Remember when hip hop was exciting and cutting-edge, funny and moving and original? I know, seems like a long time ago. But don’t despair – on 'Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow', k-the-i??? recaptures that spirit and re-tools it for the future.

In order to make this record k-the-i??? relocated from his home in Cambridge, Mass, to LA. With production for the whole record supplied by Thavius Beck (Lab Waste, Saul Williams), k-the-i??? focused on a set of lyrics that run from love songs to New World Order conspiracies and everything in between: “In my life I’ve seen everything/ A dream, poverty/ No reason to remain the Next Thing/ And if there’s anything new to bring to the table/ I’ve made sure it isn’t illusive and it can remain stable/ Were you able to finally figure it out?/ I doubt you even know what I’m talking about.” It’s also an album enlivened by guest appearances from some of the most important names in underground hip hop, High Priest, Busdriver, Mestizo, Nocando, Subtitle, Vyle and Thavius Beck himself.

Meanwhile, Thavius cooks up some of the best beats of his career, drawing on drum & bass, prog rock, psych and whatever else he can lay his hands on for a short, sharp, exhilarating ride, which sounds bizarrely catchy as well as fresh as mountain air. With only three of its 14 tracks over 3 minutes long, 'Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow' is intense, intelligent and thoughtful without ever outstaying its welcome, a succession of adrenaline hits for a genre that’s been flatlining.

If k-thei-???’s rep as one to watch was cemented by his Mush debut, 'Broken Love Letter', 'Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow' should bump him to the front ranks for anyone who is interested in hip hop as it was, should be and, just occasionally, still is.

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