CD Review: Innate Sounds’ Alpha

By JASON HARPER

Lots of locals are crewing up nowadays on the underground hip-hop scene. On the one hand, it reflects a pattern that hip-hop has always relied on; try to find a rap album that features the talents of only one MC or DJ and you may be looking a while. On the other hand, it makes it hard for potential fans to tell artists apart. The first team release from Kansas City’s Innate Sounds, Alpha, represents the pooled resources of nine vocalists and six producers (with some overlap — Miles Bonny, Reggie B and SG all work both boards and mics), and that’s not even everyone on the crew’s roster. If this were the only recent release from the IS camp, there might be cause for concern, as if our region’s scene were full of candidates for Co-Dependents Anonymous. But with a healthy stream of solo projects from its members — including recent joints from CES Cru, Stik Figa and crew founder Miles Bonny – the whole of Innate Sounds seems in no danger of eclipsing the parts.