KRS-One

One of the first hip-hop artists to fuse politically charged lyrics and booming beats (a concoction he dubbed Edutainment), Boogie Down Productions founder KRS-One spent the bulk of the ’90s trying to downplay his pedantic image while still uplifting the masses. Often this involved sonic sleights-of-hand, as on 1997’s I Got Next, which utilized commercial rap clichés to make a point about cookie-cutter hip-hop — and went gold in the process. Following a five-year hiatus, the Blastmaster returned with a string of snoozers on which his lyrical dexterity couldn’t overcome tepid production values. The latest effort from hip-hop’s most forthright spokesman, Kristyles, is already fraught with controversy — KRS has repeatedly warned fans that his label, Koch, released an unfinished work that does not have its namesake’s stamp of approval. Regardless, the venerable vet remains a live favorite; onstage, his vocal criticisms of the culture he helped create take a backseat to beats and rhymes.