Album of the Day: Mr. Lif - Enters the Colossus

Man, I miss the heyday of Def Jux, one of the best lineups I can think of in my admittedly limited experience. Mr. Lif is just relentless here: no hooks, no breaks, just wall-to-wall flow that beats you over the head. It's got that Def Jux feel, with very limited sampling, electronic beats (reminiscent of El-P, surely not a coincidence), in-house features, and lyrics that swing back and forth between cryptic and filled with inside jokes that necessitate a second or third listen (“The government strives to be omnipotent/but when I came through on some MC shit, the C's split/since they fear my potency has been kept a secret for years/renegotiated over beers”) and straightforward, to-the-point rhymes (“And if you've ever seen me rhyme, you know/I'll drop a cool flow then flip like Cujo”). It doesn't necessarily feel dated, but you can definitely tell that this was released in 2000. This album is short, at 7 tracks running a half hour (inflated by a nearly 11 minute final track, which features a hidden track, which I won't bother ranting about again), but it's packed with content, as one would expect from a Mr. Lif release.