A.Dd+

Saturday, January 26, 2013 (8:00 PM - 2:00 AM) | Granada Theater 3524 Greenville Avenue Dallas TX

A.Dd+

The Cowboys, the Grassy Knoll, J.R. Ewing, the Stanky Leg… Dallas, Texas, is known for lots of things. Progressive, forward-thinking hip-hop has, until now, not been one of them. That’s all starting to change, thanks to A.Dd+ (spoken aye-dee-dee). The quirky yet streetwise, fun-loving yet dead serious duo of Paris Pershun (a.k.a. 24-year-old Arrias Walls) and Slim Gravy (Dionte Rembert, 24), moves easily between slang anthems (“Likeamug”), light-hearted stories about drug addiction (“Can’t Come Down”/”Erica & Jamie”), and weighty raps about father figures and Black male incarceration (“Momma’s Brother”). Their 2011 LP When Pigs Fly has earned them praise from national media outlets including XXL and Pitchfork, which described the duo as “the rapper and the poet, the spawn of UGK and OutKast, combining street and cerebral.”

The A.Dd+ story began in 2000 when Memphis-born Paris moved into the same North Dallas apartment complex as Slim. After years of rhyming together, the pair made their partnership official in 2007, dubbing themselves A.Dd+, a play on their first names, as well as attention deficit disorder, the most ubiquitous of youth behavioral problems. “A.Dd+ is whatever you want it to be,” explains Slim, who is also known as “D.D.” “It has many meanings like A Dynamic Duo, Analog and Digital, Always Doing Dirt. The plus sign symbolizes us being beyond what others are on, always adding to the craft, never subtracting. It’s all about imagination and creativity.”

In 2009, Paris and Slim dropped their debut mixtape, Power of the Tongue. The release earned them local acclaim and a “Best Rap Act” nomination from the Dallas Observer. Just as crucially, it led to their partnership with producer Picnictyme (of Erykah Badu’s Cannabinoids crew), the group’s sonic sensei and unofficial third member.

Produced entirely by Picnictyme, their debut LP, When Pigs Fly, took listeners on a ride through the streets of Dallas and a journey through Paris and Slim’s own offbeat imagination. Upon its release in March of 2011, the Dallas Observer boldly proclaimed it as possibly “the best hip-hop album Dallas has ever released.” The project earned the crew three nods from the Dallas Observer Music Awards, including nominations for “Best Album,” “Best Rap Act,” and “Best Producer.” Renowned hip-hop journalist Jefferson Mao also featured the LP in his XXL “Chairman’s Choice” column, while Pitchfork Media included it in its list of Underrated Rap Releases of 2011.