10 Reasons Why You Should Like James Christos (MP3s Included)

James Christos is intense and bad ass and totally underrated in the Kansas City hip-hop scene. It’s not for lack of hustling — the guy plays a ton of shows, drops a ton of CDs, and stickers up the town (to name a few of his tactics). More likely, it’s because Christos’ music floats between gangsta hardness and indie ideology: He sounds angry and his beats are hard and locked-in, cleaving to a non-jazzy, non-funky, street-angst sound; but his lyrics are devoid of thug-life narratives.

“Its hard to get an audience in KC because the type of music I’m doing is not exactly ‘Gangsta Rap’ or ‘Hip Hop,'” Christos said in a recent e-mail. “It’s more like “Neo Rap,” something alternative.”

Whatever it is he’s doing, Christos gets more compelling with each release. His latest is an EP titled The Black Reign, which contains six bangers cooked up by Christos with help from Jaz Brewer and Krush Groove of 64111 Studios.

Here’s 10 reasons to dig ya some Christos. …