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Pioneering Los Angeles lyricist Aceyalone (celebrating the release of his new album, Love & Hate) and trailblazing New York producer Prince Paul (who also has a new one, Politics of the Business) have joined forces for the cleverly dubbed "Love & Hate the Business Tour." Both artists are thoroughly schooled on the subject of corporate rap vs. independent hip hop, and they've steadfastly chosen the latter in which to continue perfecting their craft.

Beginning with his days as a member of the underground hip hop collective Freestyle Fellowship and founder of the vital Los Angeles improv night (and now record label) Project Blowed, through to a successful solo career that's four albums deep, Aceyalone has long been considered a chief architect of the blueprint known as West Coast hip hop. Love & Hate is an ambitious record for him. Yet even amidst a lineup of incredible guest collaborators that includes Goapele, RJD2, Self Jupiter, Riddlore, El-P, and exAnti-Pop Consortium members Sayyid and Priest, Aceyalone still manages to shine brightest. "You see, I move with the God-type energy/ It's so big, one of me make 10 of me," he explains on the new song "Junkman." His versatility matches the range of backing tracks offered on Love & Hate, from the hallucinogenic video game battle sounds of the RJD2-produced "The Takeoff," to the mellow flute that anchors the nostalgic "Lights Out."

Prince Paul, who produced De La Soul's indie hip hop revelation 3 Feet High and Rising, among other acclaimed projects, provides wry, self-deprecating comic relief within tight beats on his latest. It all entertainingly charts the legendary producer's "failure" to make current hits within mainstream rap society.

Performances from L.A.-based beat miners People Under the Stairs and Minneapolis MC Eyedea, a talented rapper who won the Blaze Battle freestyle championship in 2000, will bring similarly incisive, independently minded commentary on the state of hip hop to the tour.