Setting up shop somewhere between the profane, goofy fun of Spank Rock and the nonchalant menace of the Clipse, these Chicagoans clearly know that if you name it, they will come, as savvy netizens have clamoured over this release for most of the past year. Now that those less cool are privy too, we can tell what all the fuss has been about--when MC Mikey Rocks' eponymous theme song hits the speakers, make sure you're holding on, because these dark, stripped-down beats, economical as the 32-minute rewind-friendly running time, rattle as assuredly as the name implies.

As well-rounded as you'd expect from a lot whose songcraft so suavely synthesizes styles into gently beatwise, tuneful pop form, Sound Selection is a mix compilation a la Late Night Tales or Back To Mine, valuing feel and, well, selection over perfect blending and matching. Soulful choral consternation from the Staple Singers and Redbone goes one-for-one with late-golden-age hiphop for the front half of this sequence (maybe even poking fun at comp-curation vanity in choosing De La Soul's "Ego Tripping, Part 2"), and the band's own "Left Foot Stepdown" fits right in after a double-dose of reggae.

With ?uestlove reportedly forcing Kamal to lay off his trusty Fender Rhodes and stick to his synthesizers, Rising Down is at very least one sinister-sounding collection. Fela's "Mr. Grammarticologylisationalism" gets flipped for "I Will Not Apologize", making the high guitar sound like downhome picking and G-funking up the organ solos. Maybe more compelling than the actual songs might be the messy incidental bits left for us snoops to scrutinize, namely the screaming or confiding (but always frustrated) phone banter bookending things, as well as forty-second backwards-masked "Becoming Unwritten", its snare dragging across the beat like a junkyard chain.

Something about the more-modern-than-mod organ and a-go-go loops on leadoff cut "Charity Case" may smack more of Smashmouth than DM & Cee-Lo intended, but Green's given room to redeem them on the following "Who's Gonna Save My Soul". Once they drop the beach-blanket feel for a spell, though, the pair get their hooks in with the synth-string stabs and spazzy drum-machine cycles of "Open Book", a high only equalled by the 13 beats straightening into 12 and back again on lush, flute-sampling "She Knows", as well as the dampened bass runs of The Old Couple's closer, "A Little Better".

How a white guy from Nova Scotia managed to find a wide audience rapping like the Dukes Of Hazzard narrator with a sore throat is something of a mystery. But Buck 65 is a master of odd detail and populates his tunes with the kinds of characters rarely seen in hip hop. In many ways, his success is a great acknowledgement of just how many white kids listen to hip hop--a fact he embraces by having never succumbed to misguided attempts to make himself more street. Situation is another collection of intelligently composed music and honest-yet-bizarre tales of worlds outside the present-day sphere.

Hip-hop fans craving trunk-rattling power best take a pass on Eardrum, an album whose songs are more built on carefully constructed jazz and neo-soul sounds. The album's strength, and Kweli's strength in general, are his words. Kweli is a fantastic MC, possessed of impeccable flow and heady lyrics that are always intelligent without being showy or condescending. Boasting an impressive cross-genre guests list (everyone from Jean Grae, Madlib and Kanye to Norah Jones, Roy Ayers and Justin Timberlake), Eardrum is a little long, but has more than its share of solid, whipsmart tracks.

The third album by the younger brother of hip hop producer Madlib, Dr. No's Oxperiment is more than just a case of sibling imitation. You can't deny how similar the album is to Madlib's superb 35-track instrumental opus, Beat Konducta Vol.1&2, but Oh No's style is far more focused on melody than spooky atmosphere. Patched together from samples of Turkish, Greek, Italian and other rare European psychedelia, Oxperiment is dizzying, hooky and fun wordless hip hop that proves these brothers can eat at the same table without stealing too much from each other's plates.

Winnipeg MC Odario Williams, also as a member of hip hop crew Mood Ruff, has been working on Grand Analog for some time. Less of a linear solo project than a guy inviting his talented friends over to work on his tunes, Calligraffiti refused to be contained. The key here is that despite its grand ambitions, Calligraffiti remains focused on hip hop first and foremost. So no matter how many genres are on tap (classic rock, reggae, etc.) the foundation of the record is beats and rhymes. A further indication that it's high time Canadian hip hop gained the same cred as its indie rock.

Underground hip-hop producer Madlib has proven one thing beyond second guessing; his record collection is much better than yours. What makes him so compelling is that he is able to parlay this encyclopedic knowledge into recorded works that are more than just genre studies or carbon copies. Simply put, the man makes endlessly playable albums. Yesterday's New Quintet's latest offering, Yesterday's Universe, is by turns crisp, driving, mellow, spacious and all while fitting into the parameters of top-notch funk and jazz grooves that hip-hop artists have been sampling for decades.