Cunninlynguists: Southernunderground

"You love to hear the story, again and again / Of how it all got started way back when," explain the key lines of MC Shan's seminal 1987 single "The Bridge." A decade and a half later, rap fans still love to hear the story of the genre's unsteady evolution, as evidenced by songs like Cunninlynguists' "Seasons," which boasts assists from Shan's Juice Crew affiliate Masta Ace and red-hot Definitive Jux indie super-producer RJD2. Ace, RJD2, and Cunninlynguists' bittersweet ode to/critique of hip-hop marks a worthy contribution to rap's ever-growing mass of tributes to itself. But Southernunderground is deep and ambitious enough that "Seasons" isn't even one of its better songs, in no small part because elsewhere, Cunninlynguists matches Ace's conceptual savvy and RJD2's rightly revered mastery of melancholy hip-hop production. Domingo, RJD2, and Freshchest Prose produce one song each, but Southernunderground is dominated by the somber, resourceful production of group member Kno, whose sophisticated, downbeat tracks, savvy crate-digging, and expertly tweaked vocal samples suggest a brilliant halfway point between RJD2 and mainstream producer-of-the-moment Just Blaze. Kno pulls ghostly voices out of the ether to lend a mournful quality to songs like "Rain," "Love Ain't," and "Falling Down." Southernunderground should (but probably won't) propel Kno to the elite ranks of indie rap's top producers, but the album's most audacious sample comes courtesy of Freshchest Prose's "Sunrise/Sunset," which jacks its chorus from the Fiddler On The Roof favorite to convey the ephemeral nature of existence. Much of Southernunderground sifts soberly through a cold world filled with shattered relationships, poverty, corruption, national tragedies, and rampant hypocrisy, which makes upbeat, goofy tracks like "Old School"–where the group ricochets giddily through time like a hip-hop Bill and Ted–all the more welcome. Forget the juvenile wordplay of Cunninlynguists' name and the generic title of its second album: Southernunderground is a masterfully produced, passionately delivered album that bursts with ideas, compassion, and soul-stirring beats.