Belly

Given the current climate of the hip-hop world -- where the most ear-bendingly innovative production often serves as aural sweetener for the by-rote thug lyricism of so much mainstream rap -- the notion of “indie” hip-hop (at least as a signifier of boundary-pushing music) probably seems quaint at best and woefully outdated at worst. The Baltimore/Washington,DC-based Food For Animals are all-too-aware of this conundrum, but rather than retreating to Golden-Era boom-bapisms -- or simply bathing such warmed-over beat production in fuzz -- the three-man group take what they like, and blow the genre wide open.

Moored by Ricky Rabbit’s fractured, lush beat production -- which references the gamut of contemporary urban and electronic musics (Southern hip-hop, ghettotech, Baltimore club, dubstep, power electronics, straight-up noise) -- rappers Vulture V and new member Hy weave intricate back-and-forth flows explicating the highs and lows of life in “the belly”. Belly is Food For Animals’ first full-length album, following 2004’s Scavengers EP.

Drawing upon influences as disparate as Outkast, Pita, Wu-Tang, and The Pop Group, Food For Animals literally sound like no one else. Easily their opus, Belly is about being eaten and coming out different. This limited vinyl edition of Belly precedes the band’s upcoming follow-up LP.