Kool Keith & Kutmasta Kurt + guests (Triptych)

Kool Keith is one of hip-hop?s most prolific and innovative talents, erudite rapid-fire rapper Kool Keith?s resumé reads like a historic account of the genre: he?s a founder member of legendary mid-80s Bronx trailblazers Ultramagnetic MCs; he?s the man whose pseudonyms include Dr Octagon, Black Elvis, Dr Dooom (and about a dozen others); he?s the man whose celebrated collaborations include Beck, the Prodigy, DJ Shadow and Dan the Automator (Gorillaz).

Universally acclaimed as one of the most distinctive individuals in hip-hop, Kool Keith?s strident delivery and singular narratives are bulldozed by boundary-crashing momentum: his unique, unequalled freak aesthetic nods to astral jazz maverick Sun Ra, tribal sci-fi overlord Afrika Bambaataa and Detroit techno pioneer Carl Craig, as much as it does to traditional rap. This forceful combination ? and the outstanding, assertive canon thereof ? renders Keith among our most valued and versatile rappers.