In 1997, Company Flow released the widely-hailed underground classic "Funcrusher Plus." A remarkably ambitious, claustrophobic and often disorientingly strange hip-hop album -- it's a safe bet to say it's the only one to thank paranoid sci-fi author Philip K. Dick in its liner notes -- it was nonetheless highly influential. Unfortunately, it seemed to spin off as much poor music as it did good, especially in terms of underground rappers who were intent on sloppily cramming as many syllables as possible into their rhymes, biting off more than they could chew in terms of pretentious concepts, and relying on sub-par production; it's safe to say that the group was often imitated but never equalled. Not, that is, until Cannibal Ox's invigorating, thought-provoking debut, easily the most successful experimental rap record since Latyrx's and Blackalicious'. Like Latyrx, the group's two emcees (Vast Aire and Vordul) complement each other's flows and personalities perfectly (the former even sounds a bit like Lyrics Born, probably the only other rapper who could pull off the trick of making a mistake, correcting oneself, and repeating part of a verse all without losing one's flow, as he does on the amazing "Raspberry Fields").

Effortlessly weaving together elements of storytelling, braggadocio, and philosophy, Cannibal Ox provide enough lyrical material to catch something new and mind-blowing on each listen. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the album's given dense, multi-layered production by none other than Company Flow's El-P -- whose obscure samples and live electronics sound as otherworldly as ever, but are given here a cleaner, less lo-fi approach than in his earlier work.

This is an unbelievably consistent album, one it's easy to lose yourself in -- if you're tired of one-dimensional hip-hop, by all means check it out.