The top underground MCs are hand picked to show their stuff on this compilation, after the good people at Syntax weed through thousands of submissions to find what is the day’s most diverse and fresh sound. “The Chiropractor’s Goldmine” features established both hip-hop artists (the scratchy lumbering “Got to Get It” from LA Symphony and the atmospheric standout track “Big City of Dreams” from RedCloud, featuring Pigeon John) as well as unsung heroes. The pleasing windup of this approach is an album of wide range, both stylistically and in terms of production, without monotony of message or schizophrenia of mix-tape.
Covering almost an hour plus five, “The Chiropractor’s Goldmine” has very few missteps, and several deep satisfiers, along with those from the aforementioned RedCloud and LA Symphony. I really dug the sparkling keys and sweet vocals of Kaboose’s “Get Up,” and you’ll get a laugh out of the humor-injected middle class rap of Spoken Nerd’s “Hundreds.” Great name, by the way! Cas Metah examines the intricacies of the rap world on “Back,” and Braille, Illtrip, and ArtOfact serve up some tight rhymes as they celebrate their deliverance on “Yours and Mine.” The smooth title track comes from MaxOne, featuring Sam Hart, who keeps it all upfront, saying “we’re the type of Christians who an atheist’ll listen to.” That just might be true of the whole album, coming out from Syntax Records today, March 27th.
