A recent release reviewed

HAIKU D'ETAT
Coup de Theatre Decon
****

A virtuoso display of soulful jazz poetry and smart microphone action, Haiku D'Etat's second album is a breath-taking affair that gives underground hip-hop a good name. Haiki D'Etat are three long-in-the-tooth LA rhymers - former Freestyle Fellowship MCs Aceyalone and Mikah 9 with Abstract Rude - whose most bankable asset is their bold, brash wordplay and enlightened perspectives, which turn tunes like Built 2 Last and Top Qualified into lovable linguistic be-bop. But the rhymes are built on solid foundations, with producers such as Fat Jack, DJ Drez and Chief Xcel laying down the kind of soulful, jazzy basslines and rim-shots that might sound hackneyed or dated in other, less accomplished hands. Hip-hop's headlines may be grabbed this season by Eminem's Encore, but Haiku D'Etat deserve their spin in the news-cycle as well. www.deconmedia.com

Jim Carroll