Anti-Pop Consortium

Not since Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy has there been a rhythm-and-rhyme crew named more distinctively and astutely than Anti-Pop Consortium. Ever since APC formed in the late '90s, the four-man East Coast collective -- MCs Priest, Beans, M. Sayyid and beat man E. Blaize -- has been on a mission to rise up from the depths of the underground and verbally bitch-slap the sense back into those who think every rap song has to be about Courvoisier, big asses and Escalades. Last November's The Ends Against the Middle EP had folks outside the 212 area code taking notice, and with the recent release of their full-length album, Arrythmia, the quartet can really stop living like mole people and start that long-overdue rap revolution.