Future Retro Legacy
Interlock Records
April 5, 2008

Underground hip hop is dead. That golden era which started (let’s say) with Mos Def and Talib Kweli rescuing hip-hop after the deaths of Biggie and Pac when Jedi Mind Tricks and Jurassic 5 were still cool and Non Phixion were taking over the underground scene is no longer a reality. In the last three or four years we have only seen mediocre albums being published and it has been really hard to find dope underground material (the best albums from last years have been mainstream releases). However, there must be some exceptions to confirm the rule and Kanser may be one. These unknown guys from Minnesota have recorded a quite decent album. In fact, this is their 7th album (or that’s what they say in their myspace) but I had never heard about them before. The beats from the first songs are really cool (there are some awesome guitar samples) and the message contained in their lyrics is nothing new but still pushes you to some basic reflections like, for example, the sense of showing off instead of focusing on music. If you were waiting for some enjoyable underground shit, you should give them a chance. - Grey