THE MIGHTY UNDERDOGS, ‘DROPPIN’ SCIENCE FICTION’ – DEF JUX

We’re all very different people. We’re not Watusi. We’re not Spartans. We’re the underdogs. We’re mutts! … But there’s no animal that’s more faithful, that’s more loyal, more loveable than the mutt.

Next week sees Def Jux release the astrophonic long player Droppin’ Science Fiction courtesy of hip hop trio The Mighty Underdogs. Following on from their The Prelude EP, Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef the Truth Speaker (Quannum/Latyrx), and bay-area producer Headnodic team-up with support from a heavyweight roll call big enough to make Don King jealous. Collaborators such as Mr. Lif & Akrobatik, DJ Shadow, DOOM, Chali 2na and Damien Marley ensure there’s something for everyone here, though rather refreshingly this does not come at the expense of the album’s continuity.

Organic elements are sent into hyperdrive resulting in some crisp compound sounds, and almost every track jumps out at you with neck-breaking enthusiasm (thanks to some inspired Headnodic production). There’s also enough bizarre sh*t on here to render it worthy of a Jim Jarmusch soundtrack. Yet for all its tongue-in-cheeky weirdness, you get a sense that this outing into the absurd actually means something to The Mighty Underdogs. So while they may be foolin’ around for the sake of a laugh or three, they also manage to retain that element of humility that defines the indie underdog.

With subject matter ranging from ill vacations to alien vaccinations, and vocal contributions spanning the likes of giggling kids to howling canines, they dare to go where no artist has gone before. The title track is especially where it’s at, invading space better than any 8-bit arcade game, as cascading, techy sounds invoke that paranoia you first had as an 8-year-old playing Centipede.

What seem to make this work too are the details, again suggesting that these boys are serious about making hip hop kinda um… silly. Archetypal underdog Bill Murray features by way of comical interlude, as well as numeorus dog samples on the hilarious Doglude (which unashamedly grossed highest play count on my i-Tunes).

The bad news? A few rotations and you realise that they could have pushed this lost in space manifesto a little more. We barely leave the earth’s orbit before the second half our journey begins revolving around some kind of lyrical anti-matter. Want You Back paves the way for a wealth of clichéd lines and sounds that dulls the energy present elsewhere on the LP. That said, you would be hard pushed to deny the genuine feeling that lies behind these tracks. And let’s face it, everyone loves an underdog.

JW