Jedi Mind Tricks, Reef, and BBH starting 8/19 in San Diego!

AAAAAAND the runner up was my man Erik’s comic style submission:

That shit is ill! Lots of details in this one that tickled my fancy. Good work Erik, I wish I knew your address, or where you are from…with that “k” at the end of your name it leads me to believe you are from Thor’s country. I am probably wrong though…you could be from Burlington. Anyone think the Thor movie is gonna kick ass? I don’t…even though I hear Natalie P-P-P-Portman is in it and that has to make it worthwhile…

The “Hell Awaits” Summer Tour w/Jedi Mind Tricks, MC Esoteric, Reef the
Lost Cauze, and Bound by Honor

8/19/09 - San Diego, CA - Cane’s Bar & Grill*

8/20/09 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey*

8/21/09 - Pomona, CA – Glasshouse*

8/22/09 - San Francisco, CA – Independent*

8/24/09 - Fresno, CA – Starline*

8/25/09 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brewery*

8/26/09 - Santa Barbara, CA - Velvet Jones*

8/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Murray Theatre*

8/29/09 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theatre*

8/30/09 - Colorado Springs, CO - Black Sheep*

9/1/09 - Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater*

9/2/09 - Chicago, IL – Subterranean*

9/3/09 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall*

9/4/09 - Toronto, ON - Opera House*

9/5/09 - Ottawa, ON - Ritual Nightclub*

9/6/09 - Montreal, QC - Telus Theater*

9/9/09 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground*

9/10/09 - Portland, ME - The Asylum*

9/11/09 - Boston, MA – Paradise*

Saving Seamus Ryan CD cover w/ Sticker

PRESS RELEASE:

Second only to Large Professor’s prophecy on Midnight Marauders; “Queens Represent, Buy The Album When I Drop It,” no project in hip hop has been alluded to on wax and then so heavily coveted and discussed as Esoteric’s new full length opus, Saving Seamus Ryan. The album originally labeled by Eso himself as “…coming soon” on his (with partner 7L) highly acclaimed A New Dope album is finally here and well worth the wait.

The full-length is an audio short story based on a bizarre dream that Esoteric had 4 years ago. As he describes it, “It was a crazy period in my life: I was engaged, in the process of finding a new home; the record business was going down the tubes, I was leaving a troubled past with a label to start my own one on a totally independent, self financed level…I had a lot of stress and reservations in my life. Celph and I had just built my Pterolab studio, I had started to really produce and was really getting into it, making a ton of beats and had a ton of ideas. I guess all that stress and those feelings just manifested.”

Eso penned the particulars, culled two hard-drives worth of sound bytes from every Hip-Hop icon and childhood hero involved in the dream, and planned on setting it to a score…but it was just way too complex and it started to take on a life of it’s own. Experimenting with Saving Seamus Ryan gave birth to his solo ventures Egoclapper, Esoteric Vs. Gary Numan, Pterodactyl Takes Tokyo and Serve Or Suffer. These albums marked the launch of his Fly Casual Creative imprint, all the while with a bigger presence looming in the background: the release of their parent project Saving Seamus Ryan.

The album is broken into twenty chapters rather than individual tracks and is presented in a beautiful hard bound case book that includes the full short story and liner notes written by Mr. Ryan - a whopping 52 pages. Vocal contributions come from the legendary and consummate hip hop theme-writer Masta Ace, long time collaborator Main Flow, and up and comers Blacastan, K-Flay and Qwill. The aforementioned colorful characters from Eso’s childhood and subconscious also help along the journey (including a cameo by DJ Premier). Esoteric handles most of the production duties but is also backed by career long partner 7L and fellow East Coast Avenger DC the Midi Alien.

So the time is now; sit back, press play, crack the binding and follow along with one of hip hop’s most gifted minds as he proudly presents the most intricate and personal work of his career.