Boom Bap Project

Open-mindedness is the key to Seattle-based Boom Bap Project's success. On Reprogram, DJ Scene and rappers Destro and Karim take a well-worn underground sound and polish it into something fresh. Standard anticonformity and societal rejection themes also abound, but when done with a gentle touch and a souled-out, sung hook (as on the title track), the paranoia is outweighed by the poetic. The two MCs bounce lyrics back and forth -- splitting verses between them as frequently as they don't -- although their wordplay is never overtly clever: Puns and one-liners are replaced with lines like, "When they charge me with murder, I pre-empt the sentence." It also doesn't hurt that Seattle's sure-shot producers Vitamin D and Jake One handle the majority of the beatwork on the album -- which makes Reprogram one of the better-executed underground rap joints to drop in recent memory.