Megagraphitti is a record with another record looking over its shoulder: Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein. That freakshow 2001 album is where most of us first heard of Vordul Mega (a.k.a. Megilah) and his partner, Vast Aire. Each had an out-there flow, full of deadly surrealism, perfectly paired with dense electronic tracks by Def Jux supersvengali El-P. The two rhymed more at each other than with each other, but damned if it didn't sound like hardcore glitched-out paranoid fun.

But that's been it for Cannibal Ox. Both its members have done solo work since then, but none of it has lit the world on fire. So it's a relief that Megagraphitti finds Vordul Mega as hungry and freaked-out as he was seven summers ago. "Trigganomics" with what might be Mega's personal manifesto: "Mega-apocalyptic/ Scriptures of living /Spittin', twistin', and sippin 'liquors/ Gifted misfits in the mist/ Straight lyrics that are halfway spinnin 'in different positions." Vordul always sounds like he's freestyling off the top of his head, but that head is a dark and mysterious place; the title track tells us how he is out representing for Amadou Diallo, "knowing us n—as is nothing but… read more »