I've given some thought whether to post this or not. But we're all grownups here (I hope), so here I go. Inspired by Ivan's reviews of hip-hop acts, I want to share my discovery of a bit of wicked underground rap from the mid-90's. Kool Keith has been around for quite a while (he's a few years older than me), but he's never quite broken into the mainstream, and thank goodness. If you listen to Kool Keith you'll know where Outkast got their ideas, but the copy is not nearly as good as the original. As far as I'm concerned Outkast is about as interesting as Hootie and the Blowfish. If you like your music vetted by large labels and corporate radio stations, then stick to Hey-Ya! You'll feel completely unchallenged to conceive of the world in a new and interesting way, and you'll be safe from real art, which might, like Rilke said of the bust of Apollo, make you "change your life." But beware, this music is not for the meek.

In 1996 Kool Keith stepped into the persona of "Dr. Octagon" to produce one of the most disturbingly innovative rap albums of the last decade (self-titled; re-released as Dr. Octagonecologyst). I'll let more eloquent voices speak:

Occupying the heretofore-undefined area where hip-hop meets hallucinatory sci-fi and porn, Dr. Octagon's concept – an incompetent, sex-obsessed doctor conducts his rounds as patients die all around him – brought a new kind of ruckus to hip-hop.

[Rolling Stone]

Dr. Octagonecologyst is a fun-house ride in hell. All of the expected norms of G-Rap have been violently removed and replaced with a healthy dose of creative perversity. It's throbbing and wet, snickering at your hangups, laughing at your conventions.

[Pitchfork Media]

In the track "Biology 101" the erudite Dr. Octagon muses:

"Can science achieve a unified theory of complex systems?"
"Maybe so."

Whether or not such a theory is forthcoming, it is clear that with verbal artists like Kool Keith on the scene, rap can achieve art.