While he may not get the blog-love or indie-rap nerd hype associated with a lot of other emcees these days, Denizen Kane has forged a strong career for himself on the strength of his unique delivery, creative lyricism and understanding that “hot beats and hot bars” shouldn’t be the end goal for hip hop acts—it should be the basic foundation off of which you can go into new and different places.

What are some of your favorite songs buried deep on an album by an artist not a lot of people even know about?

As a listener, it’s getting harder and harder to give new artists the benefit of the doubt. Everybody raps; and hardly anyone is worth a damn. Sketch, however, can SPIT. Long multisyllable chains, varying tempos, funny punchlines, heartfelt content; seeing him perform actually brought a smile to my face. It’s fun to be surprised…

What “political songs” do you appreciate the most?

I read a couple of great satirical pieces recently about how to write about Africa, and how to write about Muslims. This is an admittedly less serious topic, but something I think is worth pointing out. Finally, let me say two things: as an artist (one who has gotten a whole lot of great write-ups), this isn’t sour grapes—just some funny stuff I’ve noticed. And as a music writer myself, I’m guilty of some of this too. Again, just some stuff I’ve noticed.

It’s been called “post-rap,” it’s been called “hip popm” and it’s been called “hey why won’t that OutKast guy just shut up and rap?” But no matter how you file it at the record store, it’s a relatively new genre of music that finds hip hop artists singing and experimenting with polished pop/soul/rock music, often (though not always) over hip hop beats.

To me, this is indie hip hop’s OK Computer. It’s that good.

…Who are your favorite female-identified hip hop artists?…

While his other albums all have worthwhile tracks, Williams has never sounded so focused; his self-titled album isn’t a spoken-word masterpiece—it’s just a masterpiece.

An album that deftly combines the spiritual with the political with the personal, Mama’s Gun deserves a place in the soul music canon right next to the best albums from Marvin, Stevie and the rest.

It doesn’t succeed despite its eccentricities; it succeeds because of them.

It’s the perfect soundtrack to a society that’s either evolving into something new or destroying itself, maybe both.